On March 26, 2021, The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) issued 300 Notification of Interest letters through the Alberta Express Entry Stream. Unlike most Federal Express Entry draws with the CRS cut off upwards of 460, applicants selected under the Express Entry stream were required to have a CRS of at least 301.
Minimum selection criteria for this draw:
Alberta Express Entry applicants must meet the following minimum criteria:
- Have an active Express Entry profile in the federal Express Entry pool
- Have stated an interest in immigrating permanently to Alberta
- Are working in an occupation that supports Alberta’s economic development and diversification, and
- Have a minimum CRS score of 301.
What is the Alberta Express Entry Stream?
Unlike many provincial nominee programs, Alberta Express Entry does not require candidates to have a completed profile on a provincial immigration system. Rather, it searches candidates who have submitted a profile to the federal Express Entry system and who fit a specific criteria to satisfy Alberta’s labour market demands. With this approach to selecting candidates, it allows the province to be much more responsible to its particular labour needs at any one time.
AINP Quota’s
This latest draw, the 6th of its kind in 2021 comes the same week as AINP released data on it’s 2020 annual target. With authorization to issue 6,250 nomination certificates for 2020, with the COVID 19 pandemic and in response to Alberta’s Economic Recovery Plan, the only 4,000 nomination certificates in 2020, leaving approximately 2400 applications from 2020 in a queue to be processed.
The AINP nomination quota for 2021 has not yet been made public but with a substantial backlog from 2020 as well as having one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada at just under 10%, we could see less activity from AINP in 2021.
Lauren Boorman
