Alberta’s New Tech-Focused Immigration Pathway to Permanent Residence

As part of its Recovery Plan and desire to become a dominant tech-hub in Canada and abroad, Alberta has introduced the “Accelerated Tech Pathway,” a new tech pilot under the Alberta Immigration Nominee Program (“AINP”) – a federal-provincial program that nominates individuals for permanent residence in Alberta based on stream-specific requirements.

According to the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, there are currently more than 3,000 tech-based companies in Alberta. Additionally, since 2012, Alberta has seen its tech-sector grow 233% per the 2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study. As such, the Government of Alberta sees the Accelerated Tech Pathway as a proactive approach to attracting highly skilled foreign tech talent to address the needs of Albertan tech-companies, while also drawing in more investment in the growing tech-sector and opportunities for all Albertans.

Through this new immigration pathway, eligible highly skilled foreign tech professionals from across Canada and abroad have access to expedited processing of their Permanent Residence application in Alberta – approximately 6 months. Nominated candidates residing abroad also receive a provincial letter of support as part of their nomination package, which they can use to apply for a work permit. 

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for this fast-tracked pathway to Permanent Residence, interested foreign tech professionals will first need to have an active Express Entry (“EE”) profile and be either working for, or have a valid job offer from an Alberta-based tech industry employer in an eligible tech occupation. The details of their EE  profile and Alberta employment or job offer must then be provided through the AINP portal. Subsequently, if minimum eligibility requirements are met, candidates will receive an invitation to apply for nomination.

The specific minimum eligibility requirements are as follows:

• Having an active EE profile in the federal Express Entry pool with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score of 300.
  • EE Profile must not be expiring in 3 months or less.
• Either working full-time in Alberta or having a job offer for full-time employment based in Alberta (full-time is a minimum 30 hours per week):
  • List of eligible Accelerated Tech Pathway occupations and
  • For an employer that is part of the Alberta tech industry as defined by the AINP list of eligible North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes
    • If working at a home-based business in Alberta, the employer must be authorized to operate that business location from a personal residence.
• The primary occupation in EE profile is the same occupation as current Alberta employment or job offer.

Final Thoughts

I commend the Alberta Government for introducing the Accelerated Tech Pathway, and encourage other provinces/territories to follow suit and design more immigration programs that tackle province/territory-specific labour shortages in certain occupations, create expedient pathways to Permanent Residence, and benefit Canada as a whole.

Highly skilled tech professionals interested in living and working in Alberta and Alberta-based employers in the tech-sector may wish to consider this new tech pilot program when looking for options to make Canada their home.