Posted on February 13 2020

Alberta can be your pathway to Canada PR in 2020

By
Anshul Singhal
, Editor

Updated April 03 2023

Alberta is 1 of the 9 Canadian provinces and 2 territories that are part of the Provincial Nominee Program [PNP].

With a province or territory nominating you under the PNP, an additional 600 points will be added to your CRS [Comprehensive Ranking System] score thereby guaranteeing that you would be receiving an Invitation to Apply in the next draw to be held.

By CRS is meant the system of ranking the profiles against one another when they are in the Express Entry pool. The higher the CRS that you have, the sooner you can expect to be invited to apply for Canadian permanent residency.

Alberta is one of the Prairie Provinces – along with Manitoba and Saskatchewan – of Canada. Alberta shares its boundaries with Northwest Territories in the North, British Columbia to the west, and Saskatchewan to the east.

On June 14, 2018, Alberta introduced two new ‘streams’ or immigration pathways under AINP [Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program] – the Alberta Express Entry Stream and the Alberta Opportunity Stream.

Previously existing streams – the Alberta Strategic Recruitment Stream and the Alberta Employer-Driven Stream – were closed.

AINP streams available

*Stream Name*	*Aligned with Express Entry*	*Job Offer required*	*Current Status*
Alberta Express Entry	Yes	No	Open
Alberta Opportunity Stream [AOS]	No	Yes	Open
Self-Employed Farmer	No	No	Open

The total number of nominations that a province or territory participating in the PNP can issue in any given year is determined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada [IRCC].

Here, we shall be reviewing only the Alberta Express Entry stream as this stream is the more commonly applied for among the 3 available streams under the AINP.

Alberta Express Entry

Under the Alberta Express Entry Stream, the province of Alberta nominates a certain number of candidates with the required qualifications from IRCC’s Express Entry System.

Do keep in mind that as the Alberta Express Entry stream is by invitation only, foreign nationals cannot apply directly to the stream. You can only apply when invited.

All profiles in the EE pool are automatically eligible for the program.

Candidates are shortlisted based on the profile information available with the Express Entry portal. Selected candidates are then sent a Notification of Interest letter by Alberta in their federal EE profile.

To receive a NOI from Alberta, you must –

Have an active EE profile in the federal EE pool

Have expressed an interest in immigrating permanently to Alberta

Be working in an occupation supporting the economic diversification and development in Alberta

Have a minimum score of CRS 300

Adaptability factors can further increase your chances of getting a NOI. By “adaptability factors” are meant certain criteria that can make an immigrant more likely of being successfully established in the province.

Adaptability factors that can get you a NOI faster

Valid job offer and/or previous work experience in Alberta

Graduated from a post-secondary institution in Canada

Relative [parent/child/brother/sister] living in Alberta

IMPORTANT

You are less likely to receive a NOI if your EE profile is to expire in 3 months or less.
Applications will not be processed if the position that you intend to fill comes under the List of Occupations in the high-wage and low-wage occupations in the province of Alberta. These include NOC Codes of – 0121, 0124, 0211, 0212, 0213, 0601, 1212, 1225, 2113, 2131, 2133, 2234, 2252, 7201, 7203, 7236, 7241, 7242, 7251, 7271, 7293, 7322, 7371, and certain in-house caregiver positions that have a requirement for living-in.

Once you have a Notification of Interest letter from Alberta in your federal EE profile, you will be required to get it confirmed by emailing a copy of the letter to the AINP. This email is to be sent within 2 weeks of getting the NOI. EE profile number will also have to be provided by you in the email.

The AINP will then confirm your information. Following which, you might be sent an email asking you to submit an application.

Do keep in mind that the application form for the Alberta Express Entry Stream is not available online and is provided to candidates only through email.

Alberta Opportunity Stream [AOS]

To be eligible for this stream, you must have a valid temporary resident status – that is, be a temporary foreign worker – in Canada that grants you the authorization to work in the country.

Self-Employed Farmer Stream

Basic criteria for the stream include –

Farm management skills

Ability to invest minimum CAD 500,000 of equity in a primary production farming business in Alberta

Be able to document their investment plans in a proposed business plan

In 2019, Alberta issued all 6,000 of its allotted certificates for the year. So far, the number of nominations to be issued in 2020 are not available. However, applications in queue shall be assessed and nominations issued accordingly. About 1,950 applications currently await assessment for eligibility.

As such, the AINP does not provide any status updates on the applications under assessment or processing.

Alberta Express Entry submissions that take longer to process

The AINP on the whole, and the Alberta Express Entry in particular, have a comparatively higher volume of applications in certain occupations, leading to such application submissions taking a longer time for processing.

These include –

*NOC Code*	*Occupation*	*Skill Level /Type*
6311	Food service supervisors	B
6322	Cooks	B
6211	Retail sales supervisors	B
1311	Accounting technicians and bookkeepers	B
1241	Administrative assistants	B
0621	Retail and wholesale trade managers	0
9462	Industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers	C
7511	Transport truck drivers	C
1221	Administrative officers	B
4212	Social and community service workers	B

Alberta Express Entry Stream Selection Draws

Typically, information on previous draws will be posted approximately one month after the date of draw.

*Date of draw*	*Total NOI sent*	*CRS score of lowest ranked candidate that received NOI*
January 10, 2019	337	300
January 25, 2019	81	301
February 1, 2019	168	301
February 22, 2019	130	302
March 5, 2019	473	400
March 12, 2019	462	400
March 15, 2019	106	300
March 19, 2019	271	400
March 26, 2019	370	400
April 2, 2019	356	400
April 9, 2019	172	300
April 15, 2019	179	400
April 24, 2019	133	400
May 2, 2019	119	400
May 15, 2019	197	301
June 21, 2019	262	300
July 10, 2019	180	425
July 17, 2019	251	400
July 24, 2019	220	303
July 31, 2019	319	400
August 7, 2019	35	352
August 15, 2019	121	400
August 28, 2019	294	400
September 11, 2019	339	302
September 18, 2019	139	350
September 25, 2019	374	400
October 9, 2019	115	350
October 24, 2019	372	300
October 30, 2019	29	350
November 6, 2019	148	400
December 5, 2019	132	400
January 9, 2020	150	350
January 22, 2020	201	350
January 29, 2020	150	300