The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) announced on August 18, 2026 that it has received an additional 1,000 nominations from the federal government, bringing its total allocation for the year to 6,254. Two days later, the province held its largest Innovate round of the summer, issuing 602 invitations to apply for provincial nomination.
What changed
British Columbia published the allocation increase on its BC PNP News page on August 18. The province stated that the additional nominations will be applied to the program objectives it announced on April 23, 2026, and that it plans to use its full allocation by December 31, 2026.
Those April objectives organize the program around three priorities — Care, Build and Innovate — covering, respectively, 36 in-demand occupations in healthcare, education, childcare and veterinary care; nine certified skilled trades supporting construction and major infrastructure; and high-earning or high-scoring candidates across all sectors. The province anticipates that at least 35% of all nominations will go to candidates working in communities outside Metro Vancouver.
On August 20, the province updated its Invitations to Apply page with a new Innovate: High Economic Impact round conducted under two separate selection criteria.
According to CIC News, British Columbia is the third jurisdiction to receive additional 2026 nominations, following Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
Key details
- 1,000 additional nominations — announced August 18, 2026, raising B.C.'s 2026 allocation to 6,254
- August 20 Innovate round, wage criterion — a minimum wage of $55/hour and $110,000/year with a job offer in National Occupational Classification (NOC) TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3; no registration-score threshold applied; 337 invitations
- August 20 Innovate round, points criterion — minimum registration score of 132; 265 invitations
- Registration pool as of August 4, 2026 — 8,306 registrations, of which 241 scored 130–139, 38 scored 140–149, and 10 scored 150 or above
- Regional commitment — at least 35% of nominations anticipated for candidates working outside Metro Vancouver
For comparison, the previous Innovate round on July 16, 2026 used a wage threshold of $58/hour and $115,000/year and the same registration score of 132.
The federal side of the same story
Provincial nomination is only the first half of the process for candidates in the Express Entry pool. On August 17, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held a Provincial Nominee Program–specific Express Entry round, issuing 442 invitations to apply for permanent residence at a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off of 760, as reported by CIC News. Candidates also needed a profile created before 6:01 p.m. UTC on August 7, 2026.
That cut-off sits below the 768 recorded in the August 4 round, and above the 744 and 708 seen in the two July rounds. Across 2026, IRCC has issued 7,399 invitations through 16 PNP-specific rounds.
Who this affects
- Skilled workers with high-wage job offers in B.C. in NOC TEER 0–3, particularly those near the $55/hour or $110,000/year mark, where the wage threshold has moved downward across recent Innovate rounds.
- Registrants scoring in the 120s and low 130s, for whom the 132 cut-off is close enough that small scoring changes are consequential.
- Workers in the 36 Care occupations and nine Build trades, since the additional 1,000 nominations are directed at these priorities alongside Innovate.
- Candidates already holding a provincial nomination, who still need to clear the federal CRS cut-off in a PNP-specific Express Entry round.
- Anyone who was planning around the closed Entry Level and Semi-Skilled stream, which the province confirmed in April is no longer accepting invitations.
What this means in practice
The allocation increase enlarges the pool of nominations available before year-end, and the province has said it intends to use all of them. But a larger allocation does not lower any published threshold on its own — the August 20 round still required either a qualifying wage and TEER combination or a registration score of 132.
The pool figures give that context. Of 8,306 registrations recorded on August 4, fewer than 300 sat at 130 or above. Where a candidate falls relative to a category's threshold, and which of Care, Build or Innovate their occupation belongs to, together determine whether registering is likely to lead anywhere this year.
Separately, the province extended the registration deadline for its Temporary Rural/Remote Health Support Initiative to 11:59 p.m. on October 7, 2026, in an announcement dated August 13, 2026 — outside this week's window, but an active deadline for cleaning and security staff employed by a B.C. health authority in a rural or remote community.
Considering your next step
Whether the additional nominations help you depends on details that are specific to your file: which objective your occupation falls under, how your registration score is calculated, whether your wage and TEER classification meet the Innovate criteria, and how a provincial nomination would interact with your existing Express Entry profile. Those are assessment questions, not lookup questions.
R. Lumain Immigration Consulting offers an initial consultation to review your circumstances against the current BC PNP criteria and the federal requirements that follow a nomination. You can learn more at https://lumainimmigration.com (opens in a new tab).
Sources
- WelcomeBC — BC PNP News (opens in a new tab) — page last updated August 18, 2026
- WelcomeBC — Invitations to apply (opens in a new tab) — page last updated August 20, 2026
- CIC News — Canada invites provincial nominees to apply for permanent residence (opens in a new tab) — August 17, 2026
- CIC News — British Columbia to nominate 1,000 additional healthcare, construction, and cream-of-the-crop provincial immigration candidates (opens in a new tab) — August 20, 2026
This post summarizes publicly available information as of August 23, 2026 and is provided for general information only. It is not immigration or legal advice, and immigration rules can change without notice. For guidance on your specific circumstances, consult a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant.