Alberta overhauls immigration rules for family members, temporary workers

The Alberta government is overhauling its immigration strategy, announcing Monday it’s halting two programs at the same time it prepares to review the temporary foreign worker component.

Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk revealed the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program — which recruits foreigners to the province, often to fill jobs in sectors experiencing labour shortages — will no longer accept applications for two separate categories.

The province has closed its doors to immigrants seeking to come to Alberta via the Family Stream (family members of Alberta residents) and U.S. visa holder categories (often temporary foreign workers in the U.S. who have looked north for work).

The two areas amounted to nearly 1,400 of the roughly 4,200 people accepted last year for permanent residency through the provincial nominee program, although several thousand more applications were received.

Lukaszuk said his department’s first priority is to ensure any and all job openings in the province are first available to Albertans and then other Canadians.

“It’s the responsible thing to do,” Lukaszuk said Monday. “Immigration should be conducive to what is good for Albertans and for Canadians.”

The changes are effective immediately, but all applications postmarked by Aug. 23 will still be reviewed.

Other categories within the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, as well as the temporary foreign worker component, allow newcomers only if employers have proven there are no Canadians to fill the positions. Immigrants hoping to land in the province must have permanent jobs lined up before they’re allowed in.

Alberta will continue to accept applications through other areas, including skilled and semiskilled workers; international students; compulsory trades; engineering occupations; and self-employed farmers.

The Family Stream, launched in 2008, allowed workers in Alberta wishing to bring family members to the province to nominate them for immigrant status, regardless of whether they had a job in the works or were looking for employment.

Immigrants applying through the U.S. Visa Holder category included international workers who moved to the United States for a job, but have since been laid off during the downturn and have looked to Alberta for opportunities.

Continuing to allow applications through those two programs would have seen potentially thousands of newcomers competing with Albertans and other Canadians for jobs, Lukaszuk said. “The best immigrant that Alberta can have is a person that shows up on Saturday and starts working on Monday and contributes to our tax base and becomes a productive Albertan,” he added.

Calgary social agencies helping immigrants said they support the government’s decision and the need to respond to changing labour market conditions.

Fariborz Birjandian, executive director of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, believes provincial and national policies have, in the past, taken too long to react to the need to either attract workers or slow recruitment. “I welcome the decision in that it’s being responsive to the needs,” he said.