Alberta pauses processing for Alberta Opportunity Stream applications

Alberta Opportunity Stream Suspended

Just one day after the Alberta Nominee Program (AAIP) announced the opening of new tourism and hospitality stream, the province announced another big news, announcing the suspension of the Alberta Opportunity Stream. ) application will be accepted and the reopening time will be notified later.

The official reason given is that it is currently to solve the problem of excessive backlog of applications, and to prioritize quotas for talents in the medical care, technology, construction, agriculture, tourism and hotel industries.
The Alberta Opportunity Stream is an immigration project launched by the province in cooperation with the Canadian Federal Immigration Service. Since its implementation in 2018, it has been attracting many international talents with its relaxed application conditions and wide range of occupations.
Not only does this project have no scoring system, but it also has relatively loose requirements for applicants’ age, education, and language. The minimum academic requirement is only a high school graduation, and the minimum language requirement is CLB 4. This makes the Alberta Opportunities category one of the province’s primary channels for accepting permanent resident applications.

The Alberta Opportunity Stream that accepts the largest number of permanent residents in the province. The number of places allocated in 2023 is 4,970, accounting for half of all permanent resident places in the province.
However, as the number of applicants continues to increase, handling the backlog of applications has become a challenge. In an effort to allocate slots more efficiently, the Province of Alberta has decided to pause applications in the opportunity category in order to prioritize applications from other critical industries.
This move also reflects the overall trend of Canadian immigration, which is to focus more on attracting talents who can meet the needs of the province’s economic development.

Alberta Tourism and Hospitality Stream

The tourism and hotel industry has become a new pillar industry in Alberta. In 2022, the province invested 10.7 billion Canadian dollars in tourism, received 32 million tourists, and provided more than 80,000 jobs.

However, Alberta’s tourism and hospitality industries are facing staffing shortages. Hotel and restaurant job vacancies in Alberta are as high as 9%.
Alberta will open a new tourism and hospitality talent category program on March 1, opening applications to individuals with at least six months of full-time employment experience in the tourism and hospitality business who meet the criteria to settle permanently in Alberta.
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