Atlantic Immigration Program Pilot

Atlantic Immigration Program Pilot

The Atlantic Immigration program was initially launched as Pilot in 2017 but soon went on to become a regular stream due to increased interest. The four provinces that fall under the Atlantic program are:

1.     Nova Scotia - Nova Scotia has a diversified economy bordering both land and sea line. Some of the predominant industries are fishing, forestry, mining, and tourism. It attracts lot of domestic tourists from neighboring countries. It has a population of nearly 1 million people with Halifax as its main city. Halifax, with a population of over 400,000 people, is Nova Scotia's largest city and its political capital. It is also one of Canada's major seaports and a main gateway to the Atlantic Ocean.

2.     Prince Edward Island – Just like the economy of P.E.E features a mix of traditional resources spanning over agriculture, fisheries, and tourism. Over the years the province has witnessed lots of developments and changes in the areas of bioscience and advanced manufacturing. As of April 1, 2020, the minimum wage is $12.85 per hour and the provincial government has numerous programs available to help students get into the job market.

3.     New Brunswick – New Brunswick is the only bi-lingual province is Canada and forms the land bridge linking this region to continental North America. The province has a large goods-producing sector and services-producing sector where most of the service-based employees are employed. The employers in the province have a significant presence in agriculture, forestry, food processing, freight transport (including railways and trucking), media, oil, and shipbuilding.

4.     Newfoundland and Labrador – Fish farming is considered one of the most important economic activities in the province. Retail trade, Manufacturing, and transportation are also considered other significant economic industries.

Immigrate

Unlike other provincial programs the Atlantic Immigration Pilot is a faster route for immigration that lets employers in Canada's four Atlantic provinces — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island — to hire foreign nationals for jobs they have not been able to fill locally.

Foreign nationals who are interested in applying should be able to secure a job offer from one of the designated employers in one of the four provinces. Employers that would like to hire skilled immigrants under the pilot program must apply to the province(s) in order to receive the designation. Employers with locations in multiple provinces will require a separate designation for each province they are planning to employ the applicant.

There are three categories under the pilot. Applicants interested in employment qualify for any of the two following categories:

·       Atlantic Intermediate-Skilled Program (AISP)

·       Atlantic High-Skilled Program (AHSP)

For both the sub-streams, completion of high school education and assessment of educational credentials is a pre-requisite for the program. A language competency of the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of level 4 is also needed.