Care, Build & Innovate, explained
The single most important thing to get right before running any BC PNP calculator is which pillar and category your occupation sits in. Two candidates with an identical 100-point SIRS score can face completely different odds if one is in a category that cleared at 68 points and the other needs 138. That's why this calculator asks for your category before it asks for anything else.
Care
Health, childcare (ECE), education and veterinary occupations. 2026 minimums ranged from 68 (Education) to 115 (Childcare).
Build
Nine priority certified construction trades. 2026 minimum ranged 88–121.
Innovate
High economic impact occupations across all sectors, including tech. A score route (132–138) and a separate no-minimum-score wage route ($55–70/hr).
Why a wage route exists inside Innovate
Not everyone in a high-impact occupation wants to compete on the SIRS score. The Innovate wage route lets TEER 0–3 candidates skip score competition entirely if a validated job offer clears a published hourly wage bar. On BC's largest 2026 round (20 August), 337 of 602 invitations went through the wage route, more than the score route's 265.
The regional target
BC has committed to nominating at least 35% of candidates from outside Metro Vancouver. That policy goal is separate from, and additional to, the flat regional bonus points scored in the calculator (see the region pages), and it's one reason settling outside the metro core can be a genuinely useful lever, not just a points trick.
What replaced the old system
Before 23 April 2026, Skills Immigration ran on NOC-list-based streams (Skilled Worker, International Graduate, Entry Level and Semi-Skilled, and a separate Tech pilot). Those lists are gone; every occupation now maps to Care, Build, or Innovate, or falls outside the calculator's scope entirely (Health Authority stream, Entrepreneur Immigration).
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