Have you ever thought of migrating to Canada as a permanent residence? If yes, then that must be express entry or provincial nominee programs. The majority of people have never heard of Canadian latest immigration program called ‘Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program’.

Atlantic Provinces are known for their laidback lifestyle and beautiful east coast. However, these provinces are a good place for new immigrants to get settled. Also, there is abundance of growth potential and innovation in the area that has less population. In these areas, foreign workers can be a huge asset in achieving local labour shortage.

This article will thus, focus on understanding the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, different AIPP offered and its immigration process!

Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program- Introduction

The Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program (AIPP) is a fairly new program and was officially launched on March 6, 2017 by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) to help foreign national settle successfully into the Atlantic Society and can contribute productively towards the economy.

The program is in partnership with the Federal Government of Canada and the four Atlantic provinces namely:

The program is introduced to help employers attract and retain skilled immigrants of the above mentioned provinces. Also, it helps employers of these provinces to hire applicants who aren’t Canadian citizens or permanent residents, when they are unable to fill positions with local talent. This program is also exempted from applying for a labour market impact assessment.

With its unique eligibility criteria and fast processing times, AIPP is definitely a new ray of hope for potential workers and graduates.

Different types of AIPP programs:

There are three streams under Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program to hire workers. Every stream has its own eligibility requirements for applicants.

  • The applicants must show their ability to communicate in English or French.
  • Enough funds to sustain themselves and their families in the Atlantic regions of Canada

The three programs are:

  1. Atlantic High Skilled Program

The High-Skilled Program is for workers with experience in:

  • Management
  • Professional
  • Technical skilled jobs

There are educational requirements as well.

  1. Atlantic Intermediate Skilled Program

The program is for workers having experience in jobs that require a high school education and job-specific training. The jobs must be in

  • management,
  • professional
  • technical/skilled, job needing a high school education
  • job needing specific training
  1. Atlantic International Graduate Program

The program is for workers having specific educational requirements, including degree, diploma or other credential from a publicly funded institution on an Atlantic province. There is no requirement of work experience as such. The education must be in following areas:

  • management
  • professional
  • technical/skilled
  • jobs needing a high school education
  • jobs needing specific training

All of the above mentioned programs require a full-time, non-seasonal job offer from a designated employer, but have a different work experience and education.

Check Eligibility for AIPP

Uniqueness of the AIPP:

The process of AIPP is quite different from a normal immigration process of Canada. The normal process involves an individual applying for a particular program they are eligible for and then being chosen through draws. However, to apply for AIPP, businesses, governments and non-profit organizations apply to the respective province to become a designated employer to offer jobs to skilled workers and international graduates.

For every job offer, employer must show their inability to fill the required job locally.

AIPP is also open to all National Occupation Classification (NOC) skill level 0, A, B or C. thus, the program offers an immigration chances to broader range of skilled workers.

AIPP PROCESS:

Every province has its own employer designation requirements and process, and settlement providers. The general AIPP process is as follows:

  1. Designation
  • To become a designated employer, an employer must contact the Provincial Immigration Office of Atlantic provinces to express interest.
  • Cooperate with a settlement service provider organization in the province(s) to help newcomers settle in Canada
  • After showing the preparation to welcome newcomers, the employers must actually apply to the province to become a designated employer. If they are successful in their application, Atlantic Province will entitle them with designated employer.
  • After becoming a proper designated employer, the businessmen, governments, NPOs are free to search for a recruit that meets the eligibility requirements for the specific AIP program.
  1. Endorsement
  • Once the employer has found the recruit, they must connect the recruit with a participating settlement service provider organization.
  • Complete the Endorsement application for each applicant
  • Get the settlement plan for each applicant and his/her accompanying family member
  • Send the whole application package to the province for review to see if they are fit for the province. Then, the province will send the candidate an endorsement letter
  1. Immigration Application

After getting an endorsement letter from the employer, the application for permanent residence will be completed and send to IRCC. The processing time for the application is six months or less.

If the application process is approved, the applicants can come to Canada along with their family members. After their arrival, it is the duty of employer to take responsibility of the applicant within the workplace and community.

Therefore, you must be cleared by now that this process is completely different from other Canadian immigration process. It is the work and involvement of the employer on behalf of the applicant that makes the program so unique and promising.

To know about different immigration programs for Canada Permanent Residency, fill the free assessment form and the immigration experts of Aptech Global would call back to you to discuss the Canada immigration chances.