ATLANTIC IMMIGRATION PROGRAM
The 2017-launched pilot program assists firms in Atlantic Canada with hiring foreign graduates who choose to remain in the region after graduating as well as qualified professionals from abroad who wish to immigrate to the region. For positions you haven’t been able to fill locally, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot enables you to hire suitable people. Each program has prerequisites that both you and the candidate must fulfill. The provincial government of the Atlantic province where the applicant would be working must designate you before you may make a job offer. You and the candidate will go through a number of processes after making a job offer. If both you and the applicant fulfill all requirements, the applicant is granted Canadian permanent residence status.
It is an employer-led program that aims to bring candidates to the region to fill positions for which Canadian citizens and permanent residents are not available. To hire through the AIP, employers do not need a Labour Market Impact Assessment. Instead, they must meet requirements to become designated to make job offers.
Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program(AIPP)
The Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP) is a special immigration program introduced by the Canadian government in 2017 to address the labor market and demographic challenges faced by the Atlantic provinces of Canada. The Atlantic provinces participating in the program include Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
The AIP is designed to attract and retain skilled workers, international graduates, and intermediate-skilled workers to fill job vacancies in the Atlantic region. It offers a pathway to permanent residency for eligible candidates who secure a valid job offer from a designated employer in one of the participating provinces.
There are three main streams under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot:
- Atlantic High-Skilled Program (AHSP): This stream targets skilled workers with job offers for occupations classified as National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill level 0, A, or B.
- Atlantic Intermediate-Skilled Program (AISP): This stream is for candidates with job offers for occupations classified as NOC skill level C.
- Atlantic International Graduate Program (AIGP): This stream is designed for international graduates who have completed a full-time, qualifying post-secondary program of at least two years in duration at a publicly funded institution in one of the participating Atlantic provinces. They must also have a job offer for a position classified as NOC skill level 0, A, B, or C.
To apply through the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, candidates need to follow a two-step process:
Step 1: Candidates must receive a job offer from a designated employer in one of the Atlantic provinces participating in the program. The employer must also provide a commitment to support the candidate’s settlement and integration into the community.
Step 2: Once the job offer is secured, candidates can apply for a temporary work permit with the endorsement of the provincial government. After fulfilling the work experience requirement (usually 1 year of full-time work experience), candidates can then apply for permanent residency through one of the AIP streams.
The Atlantic Immigration Pilot has been successful in attracting newcomers to the Atlantic region and has helped employers in the region to address labor shortages and build a skilled and diverse workforce.
