Atlantic Immigration Program: Application Procedure

AIP (Atlantic Immigration Program) began in 2017 and gained permanency in 2022.

The Atlantic Immigration Program opens the possibility to migrate and settle in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador for skilled workers. This program provides employment to foreign nationals when local labor needs aren’t met.

AIP focuses on hiring international graduates and foreign nationals so that the labor needs can be met whenever required.

Atlantic Immigration Program- Know the details

The Atlantic Immigration Program gives a chance to newcomers and immigrants to settle in Canada by fulfilling the major job requirements.

Certain local employers are designated to recruit talented and skilled workers across the globe when Canadian citizens and permanent residency holders fail to fill the desirable positions.

These job positions are created by employers who are designated to hire individuals with the required skills.

Aims of the Atlantic Immigration Program

On the whole, AIP (Atlantic Immigration Program) gives an opportunity to employers to hire individuals in the four provinces of the Atlantic region. Not just this, it allows an individual to apply for permanent residency.

This program functions on primary goals which are as follows:

Increase regional employment rates.
Ensuring skilled foreign workers or international students as part of the workforce.
To meet the various local labor needs.
To contribute toward economic growth.

Atlantic Immigration Program-How It Functions?

Since Atlantic Immigration Program is led by the employer, it is important for him to first offer a job to the appropriate candidate once the candidate fulfills all the essential criteria and requirements. The employer must be designated to offer a job to someone else and he needs to provide settlement plans for the selected candidates and their families. They do not necessarily have to go through the Labour Market Impact Assessment procedure.

Employers drive AIP and it focuses on hiring Foreign National Workers.
To apply through this program, one needs to attain a job offer from a designated employer.
The candidate must have a concrete and individual settlement plan for himself and his family too. This settlement plan is provided by an employer keeping in mind his long-term goals for integration once the candidate comes to Canada.

What happens if an employer needs to fill a position urgently? In this scenario, an employer will be able to utilize a temporary work permit which he further provides to the suitable candidate to get him to Canada on an urgent basis along with his family members.

Employers need to be designated

No employer is permitted to hire skilled workers until he receives a designation from the province. They need to apply for the designation from the province directly. If an employer is associated with various locations under multiple provinces, then he must possess an individual designation for each province. An employer must make sure that he is committed to supporting the candidate and his family while settling in Atlantic Canada.

The duties which come under the role of being a Designated Employer have been given below:

Firstly, they need to find the appropriate candidate for the job.
Secondly, the employer needs to provide them with a valid job offer.
They can do away with Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).
The candidate must accept the job offer.
The employer will then recommend a designated service-providing organization to assess and develop a settlement plan for the candidate.
They will make sure that the selected candidate and his family meet their settlement plan goals after their arrival.
In the case of an urgent job vacancy, the candidate will need a temporary work permit which will be given to him by his employer.
The candidate will need to possess a valid job offer and a letter issued to him by the province.
The candidate will also require to commit to the Permanent Resident application 90 days from receiving the temporary work permit.

Eligibility Criteria for candidates applying for AIP

The criteria for being eligible to apply through the Atlantic Immigration Program are given below, fulfilling these criteria can get you started with finding a designated employer in Atlantic Canada:

Qualifying Work Experience required- This is an exception in the case when you are an international graduate in Atlantic Canada under a Post-Secondary Institution.

Educational and Language ability- The candidates must meet the mandatory eligibility criteria for educational and language qualifications.

Providing evident proof of settlement funds- This is not the case for those who possess a valid work permit while living and working in Canada.

1. QUALIFYING WORK EXPERIENCE

Working Hours Calculation:

Work experience must be well in alignment with the NOC skill type A, O, or C. Every NOC has duties attached to the work profile mentioned on it. So, you must ensure that your description in your work profile matches with maximum duties.

Steps for calculating the working hours have been given below:

Your work experience must count to 1,560 hours in the recent 5 years.
Calculate the number of hours you’ve worked purely on the basis of paid jobs and avoid voluntary work or any other unpaid work.
Also, exclude self-employment working hours while calculating.
Working hours while living in Canada or abroad can be taken into account but you must be a temporary resident with legal authority to work in Canada.
Working hours which come under a continuous 12-month period must be considered.
You can also consider the working hours while you were studying only if you were able to fulfill the conditions associated with your work permit.

2. INTERNATIONAL GRADUATES & THEIR QUALIFICATION

An International graduate in Canada must ensure that he has the following credentials and supporting documents to avoid the above-mentioned eligibility details:

Supporting Documents: An apprenticeship certificate determining a minimum study period of 2 years under an authorized post-secondary institution in any of these cities including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island. Other documents must include a diploma, degree, and relevant certificates.
The full-time study period of students.
A valid visa or permit relevant to the study, work or training while he or she lived in Canada.
He or she must also have the experience of living for 16 months before graduating in the recent previous two years in one of the provinces in Atlantic Canada.

3. FULFILLING EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

For those having acquired education outside Canada, getting an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) is mandatory because it validates your educational claim to be equivalent to the standard of education inside Canada. This ECA must not be older than 5 years on the date when IRCC receives the application.

For the NOC category, educational requirements are listed below:

For job offer at NOC A or O skill level: You must be educated from a post-secondary institution in Canada or you must have the education to these standards if outside Canada.
For job offer at NOC B or C skill level: Diploma certificate from a High School in Canada or equal to the standard outside Canada.

4. MEETING THE LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

The foremost thing to keep in mind, under the language requirement category, is to submit language test results which must be from a Designated Language Testing Organization. It is important that these test results submitted to IRCC are not above 2 years old.

The NOC job type for skill levels O, A & B requires you to meet the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of score level 5.
The NOC job type skill level C requires you to meet the CLB score of 4.

5. Regarding the settlement of funds

Given below is an overview of the settlement funding requirements, amount of money, and the family size:

Funding Proof not required: This applies to individuals who hold a valid work permit while living and working in Canada.
Funding Proof required: Individuals who don’t have a valid work permit while living and working in Canada need to provide sufficient proof that they will be able to support all the family members dependent on them once they arrive in Canada.
Amount of money required: The amount of money you need to possess will differ depending upon the family size whom you must support.
Family Size: The family size consists of individuals you need to support who are not accompanying you in immigration.

You may refer to the table below for clarity on the funding requirements:

Number of Family Members (including those supported by the applicant, even if they are not included in the application)	Funds Requirements
1	$3,303
2	$4,112
3	$5,055
4	$6,138
5	$6,962
6	$7,852
7 or above	$8,742
For each family member added	$890

Immigration to Atlantic Canada: Alternative Ways

Various Provincial Nominee Programs have helped newcomers and immigrants ranging from skilled workers, and international graduates to entrepreneurs.

The Federal Express Entry system consists of Atlantic provinces in alignment with the stream of the Provincial Nominee Program.

The available options for PNP are given below: