The Alberta provincial government has recently launched an online immigration web portal to promote Alberta as a destination for immigrants and to help newcomers transition into their new home.

It is a one-stop destination for information about finding work in Alberta , securing a place to live, improving English skills, accessing health care, education and transportation services, and obtaining services from local immigrant-serving organizations. Details about immigration to Alberta are laid out for each stage of the process.

"We want newcomers to choose Alberta and we want to make it easier for them to navigate the immigration process," stated Iris Evans, Alberta's Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry. The new Immigrate to Alberta web portal, http://www.albertacanada.com/opportunity.aspx , is supported by a three-year $1.2 million funding agreement from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The portal will continue to develop more content, tools, and services to help new immigrants with social and economic integration.

Labour forecasts show that by 2015, Alberta will be short 109,000 workers. Alberta is currently welcoming about 20,000 newcomers annually and hopes to increase this number to 25,000 now that the Immigration to Alberta web portal is up.