Alberta has nominated 5,831 people so far in 2026. As of October 21 it had 772 nominations left for the rest of the year, and 33,291 profiles were waiting in the pool.
Those three numbers explain the program better than any list of requirements.
In short: you do not apply to the AAIP. You submit a worker expression of interest (EOI), which costs $135 and sits in a pool for 12 months; Alberta then invites candidates in draws, based on a score out of 100 and its own priorities. A provincial nomination is worth 600 points in the federal CRS. Of the 6,603 nominations Alberta had for 2026, 772 were left on October 21.
You don't apply: you wait to be invited
This is the part that causes the most confusion. In Express Entry you enter a pool and may be invited; the AAIP works in a similar way, but with its own queue and its own system.
The process goes like this:
- Submit a worker EOI in the AAIP portal. Since April 7, 2026 it costs $135, payable within 24 hours, and it stays valid for 12 months.
- Wait. There is no minimum score to submit, and no guarantee of an invitation. If the 12 months pass without selection, the EOI expires and you have to submit a new one and pay again.
- If you are invited, you have 15 days to accept. Once you create the application, you have 30 days to complete it, submit it and pay the provincial fee of $1,500, which is not refunded once the application is in.
Two details worth keeping in mind: Alberta may invite you to a stream other than the one you preferred, and since May 2026 you can decline an invitation you are not interested in and return to the pool, as long as you do it before the 15 days are up.
The arithmetic of the queue
Each province receives an annual number of nominations from IRCC. Alberta's for 2026 was 6,403, plus 200 more that IRCC provided on August 10: 6,603 in total.
This is how they stood on October 21, the most recent published update:
| Stream or pathway | 2026 allocation | Issued | Remaining | Profiles in the pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta Opportunity Stream | 3,562 | 3,273 | 289 | 21,150 |
| Rural Renewal Stream | 1,057 | 813 | 244 | 1,527 |
| Dedicated health care pathways | 518 | 351 | 167 | 1,069 |
| Express Entry – priority sectors | 619 | 651 | fewer than 10 | 4,566 |
| Express Entry – accelerated tech | 619 | 558 | 61 | 1,945 |
| Express Entry – law enforcement | 12 | fewer than 10 | — | 43 |
| Tourism and hospitality | 156 | 141 | 15 | 2,991 |
| Entrepreneur streams | 60 | 37 | 23 | — |
| Total | 6,603 | 5,831 | 772 | 33,291 |
Two notes on that table. The priority sectors pathway shows more nominations issued than it was allocated: the AAIP states that Express Entry draws allow for a small administrative overage. And separately from the allocation, Alberta issued 50 physician nominations and 12 francophone ones using additional federal spaces, which do not count against the total.
The effect shows up in the size of the draws. The main stream, the Alberta Opportunity Stream, invited 915 people on February 2 and 123 on October 2. The figures above change with every draw, and the 2027 allocation had not yet appeared on the program's updates page when it was consulted, on November 2, 2026.
What scores this year's draws asked for
Alberta held 90 draws between January 26 and October 20, 2026. These were the minimum scores of the candidates invited:
| Stream or pathway | Draws in 2026 | Minimum score |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta Opportunity Stream | 13 | 50 to 65 |
| Rural Renewal Stream | 11 | 50 to 55 |
| Health care pathways (Express Entry) | 9 | 55 to 64 |
| Health care pathways (non-Express Entry) | 8 | 45 to 63 |
| Express Entry – priority sectors | 28 | 46 to 66 |
| Express Entry – accelerated tech | 11 | 55 to 63 |
| Express Entry – law enforcement | 6 | 46 to 58 |
| Tourism and hospitality | 4 | 71 to 73 |
There is no fixed cut-off to aim for: the AAIP itself warns that its draws are not regularly scheduled, and that it selects according to labour market needs, program priorities, available nominations and application volumes.
The tourism and hospitality line is worth a look: 156 spaces for 2,991 profiles, and the highest cut-offs in the whole program.
How the 100 points are built
The EOI score is split into two blocks: 69 points of human capital and 31 of economic factors.
| Factor | Maximum | The essentials |
|---|---|---|
| Education | 22 | Doctorate 12, master's 10, bachelor's or trades certificate 7, diploma 4. Plus 10 if the credential was earned in Alberta, or 6 in another province |
| Language | 13 | Up to 10 for English (CLB 6 or higher) or 8 for French (NCLC 6 or higher), scored on the lowest of the four abilities. Plus 3 for being bilingual |
| Work experience | 21 | 11 for 12 months or more in total; 10 for six months or more in Alberta, 6 if it was in another province |
| Age | 5 | 5 points from 21 to 34; 4 from 35 to 49; 3 outside those ranges |
| Family in Alberta | 8 | A parent, child or sibling over 18 who is a citizen or permanent resident. In-laws do not count |
| Job offer | 16 | 10 for a permanent full-time offer, plus 6 if it is from a Rural Renewal designated community, the tourism sector or law enforcement |
| Job location | 5 | A designated community or any other Alberta community, 5 |
| Regulated occupation | 10 | Only with the certification or licence Alberta requires to practise it |
To submit an EOI you need a minimum of CLB or NCLC 4 in all four abilities.
