Alberta Updates Nominee Program, Launches New Immigration Streams

On February 16, 2022, the Alberta government revealed two new immigration streams, made changes to the names of three entrepreneur streams, and updated the name of its nominee program. Alberta also recently released results from an Express Entry stream draw held on February 1.

Alberta’s new immigration streams are designed to spread the benefits of immigration to less populated regions in the province. Alberta’s new immigration programs, the Rural Renewal Stream and the Rural Entrepreneur Stream, target candidates with community support who have a job offer or want to start a business in rural Alberta. Eligible rural communities in Alberta must have a population of less than 100,000 and be outside of the metropolitan areas of Calgary and Edmonton.

“We are helping revitalize rural Alberta by removing barriers and setting the building blocks to welcome job-creating immigration to local communities and supporting economic growth throughout the province.” – Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta

Rural Renewal Stream

Alberta’s new Rural Renewal Stream is for candidates with a job offer in a select rural Albertan community.

The employer offering the job must be located in a designated rural community. To become designated, rural communities must apply to the AAIP.

Interested candidates must meet both community-specific requirements, and stream-specific requirements to apply under this stream. Candidates must also have an ‘Endorsement of Candidate letter’ from a designated community to apply for nomination.

Rural Entrepreneur Stream

The Rural Entrepreneur Stream is an immigration pathway for individuals who wish to buy or start a business in a select rural community in Alberta. Candidates that meet the stream’s minimum eligibility requirements may submit an Expression of Interest to be ranked by the stream’s points grid. Alberta may then invite the highest-ranking candidates to submit a Business Application for the chance to receive a provincial nomination.

Alberta nominee program name changes

The province of Alberta also changed the name of its nominee program from the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP). In addition, the AAIP changed the names of three entrepreneur streams:

• The International Graduate Entrepreneur Immigration Stream to the Graduate Entrepreneur Stream;
• The Foreign Graduate Start-Up Visa Stream to the Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream;
• The Self-Employed Farmer Stream to the Farm Stream.

The eligibility criteria of these streams remain unchanged.

Alberta Express Entry Stream draw results

Alberta recently released details from an Express Entry stream draw held on February 1, 2022. The draw invited a total of 400 Express Entry candidates with CRS scores as low as 340.

The federal government allocated 6,250 nominations to the AAIP in 2021, all of which Alberta issued by the end of the year. The Government of Alberta has not yet announced the number of nominations allocated for 2022.

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