BC PNP or Alberta PNP: which grid suits your profile
The same candidate can look strong in one province and mediocre in the other. The grids reward genuinely different things.
7 min read
What is the difference between the BC and Alberta PNP points grids?
BC's SIRS scores out of 200 and puts 55 points — more than a quarter of the total — on the hourly wage of the job offer, in single-dollar bands. Alberta's AAIP scores out of 100 and does not score wage at all; its economic section is worth 31 points and depends on holding a job offer, its location, and whether the occupation is regulated. A high earner is rewarded far more in BC; a certified tradesperson in a rural community is rewarded more in Alberta.
BC pays for wage, Alberta does not
This is the single largest difference between the two grids.
In BC, the hourly wage of your job offer is worth up to 55 points out of 200 — more than education, more than language, more than work experience individually. It is scored in single-dollar bands, so every extra dollar an hour is worth exactly one point from $16 up to $70.
Alberta does not score wage at all. A $30-an-hour offer and an $80-an-hour offer earn identical points on the AAIP grid, provided both are permanent and full-time.
For a high earner that difference is decisive. Someone at $60 an hour collects 45 points in BC that simply do not exist in Alberta.
Conversely, a candidate at a modest wage is not penalised in Alberta the way they are in BC.
Alberta pays for certification, BC pays much less
Alberta awards 10 points out of 100 — a tenth of the entire grid — for a job offer in a regulated occupation where you hold recognised Alberta certification.
BC's equivalent is 5 points out of 200 for an eligible professional designation. Proportionally, Alberta values it four times as heavily.
This matters most for tradespeople. A certified electrician or welder with an Alberta Qualification Certificate, or a trade certificate recognised by Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, gains substantially more from that credential in Alberta than the same person would in BC.
Note the certification itself must be recognised in Alberta. A foreign qualification that has not been assessed does not earn the points.
Both push you out of the big city, by different amounts
Both provinces use the grid to distribute newcomers away from their largest metropolitan area, and both are explicit about it.
BC scores Metro Vancouver at zero, a small ring of communities at 5, and the rest of the province at 15 — plus a further 10 for regional experience or regional alumni status, unavailable in Metro Vancouver. That is a 25-point swing out of 200.
Alberta scores the Calgary and Edmonton metropolitan areas at zero and everywhere else at 5, with a further 6 available through a Rural Renewal Stream endorsement. That is an 11-point swing out of 100.
Proportionally the two are closer than they look: 12.5% of BC's grid against 11% of Alberta's.
Check the census subdivision lists in both provinces. Metropolitan areas extend well beyond city boundaries.
Alberta caps you at 69 without a job offer
In Alberta the entire 31-point economic section depends on holding a job offer. Without one you cannot exceed 69 out of 100, no matter how strong your education, language and experience are.
BC's dependence is even heavier in practice, because the wage and area factors together are 80 of 200 points and both require an offer.
Both programmes are employer-driven by design. Neither is realistically accessible to a candidate with no Canadian employer, which is a meaningful difference from federal Express Entry, where a job offer no longer scores at all since March 2025.
If you have no job offer, Express Entry is the more realistic route — and there, notably, an offer would no longer help you anyway.
Language is scored on your weakest ability in both
One thing the two grids agree on: language points key off your lowest of the four competencies, not an average. A candidate at CLB 9, 9, 9, 6 is scored as a 6 in both provinces.
Where they differ is how they treat a second language. BC awards a flat 10 extra points for proficiency in both English and French at CLB 4 or higher. Alberta scores English and French separately and awards the higher of the two, then adds 3 for bilingualism — so being strong in both is worth much less in Alberta than a naive reading suggests.
In both cases, targeted work on your worst single skill is the highest-value language investment.
Alberta also requires CLB or NCLC 4 across all four competencies simply to submit an Expression of Interest.