“We welcome the reopening of the PNP, which helps to solve the short-term talent crunch that our companies face and ensure that they continue to flourish here at home,” said VEC CEO Ian McKay.

VEC applauds reopening of provincial immigration process for highly-skilled professionals

The Government of British Columbia recently announced that it reopened its process for qualified professionals to obtain permanent residency status, which allows them to live and work in Canada.

The reopening of the Provincial Nominee Process (PNP) will help companies in rapidly growing, specialized industries, such as the Tech, Digital Entertainment and Green Economy sectors, to meet their huge and growing demand for talent.

“We welcome the reopening of the PNP, which helps to solve the short-term talent crunch that our companies face and ensure that they continue to flourish here at home,” said VEC CEO Ian McKay.

“The continued growth of the Tech, Digital Entertainment and the Green Economy will benefit our city for years to come as they create higher-paying jobs and add to our knowledge-based economy.”

The popular PNP was temporarily suspended in September 2015, given the volume of applications they had received, and companies in these emerging sectors have been feeling the pinch as they look for qualified talent to fill thousands of job vacancies. The BC PNP has introduced a new system (the Skills Immigration Registration System) to help increase the number of qualified applications they process. Registrants will be given a score based on certain factors and then be invited to apply.