AINP - Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program
First of all... A little bit about Express Entry
Before we get into details about Alberta's immigration program, let's quickly review about how Express Entry works. If you already know this, go ahead and skip to the next section of this article.
When you create a profile on Express Entry to immigrate to Canada, you are given a certain score based on the information you provided, like age, skills, education, etc.
Every now and then (usually every 2 weeks or so), IRCC will call the top-scores to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
The big challenge on the whole process is to get the points you need to be invited. That`s when province nominations might come in handy.
Each province has its own program to attract immigrants. If you are "lucky" ("skilled" might be a better word here) to be invited by one these provinces, you automatically get 600 points on your CRS score! That's pretty much a guarantee that you will be invited.
To go more into details on these concepts, here are some suggested readings:
- How Express Entry Invitation Rounds work
- How CRS score works
- Full step by step guide for Express Entry
3 Different Streams
So, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) has 3 different paths you could go through. These paths are called streams. Here they are:
- Alberta Opportunity Stream (AOS)
- Alberta Express Stream
- Self-Employed Farmer Stream
The Self-Employed Farmer Stream, as the name says itself, is for self-employed farmers (duh!). This is really not common among immigrant candidates, so I won't go into its details.
The Alberta Opportunity Stream is meant for people that are already in Alberta and that have a full-time job offer. This is also not very common, so we won't go into details on this article.
The big hero here of this article is the Alberta Express Stream. That's the one that will give you 600 points on your Express Entry CRS score. And the best of all, you don't need to be in Alberta to get it. As the matter of the fact, you don't even need to be in Canada. Keep on reading for the details.
Alberta Express Entry Stream Process
This is the stream that might boost up your Express Entry CRS score.
Here's a basic explanation of how it works:
- You create your Express Entry profile, as you would do normally for the Federal Skilled Worker Program.
- Based on the information you provide, Alberta might ask you to apply under the Alberta Express Entry Stream. This is called Notification of Interest.
- After receiving a notification of interest, you send your application to Alberta.
- If your application is approved, you receive a provincial nomination, which will grant you 600 points on your CRS Score.
- With the extra points, you will most likely be invited to apply for permanent residence on the next Express Entry invitation round.
Alberta Express Entry Stream Selection Criteria
So, Alberta just goes through the list of candidates running under the Express Entry pool, and selects a few to apply for it's PNP. But what do you need to get selected?
Basically, candidates that have strong ties to Alberta, or that can help to support the province economic development are the ones that might get selected (and receive a notification of interest).
In more practical terms, to receive a notification of interest, you must:
- Have stated on your Express Entry profile that you have an interest in immigrating permanently to Alberta
- Work on something that supports Alberta's economic development
- Have a minimum CRS score of 300.
If you have one or more of the following, it might also increase your likelihood of receiving a notification of interest:
- Work experience in Alberta. A job offer would be even better!
- Graduated from a Canadian post-secondary institution
- A relative (parent, child, brother or sister) living in Alberta
If you have one or more of the following items, it might decrease your likelihood of receiving a notification of interest:
- Your Express Entry profile is about to expire in less than 3 months
-
You work on a occupation that is considered
high-wage or low-wage
for in Alberta. Here are some of those:
- Insurance, real estate and financial brokerage managers
- Advertising, marketing and public relations managers
- Engineering managers
- Architecture and science managers
- Computer and information systems managers
- Corporate sales managers
- Supervisors, finance and insurance office workers
- Purchasing agents and officers
- Geoscientists and oceanographers
- Civil engineers
- Electrical and electronic engineers
- Construction estimators
- Industrial designers
- Contractors and supervisors, machining, metal forming, shaping and erecting trades and related occupations
- Contractors and supervisors, pipefitting trades
- Ironworkers
- Electricians (except industrial and power system)
- Industrial electricians
- Plumbers
- Carpenters
- Insulators
- Motor vehicle body repairers
- Crane operators (except all terrain crane operators)
- Supervisors, petroleum, gas and chemical processing and utilities
The selection criteria mentioned above is not a guarantee that you will or will not receive a notification of interest. It is only the criteria used. The decision on inviting you to apply or not is 100% up to Alberta's agents and systems.
What Happens After I Receive a Notification of Interest?
The notification of interest, will come on the format of a message on your Express Entry profile.
If you receive one, you must send a copy of it via e-mail to albertaexpressEntry@gov.ab.ca within two weeks of receiving it. On that e-mail, you must also provide your Express Entry profile number.
Alberta officers will then confirm your information, and send you instructions on how to apply to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP), including a list of documents that you need to send them.
