Alberta held two draws on April 1st and April 14th under the Express Entry (EE) program, with details now available.

For the April 1st draw, the AINP invited 120 candidates with Comprehensive Ranking Scores (CRS) of 381 and for the April 14th draw, a total of 200 candidates were invited with a CRS of 353. The CRS scores have increased significantly for these two draws, compared to previous 4 draws. Unfortunately, not all candidates in the Express Entry pool with scores above 353 or 381 are guaranteed to receive an invitation as the pool of applicants is quite large and applications are assessed according to the current criteria, not the date of application submission. The AINP has a high volume of EE applications in several occupations that will take longer to process, including: Food Service Supervisors; Cooks, Retail Sales Supervisors; Administrative Assistants; Transport Truck Drivers; Accounting Technicians and Bookkeepers; Restaurant and Food Service Managers; Industrial Butchers, meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers; Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers; Light Duty Cleaners; and, Administrative Officers.

Under the AINP, all applicants must create an active EE profile, in which the Province can select candidates based on their labour market needs. If an application is approved, the applicant will receive Nomination Certificate through the IRCC EE portal. Once a Nomination is issued by the Province, applicants must accept it within 30 days. Once the Nomination is accepted, IRCC will send out the Invitation to Apply (ITA) and the applicant will have 60 days to apply for Permanent Residency through the IRCC portal. Applicants who are unable to provide all the documentation due to the impact of COVID-19 are being given extra time by IRCC to submit their documents. No denials are being issued based on incomplete applications.

Typically, individuals who have strong ties to Alberta, are interested in moving to Alberta, work in an In-Demand occupation that supports the Province’s government economic development and diversification are the ones chosen from the EE pool. Chances to receive a Nomination are also increased with an Alberta job offer, work experience, past education, parent, child, brother or sister. There is no fee to submit an application. If a candidate is chosen under the AINP, this will add 600 points to their overall CRS.