Canadian province launches two new immigration programs
They will help candidates move to small towns.
On February 16, the province of Alberta made several changes to its immigration program.
First, instead of the Provincial Nominee Program for immigration to Alberta, it is now called the Alberta Immigration Advantage Program. The provincial government believes the new name will enhance Alberta's reputation and promote it as a province attractive for employment and living with family.
The program also renamed three immigration streams for businessmen:
- The international immigration stream for graduate entrepreneurs is now called the graduate-entrepreneur stream;
- stream for self-employed farmer-entrepreneurs — farmer stream;
- stream for entrepreneurial graduates on a startup visa — stream for foreign entrepreneurial graduates.
Changing the names of the immigration program and streams has no effect on the requirements and selection of applicants. But the Alberta government says that applicants who apply through the online portal must request an extension of their nomination.
In addition, the provincial government launched two new streams:
The streams are for those who want to settle in rural communities that are outside the Calgary and Edmonton metropolitan areas and have fewer than 100,000 residents. The provincial government is currently accepting applications from cities who wish to participate in the immigration streams, so the list will be known later.
Read more about the requirements in the new threads in separate articles at the links above.
In 2021, Alberta invited 6,250 people in its selections. Statistically, less than a quarter of Alberta's immigrants choose to live in rural areas.
