The Alberta government announced that it is changing the name of the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP).

In addition, Alberta announced the introduction of two new streams to encourage skilled and talented professionals and entrepreneurs from around the world to settle in the province’s rural communities.

The two new streams are called the Rural Renewal Stream and the Rural Entrepreneur Stream.

These major announcements were made by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at the first Premier’s Summit on Fairness for Newcomers on February 16.

The renaming of the province's immigration department and the new rural immigration streams are part of the provincial government's efforts to rebuild the economy after the pandemic. Making Alberta accessible and attractive to potential international skills and talent that can help diversify the province's economy and create more employment opportunities for Albertans is a key component of the province's recovery strategy.

“We need to make our province the destination of choice for skilled newcomers and entrepreneurs. Identifying ways to encourage more skilled newcomers to come to Alberta is the first step to increasing our competitiveness, growing our economy and restoring the Alberta Advantage, ”said Tyler Shandro, Minister of Labour and Immigration, in a news release.

The pandemic has slowed economic growth in Canada, and Alberta’s economy has been hit even harder due to a struggling oil industry over the past several years.

Rural areas of the province, in particular, have been affected by the current labour shortage and face significant challenges in attracting workers.

The Rural Renewal Stream is designed to help attract and retain newcomers who will contribute their skills and talents to the growth of local economies.

“One of the biggest challenges facing rural communities is population decline, which has caused a succession crisis when a retiring business owner cannot find an interested buyer. We are helping revitalize rural Alberta by removing barriers and setting the building blocks to welcome job-creating immigration to local communities and supporting economic growth throughout the province,” Jason Kenney stated in the release.

Rural communities interested in welcoming newcomers must first apply to become a designated community. Once selected, the community, represented by an economic development or similar organization, will be able to begin working with employers and settlement agencies to attract newcomers and support their permanent settlement in the community.

The Rural Entrepreneur Stream is designed to attract immigrant entrepreneurs to rural Alberta communities to start businesses that will create jobs and economic growth.

Entrepreneurs who wish to start or purchase a business in rural Alberta will first need to visit the communities to see where they will be able to live and operate their business, and to allow the community to get to know the entrepreneur and evaluate their business idea.

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