September 14, 2015

Temporary Pause on B.C. and Alberta PNP

Both Alberta and British Columbia (B.C.) have placed temporary pauses on accepting new applications to their respective Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP). Although both provinces have been allotted a total of 5,500 nominations for the 2015 year, the influx of applications received to date has inundated their application system.

British Columbia

B.C. has placed a moratorium on new applications to the B.C. Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) Skills Immigration stream and Express Entry stream until 2016. They are however continuing to accept applications under the Health Care Professional (Skilled Worker and Express Entry BC) and Northeast Pilot Project categories. The recently-opened Entrepreneur Immigration stream will also continue to accept registrations for prospective applicants, up to a maximum of 200 per month.

BCPNP is set to re-open the Skilled Immigration and Express Entry BC categories in early 2016 with a new points-based intake system to prioritize high-impact applicants and ensure occupations and skills are aligned with B.C.’s labour market needs.

Alberta

The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) has also stopped accepting new applications until 27 January 2016. AINP has a backlog of approximately 10,000 applications awaiting assessment, which is likely the reason for their high processing times. ANIP hopes this pause will allow them time to clear their backlog as well as provide them an opportunity to make improvements to their system.

Without these two PNP routes, candidates wishing to obtain permanent residence in B.C. and Alberta will need to turn to the Federal Express Entry system.

For more information on Provincial Nominee Programs, please click here.