Alberta invited 200 more Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination on April 20.

Invited candidates needed a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score requirement of at least 301. The score cutoff decreased one point compared to the previous draw.

If these candidates are eligible for the nomination through the Alberta Express Entry stream, they will automatically get an additional 600 CRS points toward their overall score in the Express Entry system. Once that happens, they are well on their way to be invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

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The province manages these applications through the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP), which operates the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) for Alberta-bound immigrants.

The Alberta Express Entry stream is an enhanced PNP, which means it pulls from the pool of Express Entry candidates. The first step to being eligible for this program is to create a profile in the Express Entry system.

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is the application management system for the three Federal High Skilled programs: Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program.

If you are eligible for Express Entry, you will get a score based on the CRS, which awards points for 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.

It is possible to immigrate through the Express Entry system without a provincial nomination, however, people who have lower CRS scores may opt for a PNP. Provincial nominees automatically get 600 points added to their overall score. If the lowest-scoring candidates in the new Alberta draw receive the nomination, their new CRS scores will be 901, more than enough to be invited in a subsequent Express Entry draw.

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.

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.

Some occupations taking longer to process

The AINP has a high volume Alberta Express Entry submissions in the following occupations, and they may take longer to process. They are listed by their National Occupational Classification (NOC) code.

7511 – Transport truck drivers
6322 – Cooks
6311 – Food service supervisors
6211 – Retail sales supervisors
4214 – Early childhood educators and assistants
1311 – Accounting technicians and bookkeepers
1241 – Administrative assistants
1221 – Administrative officers

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