The Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) is a permanent residency program for eligible skilled workers and certain graduates in the Atlantic provinces of Canada.
It only applies to four provinces:
Main feature of the program:
Must first obtain a suitable job offer from an approved employer who has been accepted by the province to participate in the AIP.
After a job offer, there are several more mandatory steps: a candidate's qualifications check, a placement plan, provincial confirmation and a federal application to IRCC.
This is a program where the process involves the candidate, employer, province and IRCC
For AIP, it is not enough to simply have the right profession or find any job in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada.
Usually several elements are needed at once:
That is, AIP is not “find a job and automatically obtain permanent residence.”
Each stage is checked separately.
AIP is a separate permanent residence program.
It doesn't require:
The AIP is also not part of the Provincial Nomination Program (PNP).
The province is involved in the process, but the mechanism is different.
In short, the path looks like this:
employer → job offer → candidate requirements → placement plan → provincial confirmation → IRCC application
AIP operates in four provinces:
If the job is located in Ontario, Alberta or British Columbia, for example, the AIP cannot be used for that job offer.
A typical Canadian employer is not enough.
The employer must obtain special status from the province to participate in the AIP.
Official term:
employer participating in AIP
On this page we will further call it:
employer participating in the AIP.
This status means that the province has authorized the employer to use the AIP for qualified candidates.
Important:
this does not mean that the employer has a vacancy right now.
First you need to find a real vacancy and receive a specific job offer.
The proposal should be:
The length of the offer depends on the occupational category.
The job must be offered for a minimum of 1 year from the date the candidate becomes a permanent resident of Canada.
The work must be permanent, with no set end date.
In Canada, occupations are classified according to the National Occupational Classification (NOC).
Within this system the category TEER is used.
Very simplified:
TEER helps determine the level of training, education, and responsibility typically associated with an occupation.
For AIP TEER, job offers affect:
Therefore, you cannot check the AIP based on the job title alone.
You need to determine the NOC for the actual responsibilities and then look at the TEER.
This roughly corresponds to:
30 hours per week for 1 year.
IRCC verifies the total number of hours and other program requirements.
Experience must:
Self-employment is not considered normal qualifying work experience for this AIP requirement.
If experience is gained in Canada, the work must be legal and performed with the necessary permits.
In AIP, a job offer can be for TEER 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.
To prevent the numbers from looking abstract, it is better to always show a human description of the category next to it.
| TEER | What does this mean in simple words |
|---|---|
| TEER 0 | Management professions - executives and managers at various levels |
| TEER 1 | Professional Occupations - usually requires a university degree or comparable previous experience |
| TEER 2 | Typically requires 2-3 years of post-school training, long-term vocational training, or occupations with supervisory responsibilities or increased safety requirements |
| TEER 3 | Typically requires less than 2 years of post-school training, shorter vocational training, or more than 6 months of on-the-job training |
| TEER 4 | Typically requires high school and several weeks of on-the-job training |
TEER 5 in AIP is not used for a qualifying job offer.
The table shows which categories of previous experience qualify for each TEER level of the job being offered.
| Proposed work | What previous experience can be used |
|---|---|
| TEER 0 - Management Professions | TEER 0 - Managerial occupations TEER 1 - Professional occupations usually requiring university education TEER 2 - Typically 2-3 years of post-school training, vocational training or occupations with supervisory responsibilities TEER 3 - Typically less than 2 years of post-school training or extensive on-the-job training TEER 4 - Typically high school and on-the-job training |
| TEER 1 - Professional occupations typically requiring a university degree | TEER 1 - Professional occupations typically requiring university education TEER 2 - Typically 2-3 years of post-school training, vocational training or occupations with supervisory responsibilities TEER 3 - Typically less than 2 years of post-school training or extensive on-the-job training TEER 4 - Typically high school and on-the-job training |
| TEER 2 - Typically 2-3 years of post-secondary education, vocational training or occupations with supervisory responsibilities | TEER 2 - Typically 2-3 years of post-school training, vocational training or trades with supervisory responsibilities TEER 3 - Typically less than 2 years of post-school training or extensive on-the-job training TEER 4 - Typically high school and on-the-job training |
| TEER 3 - Typically less than 2 years of post-school training or extensive on-the-job training | TEER 3 - Typically less than 2 years of post-school training or extensive on-the-job training TEER 4 - Typically high school and on-the-job training |
| TEER 4 - Typically high school and on-the-job training | TEER 4 - Typically high school and on-the-job training |
Example: If the job offer is TEER 3 - typically less than 2 years of post-school training or extensive on-the-job training, the standard AIP rule is that previous experience is eligible:
Some medical professions have specific exceptions.
