aja424

Hi. Does anyone have any experience using the BC Provincial Nominee Program?
My son will be 24 when we make the move, we would like him to come with us but he doesn't have any qualifications.
It states "Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category of the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) is a way for workers in a valid tourism/hospitality, long-haul trucking or food processing occupation to gain permanent residence in B.C".
It also requires you have a job offer from an employer who you have worked for full time for 9 months.
We're wondering whether to apply for an IEC visa, which will allow him work in Canada for 2 years, and then he can hopefully find employment within the food processing industry.

Anyone have any insight or examples of emigrating via this route?

Thanks in advance.

christmasoompa

It's a good route, although from what I understand it can be tricky to find an employer that is prepared to go through the hassle of all the paperwork for a fairly low skilled job. You say he doesn't have any qualifications, but does he have GCSE's at least? And does he already have experience in any of the qualifying occupations or would he be trying to get a job without relevant experience? What would he score on the SIRS if he doesn't have post secondary education, would it be enough to get an invite?

hg42

I just submitted my application for it today so I'll let you know

Anyway. The requirements are not terribly onerous on the BC side of things - as noted you have to have worked for the same org for 9 months, you get extra points for having a year or more of experience doing whatever job (not hard considering the 9 month requirement...), the jobs on the list tend to be of the high demand/poor pay type, so fairly dull but basically fine if your lad would be living at home sort of thing and, with the caveat that it depends on where you are, not the sort of thing you're likely to have trouble finding work at. Visit beautiful Golden, BC...where the McDonalds closes at 9pm all summer because they can't even get the Filipinos to keep it open later than that

The requirements on the employer side of things don't amount to much either presuming that you already have a work visa - basically amount to demonstrating that it's a legit business and can be done in an afternoon at most, presuming that it actually is a legit business. The BC PNP guide is pretty clear and instructive.

Points required to apply have been around 40 for most of the last year which is pretty much met by having a job and a pulse...no guarantee that'll remain the case going forward, of course, but still.

Can't speak to the meat/fish dissecting industry (note that's mostly what they mean by food processing afaik! are you sure about that bit?) but the whole tourist industry here is really built around having a big pool of working holiday visa kids to milk so that isn't an obstacle. Problem with them of course is that they tend to run off to live in a camper van after a few months so most places will also have some experience of importing hotel housekeepers etc from the Phillipines, India etc, will more than likely have sponsored people before, and will pretty much bite your hand off if you're reliable and have half a brain - I have had three different employers over here, working in hotels, and all three have been more enthusiastic about the process than I have! Do you know where you'll be moving to?

aja424

The bulk of jobs for me as a nurse, not surprisingly seem to be around the Vancouver City and Metro. I have seen jobs in the interior that interest me also.

Richb1970

I am a GP and used HealthmatchBC who basically did all the background stuff and liaised with the health board to sort the paperwork.

The hardest part in the process is getting a license to practice. I dont exactly know what the hoops are as a nurse but I have heard you need extra training as in Canada the nurses are trained in adult, kids and mental health so the UK method of choosing one route early means you need to do more stuff to get in.

Have you spoken to Healthmatch ??

aja424

At the moment I'm in the middle of completing a bridging course, all online through Douglas College in BC. I've seen Healthmatch BC and glad to hear first hand that they help in the process. Thanks for the info.

aja424

On the official BC PNP website it states:

Skills Immigration - Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (ELSS) - including employment
in Northeast Development Region
You may be eligible in this category if you are currently working in B.C. in an eligible occupation in the
tourism/hospitality, long-haul trucking or food processing industry.
OR

What job are you doing mate and whereabouts if you don't mind me being nosey? Just seems this route is too good to be true, anyone under 30 willing to work could have a crack at this. Would be very grateful if you could keep me updated.

hg42

I have been working as a hotel clerk since I moved here (worked for BT in the UK, part of why I left was that I didn't want to drop dead due to stress age 50 which seems to be considered normal over there...) and am in Golden at present, up in the mountains about midway between Banff and Revelstoke, no particular plans to move.

It is not too good to be true; it can be an 'easy' (though not quick - note it's the old pre-EE app so takes a couple of years) way of doing it if you can find the right place to burrow into, but there are some major caveats - first obviously being that you have to have been here for a while, so WHVs and TFWs only, really. I chose to do this specifically because it'd make the PR side of things uncomplicated if it turned out I wanted to go through with it and so have been pretty open to moving around, options may be more limited if he can't do so.

Most (not all!) jobs will be posted online here - have a look and see if he'd fit anything I guess. It's currently hiring season for the summer so lots of activity.

The geographical scoring on the application is pretty significant if you don't have big scores otherwise so can be worth thinking about - was a motivating factor behind moving here. There is also no guarantee the required scores will remain as low as they have.

It can be difficult to impossible to find somewhere affordable to live in major resorts/tourist hotspots, many places, more so as you get more remote, will have staff housing the quality/sardine can-ishness of which varies extremely widely. This isn't always advertised! I have been making use of it the whole time here but have been very picky and turned jobs down because the housing didn't fit what I wanted. Again part of the draw moving to Golden was that the company happened to own a place I could have to myself for a peppercorn rent, which makes up for the theoretically poor pay. Four to a room is great fun if you're a 20-year old ski bum or surfer dude, if you're not...

Tourist anything is fairly seasonal, many places will close for part of the year which can be a problem since you have to have a permanent job. I have been completely open about what I'm doing and people have gone out of their way to make the jobs fit the PNP requirements because, again, finding sane, reliable people for the longer term is non-trivial.

Anyone under 30 certainly could make a go of it, presuming they're reliable, flexible, mobile, diplomatic and willing to put up with a fair bit of BS. Most people, of course, have better things to do with their time - I just didn't, really.

The wanderer.

Does the IEC visa not only allow to be in the same job for 3 month's maximum?

christmasoompa

Nope. 2 year open work permit, can be the same job or different ones, no restrictions.

aja424

Thank you so much for the replies guys. More positive about the move now knowing there is an option for my stepson. The link you sent me (hg42) is especially useful.

MrWindUpBird

This was (Could still be...) a restriction on the Australian working holiday visas, the IEC has always been an open permit.

hg42

So, to give you an idea on how slow the actual ITA part isn't - BC seem to pull people out every Wednesday, regular applications one week and IT applications the next, and having submitted Thursday before last I received an invite today at 58 pts (didn't even bother mentioning university stuff etc as I figured it wouldn't be necessary/worth the hassle!).

Of course the next steps take 2-3 months on the BC side and then up to a couple of years on the federal side, but there you go...if I qualify I should think just about anyone can