Immigration to Canada is usually a Canadian government responsibility, and Canada Immigration has visa offices around the world to process immigration applications in accordance with national requirements.

Canada has agreements with individual provinces which allow them to select immigrants based upon their own priorities. These are called “Provincial Nominee Programs”, and they allow a province to “nominate” immigrants, based upon the selection criteria determined by the province.

PNP’s case are usually processed much faster than “regular” immigration cases, because rather than waiting in a long queue of applicants to be assessed by Canada Immigration, the assessment is done by the province. Generally, all Canada Immigration needs to do is the medical and security checks, and the visas can be issued.

In many cases, the immigrant can be issued a Work Permit while his or her immigration case is being processed. Thus, rather than having to wait for years before immigrating to Canada, the immigrant can often come to work in Canada within a few months.

The British Columbia Government’s Provincial Nominee Program has 2 general categories: Strategic Occupations, to fill critical labour shortages, and Business programs, for immigrants who will be starting up businesses in B.C., or helping BC businesses to expand.

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