Employer fees are illegal. Employers and employment agencies cannot charge employees fees for a job or employment offer. Call the Alberta government information line at 310-0000 and ask for Employment Standards or the Temporary Foreign Worker Advisory Office if you have any questions or concerns to report.
Rural Renewal Stream Frequently Asked Questions
The province provides their processing time on their website. You should expect a processing time of at least six months to receive the provincial nomination. After that, you can apply for permanent residency through the federal portal, IRCC, which also takes at least six months to process.
You can see the federal processing times on their website.
You can check the provincial website for updates.
Please note that employers and candidates are responsible to ensure they are currently eligible.
For the City of Grande Prairie, all enquiries must be directed through immigration@cityofgp.com. For questions about AAIP, email lbr.pnpoffice@gov.ab.ca
The City of Grande Prairie cannot offer letters of endorsement directly to prospective candidates. Candidates must receive a job offer from an employer who is based within the City of Grande Prairie and has been approved by the City under the Rural Renewal Stream. It is the responsibility of the employer to apply to the program, vet and select the best candidate and request the endorsement letter on their behalf. Once an employer has been approved under the Rural Renewal Program, qualified vacancies are listed by employer and updated after monthly community partnership meetings here.
The Rural Renewal Program is open to prospective employees who are still overseas, as well as those who are already in Canada. Candidates already in Canada must be here with valid temporary status.
The Rural Renewal Program is open to any eligible candidate who has a formal job offer from an approved employer, who is in Canada with valid temporary status and who meets the requirements of the Rural Renewal Stream under the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program.
Qualified vacancies are listed by employer and updated after monthly community partnership meetings here.
Once the letter of Endorsement is issued, the employee is expected to enter their application into the AAIP Portal as soon as possible. This is part of their commitment to the employer and the community. Processing will not start until the province has finished processing all applications that are ahead in the queue. processing times can be viewed here.
The RRS is a good option for employers who are having difficulties finding employees who are qualified to fill a given position and are willing to perform the work required.
The Rural Renewal Program offers employers the opportunity to wave the LMIA for the job vacancies by requesting a letter of endorsement from the City of Grande Prairie. An LMIA is not required for employers who recruit for vacant positions through this program.
Both the employer and the employee still have their rights under the Employment Standards Code. Should the employer or employee choose to end the employment agreement, the employer must follow employment standards and regulations to terminate their employment. Once employment has been terminated, it is the responsibility of the employer to notify the Grande Prairie Community Partnership who will then notify AAIP of the change in status of the employee.
If a Grande Prairie business has hired a representative, that representative is welcome to contact us and send in the application, so long as the employer or registered signor for the business signs the application and is cc’d via email when requesting the qualification. The consultant must be licensed by the City of Grande Prairie.
Employers and candidates do not require a consultant to represent them through this process and can email immigration@cityofgp.com with questions or to request an appointment with Economic Development.
Consultants who knowingly misrepresent themselves or provide fraudulent information to the City on behalf of their clients will be banned from participating in the program, representing any clients in the program and reported to the respective authority for investigation.
No. The best place to look for information on the Rural Renewal Stream Immigration program and updates is the provincial page: https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-rural-renewal-stream.aspx Up-to-date information on candidate eligibility and documents required can be found here: https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-rural-renewal-stream-eligibility.aspx
The province site lists eligibility requirements here: https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-rural-renewal-stream-eligibility.aspx