Alberta is one of Canada’s three Prairie provinces, located in Western Canada. It is one of the fastest-growing provinces in the country and home to two major urban centres, Calgary and Edmonton.
Alberta’s landscape varies from towering mountains to glacial lakes, from vast boreal forests to fertile prairies and desert badlands.
The province’s natural resource portfolio includes natural gas, oil, coal, minerals and the famous Alberta oil sands, making Alberta Canada’s energy province.
The Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) is designed for individuals who possess the skills and abilities to fill labour shortages in Alberta.
The AAIP accepts skilled worker applications under the Alberta Opportunity Stream, the Express Entry system, which includes the Accelerated Tech Pathway, and the Rural Renewal Stream. It also operates four business programs, the Farm Stream, the Graduate Entrepreneur Stream, the Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream and the Rural Entrepreneur Stream.
The program is operated by the Alberta government in partnership with the federal immigration department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Interested candidates must follow a two-stage process: apply for a nomination to the provincial government, and then, if nominated, apply for permanent residence to the federal government.
IRCC allocates to AAIP a limited number of nominations each year.
This Stream was designed to simplify the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program application process, reduce waiting times and make the system fairer for candidates and employers.
This stream allows Alberta to nominate a limited number of qualified candidates from federal Express Entry pool, through periodic draws.
The Rural Renewal Stream allows qualified candidates with a job offer from an Alberta employer to work in a designated rural Alberta community to apply for Alberta immigration.
This stream is managed by the AAIP in close collaboration with the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, and targets applicants with farm management skills and sufficient financial resources to invest in a farming business in Alberta.
This stream is aimed at qualified foreign-educated graduates from outside Canada, who wish to receive permanent residence upon launching start-up enterprises in Alberta.
The Graduate Entrepreneur Stream is aimed at international graduates from Alberta post-secondary institutions who want to establish or operate a business in the province.
The Rural Entrepreneur Stream is aimed at entrepreneurs who want to start a business or buy an existing business in a rural Alberta community.
Unlike some of the other provinces, the AAIP does not reward candidates whose occupations appear on a certain list. Rather, the province publishes a list of ineligible occupations.
The AAIP issues periodic Notifications of Interest, inviting candidates to apply for nomination under the AAIP Express Entry stream.
The details of each draw are typically published approximately one month after the date of draw.
