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.
Alberta Advantage Immigration Program
The Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP), formerly the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, is an economic immigration program that nominates people for permanent residence in Alberta. Nominees must have skills to fill job shortages or be planning to buy or start a business in Alberta. They must also be able to provide for their families. The program is run by the governments of Alberta and Canada.
If you are nominated through the program, you may apply for permanent residence status together with your spouse or common-law partner, and dependent children.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada manages applications for permanent residence. The federal government also makes final decisions on these applications.
There are two program streams for Alberta Immigration
Program Streams
Stream for Workers
The AAIP has 3 streams for foreign workers who are living and working in Alberta, or plan to live and work here:
Qualified candidates who live and work in Alberta and have a job offer from an Alberta employer can apply for an AAIP nomination.
Qualified candidates with an Express Entry profile may be invited by AAIP to apply for nomination for permanent residence. Tech workers can qualify for expedited processing under the Accelerated Tech Pathway
Qualified candidates who have a job offer from an Alberta employer to work in a designated rural Alberta community can apply for an AAIP nomination.
Stream for Entrepreneurs
The AAIP has 4 streams for entrepreneurs who plan to live in Alberta and buy or start a business in the province:
Entrepreneurs who want to start a business or buy an existing business in a rural Alberta community can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI).
International graduates of approved Alberta post-secondary institutions who want to start a business or buy an existing business can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI).
Experienced farmers who plan to buy or start a farm in Alberta can apply for permanent residence.
Foreign graduates from outside of Canada can apply for permanent residence.