Alberta Advantage Immigration Program – Processing information

Overview

This page provides information on nominations issued and available, applications to be processed, estimated processing times, processing order and priorities and draws.

All information about nominations issued, nomination allocation distribution, spaces remaining and applications to be processed are subject to change without notice. AAIP reserves the right to redistribute allocations to other streams or pathways at any time.

In 2026, the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) will prioritize draws and nominations within its worker streams for occupations in key sectors such as health care, technology, construction, manufacturing, aviation, agriculture, and communities designated under the Rural Renewal Stream. While these sectors represent the program’s primary focus areas for the year, they are not an exhaustive list. This guidance is intended to help manage expectations and highlight AAIP’s highest priorities for 2026.

Last updated: March 17, 2026

Processing summary totals

2026 summary

Table 1. Process summary totals for 2026.

Additional federal spaces

Additional federal immigration spaces for physicians or Francophones

Up to 10,000 federal immigration spaces are available across all provincial nominee programs for provinces and territories to nominate practice‑ready physicians or Francophones (in Canada or abroad).

Any AAIP nomination issued in 2026 for a physician or Francophone who meets the federal criteria for this initiative will not count toward Alberta’s 6,403 nomination allocation.

Eligibility

• Physicians: Must be NOC 31100, 31101, or 31102 and be practice‑ready (meeting AAIP’s Dedicated Health Care Pathway requirements).
• Francophones: May work in any AAIP‑eligible NOC and must meet CLB/NCLC 5 in French across all four competencies.

AAIP will publish the number of nominations issued under this initiative as they are confirmed with IRCC for both Express Entry and non‑Express Entry pathways.

No new streams or pathways are being created for this initiative; existing AAIP stream designs apply. For details on how practice‑ready physicians may typically qualify for AAIP, see AAIP’s Dedicated Health Care Pathway page.

Alberta Opportunity Stream

Table 2. Alberta Opportunity Stream nomination numbers for 2026.

Rural Renewal Stream

Processing information provided below is an estimate. The processing times for Rural Renewal Stream applications may vary based on several factors, including the consideration of application volumes from Designated Communities.

Table 3. Rural Renewal Stream nomination numbers for 2026.

Tourism and Hospitality Stream

Table 4. Tourism and Hospitality Stream nomination numbers for 2026.

Dedicated Health Care Pathways

Table 5. Dedicated Health Care Pathways (Express Entry and non-Express Entry nomination numbers for 2026.

Alberta Express Entry Stream

Table 6. Alberta Express Entry Stream nomination numbers for 2026.

Entrepreneur Streams

Table 7. Entrepreneur Streams nomination numbers for 2026.

Timelines for Entrepreneur stream applications vary as each file moves through several stages of review and require comprehensive documentation and verification. Entrepreneur stream applicants have frequent contact with AAIP staff responsible for assessing eligibility for business application approval and nomination.

Worker expression of interest

The table below is broken down by the streams or pathways and includes the current number of expressions of interest that are eligible for selection draws.

Candidates may be invited to apply to a stream or pathway other than the one that they submitted their expression of interest to.

Table 8. Expression of interest pool.

Draw information

• Information will be updated as draws are conducted. AAIP draws are not regularly scheduled. They are done as needed to address sector needs and provincial priorities.
• EOI score is not the only factor AAIP uses to select candidates for invitation. AAIP considers a variety of factors provided in Worker EOIs to meet program priorities. To protect program integrity AAIP does not disclose recent draw parameters. For general information on Alberta’s labour market, consult the Government of Alberta’s Labour Market Information website.
• Draw information for 2025 is provided in the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) Draw Summary 2025.
• Draw information for 2026 is provided below. 

Table 9. Draw information.

Contact

Connect with AAIP if you have questions about the program:

Use the AAIP online contact form