Opportunities for H-1B holders in Alberta, Canada

A New Canadian Permanent Residency Program is there for the taking for the H-1B holders. Alberta, Canada, recently announced officially that the fast track program has been approved. This program is designed in a way to assist H-1B holders from the US to acquire Landed Immigrant Status in Canada without fulfilling the requirement of a pre-assigned job offer or sponsorship by an employer in Canada.

In order to avail the benefits of the program, an H-1B holder needs to meet the following conditions as stated below:
1. The candidate must show an obvious ability and intention to stay in Alberta on a permanent basis.
2. At the time of applying for the program, the candidate must be working in the United States and when the ANIP takes the final decision on the application, the candidate needs to have a valid visa in at least of the following temporary skilled worker visa categories- H-1B, H-1C, H1-B1 or E-3.
3. A minimum of one year of work experience in the United States is also necessary. The experience must be in any one of the visa categories stated above, and,
4. The occupation in which the candidate is currently working in the United States must be listed in the ANIP Occupations Under Pressure list.

The whole procedure of qualifying through the program consists of two separate applications. The first application would be that of the AINP which is to be filed with the Province of Alberta. The application would be processed within a time span of four to six months. After the application has been approved from Alberta, the application needs to be filed federally, after which it would take approximately six months for being approved with the Landed Immigrant Status. Overall, the whole process takes not more than one year.