Once you send everything that is required, and they process it, if it is approved, you will receive a Provincial Nomination from Alberta, which will grant you 600 points on your CRS Score
With the extra points, you will most likely be invited on the next Express Entry invitation round. See the minimum scores for previous PNP draws here.
Number of Notification of Interest (NOI) Letters Sent In The Past
We can't know how many people will be invited to apply to the AINP.
But we do have the information from the past - how many people got a notification of interest. Here is the full table:
| Date of the Draw | Number of Notification of Interest (NOI) Letters sent | CRS score of the lowest person that received a NOI |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Jan-19 | 81 | 301 |
| 1-Feb-19 | 168 | 301 |
| 22-Feb-19 | 130 | 302 |
| 5-Mar-19 | 473 | 400 |
| 12-Mar-19 | 462 | 400 |
| 15-Mar-19 | 106 | 300 |
| 19-Mar-19 | 271 | 400 |
| 26-Mar-19 | 370 | 400 |
| 2-Apr-19 | 356 | 400 |
| 9-Apr-19 | 172 | 300 |
| 15-Apr-19 | 179 | 400 |
| 24-Apr-19 | 133 | 400 |
| 2-May-19 | 119 | 400 |
| 15-May-19 | 197 | 301 |
| 21-Jun-19 | 262 | 300 |
| 10-Jul-19 | 180 | 425 |
| 17-Jul-19 | 251 | 400 |
| 24-Jul-19 | 220 | 303 |
| 31-Jul-19 | 319 | 400 |
| 7-Aug-19 | 35 | 352 |
| 15-Aug-19 | 121 | 400 |
| 28-Aug-19 | 294 | 400 |
| 11-Sep-19 | 339 | 302 |
| 18-Sep-19 | 139 | 350 |
| 25-Sep-19 | 374 | 400 |
| 9-Oct-19 | 115 | 350 |
| 24-Oct-19 | 372 | 300 |
| 30-Oct-19 | 29 | 350 |
| 6-Nov-19 | 148 | 400 |
| 5-Dec-19 | 132 | 400 |
| 9-Jan-20 | 150 | 350 |
| 22-Jan-20 | 201 | 350 |
| 29-Jan-20 | 150 | 300 |
| 20-Feb-20 | 150 | 300 |
| 4-Mar-20 | 100 | 300 |
| 18-Mar-20 | 136 | 300 |
| 1-Apr-20 | 120 | 381 |
| 14-Apr-20 | 200 | 353 |
| 29-Apr-20 | 200 | 322 |
| 13-May-20 | 191 | 300 |
| 17-Jun-20 | 187 | 303 |
Summary
Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program might give you some extra 600 points on your CRS score.
To run for it, you don't need to do anything else besides just creating your Express Entry profile, as you would do for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. The only difference is that on the profile, you must express an interest in living in Alberta.
If your profile is interesting to Alberta, they will send you a notification of interest, after which you can then apply to the AINP.
If your application is approved, you will receive a Provincial Nomination from Alberta, which will give you the 600 points on your CRS score. That will probably be enough to get you an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence in Canada through the Express Entry process.
I Don't Have What It Takes For AINP. Now What?
There are several other immigration options to Canada. For an example, the most common one, the Federal Skilled Worker program has is own set of requirements, and you can chose anywhere in Canada that you want to settle down (except Quebec).
Check out our full Guide and Tracking System for the Federal Skilled Worker Program.
Besides that, other provinces have their own Province Nomination Programs, which different requirements and process. Also there are other processes, like the Canadian Experience Class, or the Atlantic Immigration Pilot.
Glossary
Express Entry - Process in place to select candidates to become permanent residents based on their skills. Express Entry is used for different immigration programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program
IRCC - Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. It is the Canadian Government department responsible for all matters related to immigration.
CRS Score - Comprehensive Ranking System score. It's the system in place to calculate a score for each Express Entry candidate, based on their information such as age, skills, education, etc.
Permanent Residence Application - The process of submitting all your documents (ECA, IELTS, proof of funds, etc.) and filling up the online forms to apply for permanent residence in Canada. This can only be done after you receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA).
PNP - Province Nomination Program. Each province has its own program with specific rules to attract immigrants. The candidates selected by them get 600 points on Express Entry.
Federal Skilled Worker Program - A program designed to attract and bring skilled immigrants for the areas in which Canada needs workers. Candidates are selected through the Express Entry process.
Notification of Interest - A province might express interest on candidates that are on the Express Entry pool, based on the information they provided on their profile. The candidate would then receive a Notification of Interest, and would then apply to the Provincial Nominee Program of that given province.
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