Therefore, two people with the same number of years of service may get a different test result if their NOC and TEER are different.
Some recent Atlantic Province graduates may not be able to demonstrate the standard 1,560 hours of work experience.
But this exception does not apply to any international student.
You need, among other things:
IRCC also limits this exception to certain programs where a significant portion of the instruction was distance learning or consisted of English or French as a second language instruction.
Therefore:
“I graduated from college in Nova Scotia” does not automatically waive the experience requirement.
Must take an IRCC approved test in English or French.
Requires a minimum of CLB/NCLC 5 in each of the four skills.
Requires a minimum of CLB/NCLC 4 in each of the four skills.
Accepted:
Results must be less than 2 years old on the date of submission.
You need at least:
You need at least:
If education was completed outside of Canada, an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) is usually required for immigration purposes.
less than 5 years must have passed since the ECA was issued by the filing date.
Important:
The ECA only compares education to the Canadian level.
If the profession is regulated, a separate professional license or recognition of qualification may be required.
IRCC requires the candidate to show that they have sufficient funds to support themselves and their family after relocating.
The size depends on the number of family members and is updated periodically.
Amounts change, so please check the current IRCC table before submitting.
If you already:
IRCC indicates that proof of funds for the AIP arrangement is not required.
Upon receipt of an offer from an employer participating in the AIP, the candidate must receive a employment plan.
An organization that provides settlement services for new immigrants helps prepare it.
This plan is not needed to evaluate CRS or the profession.
It helps the candidate and family prepare for life in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada:
After the candidate has received the placement plan, the employer sends the package for provincial confirmation.
Official term:
province confirmation
If the province confirms the offer, the candidate will receive a Provincial Acknowledgment Certificate.
This document must be included in the federal application.
It is very important not to confuse the two stages:
The province has allowed the employer to participate in the AIP.
The Province has confirmed a specific job offer to a specific candidate.
It's not the same thing.
The path from employer to permanent residence consists of ten steps.
Find an employer participating in the AIP.
Get a suitable job offer.
Check work experience or eligibility for graduate exemption.
Check the language.
Check education and ECA if needed.
Get a construction plan.
The employer submits documents for confirmation to the province.
Obtain a provincial confirmation certificate.
Submit a federal application to IRCC.
The IRCC reviews the application and makes a final decision.
The AIP provides a separate temporary work permit for eligible candidates.
It:
To apply, you will need, among other things, a Provincial Work Authorization Letter from the Atlantic Province.
You also need to show compliance with the requirements for:
A spouse or partner may be able to apply for an open work permit.
Important:
obtaining a temporary work permit does not mean that your application for permanent residence will be approved.
If an employer is on the official AIP list, it only means that it is accepted into the program.
This does not mean:
You need to find a real job opening and go through the normal hiring process.
The Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a separate labor market assessment that is needed in many other employer-based work authorization processes.
For AIP, a regular LMIA is not required for such an offer.
But this does not mean that the employer is exempt from all actions.
He should still:
No. The employer must be officially admitted to the AIP.
Employer participation status does not mean the company is currently hiring.
The remaining requirements must be met.
The first relates to the employer, the second to the specific offer for a specific candidate.
TEER affects language, education, and sentence length.
There are separate conditions for exclusion.
The standard AIP requirement does not count self-employment as eligible work experience.
No.
Employer status should be checked on the province's current website.
If some answer is not yet known, this does not mean an automatic refusal.
This means that the missing information must be obtained first.
Your selections remain only on this page and are not sent anywhere.
A separate check is especially useful if:
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This is a permanent residency program for eligible workers and certain graduates who wish to work and live in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland and Labrador.
Compare the main federal and regional routes.
Analyze provincial selection programs.
Compare the path through small communities.
Check out the path through French-speaking communities.
Match the experience and responsibilities with the classification of professions.
Please review your documents and information before submitting.
Let's look at employer status, job offer, NOC/TEER, experience, language, education, graduate exception and provincial confirmation for your situation.
If you retain us for full representation within 14 calendar days after the consultation, the consultation fee is credited toward the cost of further services.
The materials on the site are for general informational purposes only and do not constitute individual immigration advice.
