British Columbia nominee stream · BC-PNP-EI-BASE
BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration: Base stream (British Columbia)
Open
Experienced business owners or senior managers who will start a new British Columbia business, or buy and grow an existing one.
Jacinth Immigration Canada teamReviewed by a licensed RCICLast updated
How it works
About the entrepreneur immigration: base stream
A business route rather than a work route. You register with a business concept, are scored, and if invited you sign a performance agreement, come to British Columbia on a work permit, build the business, and are nominated once you have met what you agreed.
Applying from outside Canada: Designed for applicants abroad. The thresholds above are published, not estimated: the net worth and investment figures come from the province's own comparison table for entrepreneurs, and the ownership figure from the Entrepreneur Immigration Base program guide. Two dates are worth knowing when you read them. The entrepreneur page carries a last updated stamp of 10 September 2025, before the April 2026 refocus, and the Base program guide is effective 27 May 2024, so check both are still current before you commit money.
Source: the province's own page for this stream. Last checked September 18, 2026. Provinces change stream criteria without notice, so confirm the detail before you rely on it.
Requirements
What this stream asks for
- Personal net worth of at least $600,000
- An eligible personal investment of at least $200,000 in the proposed business, derived from that net worth
- Ownership of at least one third, which the province writes as 33.33 per cent, of the British Columbia business
- At least three years of experience as an active business owner-manager in the last ten, with a substitution available for applicants holding a post-secondary degree
- Creating at least one new full-time equivalent job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- Language at CLB 4 or above
- A business plan the province accepts, and a performance agreement you then have to deliver against
Programme
The British Columbia programme right now
Open and drawing regularly. British Columbia refocused the programme in April 2026 around three priorities it calls Care, Build and Innovate, and invitations now name those categories. The Entry Level and Semi-Skilled stream is closed, the technology priority draws ended, and the province has said it will not launch new student streams.
The Entry Level and Semi-Skilled stream closed after its final invitations in December 2024, and the technology priority draws ended the same month. British Columbia has stated it will not launch new student streams, so studying in the province earns extra registration points but is no longer a route of its own. Separately, WelcomeBC has reorganised its addresses: the old skills immigration page now redirects to one called For workers, and the old entrepreneur immigration page to one called For entrepreneurs and businesses. Older links still reach the right content, but they no longer land where they used to.
Official BC PNP page Official draw results
Checked against the province's own pages on September 11, 2026. Streams change through the year, so confirm on the official page before you apply.
Explore
Other British Columbia streams
From the blog
Related reading
- Provincial nomineesEnhanced or base nomination: what actually changes for youAn enhanced nomination runs through Express Entry, a base nomination goes to IRCC's PR Portal. How the route, paperwork and timing differ for you.September 25, 2026
- BusinessProvincial entrepreneur streams: how they really workA province does not hand you permanent residence for money. It hands you a work permit and a contract. The nomination comes later, if you deliver.September 19, 2026
- BusinessNet worth and investment thresholds in Canadian business immigrationWhat each business route requires you to be worth, to invest, to own and to create, with the government source and the date behind every figure.September 19, 2026
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