On march 4th ,Canada is extending its Atlantic Immigration Pilot to December 2021 in a bid to maintain the program’s momentum, the federal government has announced.
The pilot allows designated employers , in those provinces to hire eligible foreign skilled workers and international graduates of universities and colleges in the Atlantic Canada region.
According to statistics released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), 1,896 employers in the Atlantic Canada region have made 3,729 job offers through the AIP since its launch in 2017 and 2,535 principal applicants and their families have been approved for permanent residence.
Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, said extending the pilot’s lifespan “will give the Government of Canada and the Atlantic Provinces more time to experiment with different approaches and to assess the program’s medium and long-term impacts on the region.”
IRCC also introduced the following strategic program changes to the AIP: International graduates will now have 24 months post-graduation to apply for the AIP.
• Employers in the health-care sector will be able to hire internationally trained nurses to work as continuing care and home care support workers in order to fill job vacancies.
A key advantage of the AIP is that designated employers do not have to go through the process of obtaining a LMIA for jobs endorsed under the pilot program.
In order to be eligible, foreign workers must have a full-time job offer from a designated employer and possess at least one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) paid work experience in an occupation designated Skill Type 0, Skill Level A or Skill Level B under Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC).
