Alberta PNP draw: CRS drops to 301

Express Entry candidates are one step closer to permanent residency status after Alberta held a new draw on March 2.

The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) invited a total of 200 Express Entry candidates to apply for the Alberta Express Entry stream. Candidates only needed a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of at least 301. Those who were invited can now apply for a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence.

All candidates invited in Alberta’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw had a profile in the Express Entry system.

Express Entry is Canada’s application management system for the three Federal High Skilled immigration pathways, which include the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and the Canadian Experience Class.

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Eligible immigration candidates receive a score based on the CRS. Candidates get points for factors that the government has determined will help a prospective immigrant succeed in Canada’s labour market. These factors include a candidate’s age, education, work experience, language ability in English or French, and others.

Canada’s immigration department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) regularly holds Express Entry draws, inviting the highest-scoring candidates to apply for permanent residence. In the most recent invitation round, on March 8, IRCC only invited candidates who had previously received a provincial nomination.

Those who receive the provincial nomination from Alberta will automatically get an additional 600 CRS points added to their overall score. That means the invited candidates who have scores equal to the minimum requirement in this draw would get a new CRS score of 901.

Alberta Express Entry Stream

This enhanced PNP is for Express Entry candidates who have strong ties to Alberta, or who can support the government’s economic development and diversification priorities. During the pandemic, Alberta is only considering candidates who are already living and working in the province.

Candidates also need to have work experience in an eligible occupation. The AINP only provides a list of occupations that are ineligible for the stream's requirements.

On November 1, 2020, the federal government increased the number of occupations that are not eligible to apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment in Alberta. However, candidates who received an invitation on or after November 1, 2020 can still be selected through the Alberta Express Entry Stream, even if they are working in an occupation that the federal government will not process an LMIA for.

Alberta was allowed to issue 6,250 nomination certificates in 2020. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the province reduced their allocation to 4,000 nominations. All of these nominations were issued by June 2020, which is why there were no draws for the second half of the year.

The AINP has not yet released the number of provincial nomination allocations for Alberta in 2021.

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