Please Note - All candidates must review, understand, and meet all program eligibility criteria before applying for available positions within the community.
If all eligibility requirements are met, candidates may apply for a position being offered in the County of Grande Prairie, Town of Beaverlodge, Town of Sexsmith, Town of Wembley, and the Village of Rycroft. Applications are made directly to the employer outlined in the job postings.
Candidates are encouraged to review the job postings carefully and only submit an application for a position that meets your skills, education, and experience. It is important that applicants clearly demonstrate in the application how they will meet all the mandatory requirements of the position.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the two different streams for this program?
There are two types of streams for the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program:
Rural Renewal Stream (Stream for Workers)
Qualified candidates with a job offer to work in our region (The County of Grande Prairie, The Town of Beaverlodge, The Town of Sexsmith, the Town of Wembley, or the Village of Rycroft) can apply for the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program nomination. This program empowers rural communities such as ours to recruit and retain foreign nationals to live, work, and settle in their communities.
Businesses must place their job vacancies on the Canada Job Bank. Businesses that part in this program are required to be incorporated, or registered by or under, an act of the legislature of a province, territory, or the Parliament of Canada and operating as a business that has an established production capability, plant, or place of business in Alberta.
You may recruit candidates from within Alberta, Canada, or outside Canada. Candidates that are currently living in Canada are only eligible if they have legal status in Canada. If the community is recruiting outside Canada, all federal immigration rules and regulations apply.
Rural Entrepreneurship Program (Streams for Entrepreneurs)
From the Government of Alberta: "The Rural Entrepreneur Stream is an economic immigration pathway that allows the province of Alberta to nominate qualified and capable immigrant entrepreneurs who want to start a new or buy an existing business in a rural Alberta community."
As this program is administered by the Province, please see their website and additional documentation here.
What Kind of job offers are available?
Your job offer or employment contract must offer:
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- continuous, paid work in your designated community
- full-time work, defined as a minimum of 30 hours per week
- employment for 12 months or more
- wages and benefits that meet or exceed the lowest starting wage for your occupation across all industries in Alberta as set out on the Alis website
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- if your employer has obtained a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for your occupation, wages and benefits must meet or exceed the requirements set out in your LMIA.
The applicant must meet the terms agreed to in their job offer or employment contract at the time of application and assessment.
For the full eligibility requirements as a business, please click here.
Ineligible job offers & occupations
The following individuals are not eligible to apply for or be eligible for nomination under the Rural Renewal Stream, even if they have a job offer to work 30 hours a week or more in a 12-month period:
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- part-time, casual, or seasonal employees, regardless of their working hours
- independent contractors, business owners or temporary agency workers, including individuals listed as directors, shareholders, or agents of the Alberta employer on the Corporate Registry System (CORES)
- employees who work in Alberta in a place of employment that is not zoned for commercial or industrial operations, such as a home-based business
- employees who do not work on premises in Alberta, such as those who work in a ‘virtual’ location or serve the employer by telecommuting from a location outside Alberta
For the full list of ineligibilities, please click here.
I am interested in applying for a job within the County Prairie, the Town of Beaverlodge, the Town of Sexsmith, the Town of Wembley, or the Village or Rycroft and immigrating. How do I go about this?
Please see the full eligibility criteria for applying for a job as part of this program here.
Jobs in these communities will be posted to the Government of Canada's Job Bank.
If a person is already in Canada legally and not working, do they still need to provide proof of settlement funds?
Yes, At the time your application is submitted and at the time the AAIP assesses your application, you must demonstrate that you have sufficient funds to support yourself and your family members to settle in your designated community if, you are not residing in Canada, or you are currently in Canada but are not working. The funds must be available at the time of application and assessment. Minimum settlement funds requirements are based on the Low-Income Cut-Offs (LICOs). Funds must be unencumbered and readily available to you to meet the minimum settlement funds requirement.
If the applicant is already living in Canada, and working, do they still need to provide proof of settlement funds?
No. If they are already living and working in Canada, you do not need to show you have settlement funds in your bank.
Does the employer need to complete/submit a LIMA?
No, a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is not required under the Rural Renewal Stream. Rural Renewal is a pathway for permanent residency. Communities that are designated will collaborate with employers to hire Foreign Nationals into permanent full-time positions. Designated Communities will endorse those selected Foreign Nationals for permanent residency. Under the Federal Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, the employers are required to apply for and receive a LMIA to hire Temporary Foreign Workers.
Can the worker's spouse work once they arrive? Will they be able to apply for some type of workers visa while waiting for residency?
Immediate Family members can come with the endorsed candidate through the Permanent Resident pathway and can be included on the application. A spouse is entitled to an open work permit and children are entitled to a study permit; spouse and children need to apply for the permits.
Does this include common-law partners?
Immediate Family members (spouse, common law partner and/or any dependents) can come with the endorsed candidate through the Rural Renewal Stream and can be included on the AAIP application. Once a candidate has received an endorsement of Candidate letter from the community, then they apply for nomination through the Alberta Advantage Immigration (AAIP) portal. In the portal, the candidate will include information on their spouse, common-law partner, and/or any dependents.
Do they apply for permanent residency before arriving in Canada or after?
According to newcomer supports it can either be before or after. The timing is not as critical as other programs such as work permits, or study permits which must be applied for before coming to Canada.
