For the sixth time in a row, Alberta has invited candidates who meet the minimum cutoff score to be eligible for the provincial nomination.

Alberta’s October 26 draw results are now public. The western Prairie Province invited 248 Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination.

The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) invited candidates who had scores of at least 300 in the Express Entry system.

The latest draw is the sixth one in a row where the cutoff score was 300, which is the minimum needed to be eligible for the Alberta Express Entry Stream.

Alberta has now invited 6,158 Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination since it resumed invitation rounds in January 2021. It had taken a temporary hiatus in the latter months of 2020. The draws send invitations to Express Entry candidates to apply for a nomination certificate, which will greatly support their permanent residency application.

This year, Alberta is allowed to issue 6,250 nomination certificates. Since there have been fewer invitations issued than the number of allocated nomination certificates, it suggests that the province is not done issuing invitations this year.

How does the Alberta Express Entry Stream work?

The Alberta Express Entry stream is an enhanced Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). It allows the provincial government to search the federal government’s Express Entry pool of candidates for profiles of people who may be eligible for a provincial nomination.

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

If you are eligible for Express Entry, you will get a score based on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). You get points depending on your age, education, work experience, language ability in English or French, and other factors.

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 900, more than enough to be invited in a subsequent Express Entry draw.

Alberta Express Entry Stream Eligibility

In order to be eligible for the provincial nomination through the Alberta Express Entry stream, you need to have work experience in an eligible occupation.

The AINP does not provide a list of eligible occupations, rather it offers a list of occupations that are not eligible for the stream. Many who apply under this stream work as food service supervisors, transport truck drivers, and cooks among others.

Certain factors increase your likelihood of being nominated, like having work experience, a Canadian education, or a job offer in Alberta. It also helps to have a family member already living in Alberta, such as a parent, child, or sibling.