Living in Edmonton costs points
In the location table, the Edmonton and Calgary metropolitan areas are worth 0 points. Any other Alberta community is worth 5, and if it is also a Rural Renewal designated community with an endorsement letter, another 6 are added.
That is a difference of up to 11 points between the same job offer in Edmonton and in a rural community. In a system where Alberta Opportunity Stream cut-offs moved between 50 and 65 this year, that difference decides invitations.
It is not a flaw in the design: it is the design. Alberta uses the score to steer immigration toward where it is short of workers.
How many points does your profile have today?
At Goldstone we calculate your EOI score against the current criteria and review which AAIP streams you could submit to. Annette P. Campos is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC, R532387).
The four worker streams
Alberta Opportunity Stream. The main door, and the most crowded: 21,150 profiles in the pool. It requires living and working in Alberta on an accepted type of work permit, with a full-time offer from an Alberta employer in the same occupation you already work in. The experience can be 12 months in Alberta within the last 18, or 24 months in Canada or abroad within the last 30; holders of a post-graduation work permit from a publicly funded Alberta institution need 6 months in the province. Language is CLB or NCLC 5 for TEER 0 to 3 occupations and 4 for TEER 4 and 5, with one exception: occupation 33102, nurse aides and orderlies, requires 7. And you need high school completed to Canadian equivalency, normally proven with an ECA.
Alberta Express Entry Stream. Requires an active profile in the federal pool. It covers the priority sector draws — health care, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, aviation — and two named pathways: accelerated tech and law enforcement. The 2026 draws asked, among other conditions, for a minimum CRS of 300 and a valid work permit.
Rural Renewal Stream. Requires a job offer in a designated rural community and an endorsement letter from that community. They are two separate steps, and the second one depends on the municipality, not the province.
Tourism and hospitality. For people working in the sector for an employer that belongs to one of the required sector associations.
What disqualifies you without being obvious
Several of the Alberta Opportunity Stream exclusions surprise people who have already spent years in the province:
- Maintained status and restoration do not count. You need valid temporary resident status both when you apply and when the AAIP assesses the application. If your permit expired and you are in the middle of restoration, that door is closed in the meantime. We wrote about that scenario in our guide to restoring status.
- Working or living outside Alberta, including remote work for an employer that is not in the province.
- Independent contractors, business owners and temporary agency workers, even when the work is full-time.
- Ineligible occupations. The list includes elementary and secondary school teachers, teacher assistants, judges, home child care providers, home support workers, taxi drivers, real estate agents and several artistic occupations. Early childhood educators are excluded if they do not hold Alberta certification or hold only Level 1.
- Credentials from private institutions do not work for the post-graduation route: the credential must be from a publicly funded Alberta institution and approved by the Minister of Advanced Education.
- Co-op terms and internships do not count as experience, except in the narrow case of a post-graduation work permit holder who completed a paid, full-time co-op in Alberta directly related to their occupation.
What a nomination does not settle
Those 600 points are decisive, but they are not the end of the process.
A provincial Express Entry round invites only candidates who already hold a nomination; that is why its cut-offs — 772 and 761 in the two October rounds — are not comparable to those of the other rounds. After that comes the permanent residence application to IRCC, which assesses medical and criminal admissibility on its own, and on its own timelines.
The AAIP says it plainly at two separate points: meeting the assessment requirements does not guarantee a nomination will be issued, and submitting an application does not guarantee a permanent resident visa.
It is also worth adding up the costs before starting: $135 for the EOI, $1,500 for the provincial application — neither refundable once submitted — and the federal fees after that.
One note on timing: Express Entry rounds are paused from November 3 while IRCC recalculates the pool's scores under the new rules. AAIP draws run on their own schedule, which does not depend on that pause.
Let's review your case before you pay for the EOI
If you are not sure which stream fits, whether your work permit is an accepted type, or whether your occupation is on the ineligible list, we can review it at Goldstone before you submit anything.
Sources: Government of Alberta, Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, Processing information (updated October 21, 2026), How to apply to AAIP worker streams, Alberta Opportunity Stream: eligibility, AAIP updates and the Worker Expression of Interest Points Grid dated September 28, 2026. Consulted on November 2, 2026. Allocations, lists and criteria change: always check alberta.ca when you submit your EOI.