November 3, 2017

Changes to the Alberta Provincial Nominee Program

The Government of Alberta recently announced that beginning January 2, 2018 all its economic class under the Alberta Provincial Nominee categories will be updated.  In accordance with the announcement made by the Alberta Provincial Immigration Nominee Program, the only available category for applicants will be “Alberta Opportunity Stream” which excludes self-employed farmers.  Further, in 2018, the AINP will be implementing intake and nomination guidelines that will establish the maximum number of applications accepted and nominations issued each year by the province, as well as maximum number of applications and nominations by sector and occupation.

Additionally, the AINP will implement a list of ineligible occupations.

Beginning 2018, in accordance with the new residency status and work permit requirements criteria, an applicant must have valid temporary resident status in Canada that authorizes that individual to work in Canada (i.e. temporary foreign worker) and have a valid work permit (not implied status or restoration status) for an eligible occupation based on either a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), or a LMIA exemption for workers covered under international trade agreements, workers transferred within a company, or people taking part in International Experience Canada.

Further, AINP will implement language tests as mandatory with a certain CBL level as well as a required education level of high school diploma proven by an ECA report. The applicants who earned a Canadian degree, diploma or certificate from a recognized Canadian post-secondary, technical college or secondary institution, or possess work experience that qualifies them for the AINP in a compulsory or optional trade and have a valid Alberta Qualification Certificate or trade certificate that is recognized by Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training will not be required to provide an ECA report.

Furthermore, in accordance with the qualifying work experience criteria, when submitting an application, the candidate should have been working full time in the same current occupation for a minimum of 12 months within the last 18 months; or should have gathered a minimum of 24 months of full-time work experience in their current occupation in Canada and/or abroad within the last 30 months. The latter can be a combination of experience gained in Alberta, in Canada (outside Alberta) and/or abroad.

The AINP will also implement income level requirements where an applicant will have to meet a minimum gross annual income level based on their family unit.

The AINP will impose a quota for the number of applications each year, and sub-quotas set based on sector or occupation.