Atlantic Immigration Program Eligibility With New TEER NOC

The Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) provides a pathway to permanent residency for qualified foreign workers and international graduates who desire to work and live in one of Canada’s four Atlantic provinces; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island.

Therefore, those struggling due to high CRS scores in Express Entry can consider this pathway a potential option.

Furthermore, TEER 4 (or NOC C) are also eligible for Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP). This article enlists the program requirements and how you can qualify for the program. 

Who can apply for the Atlantic Immigration Program? 

If you would like to participate in this program, you must meet the following eligibility requirements: 

• Posses qualifying work experience, unless you are an international graduate from a recognized post-secondary Atlantic Canada institution 
• Satisfy the education requirements 
• Meet the language requirements 
• Have sufficient funds to support yourself and your accompanying family member
  • However, if you are already living and working in Canada on a valid work permit, you do not need to show proof of funds. 

If you fulfill all these requirements, you can begin looking for work with a designated Atlantic employer. Below, you can find a detailed explanation of all the required eligibility criteria. 

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Work experience requirements 

In the last five years, you must have worked 30 hours per week for at least one year, totalling 1,560 hours. 

Here’s how you can calculate your hours: 

• Calculate the hours worked in part-time and full-time jobs. 
• Only count the hours for paid work, where volunteering or unpaid internships do not count. 
• Do not count hours when you are self-employed. 
• Include hours worked inside or outside Canada, and ensure that you were legally authorized to work in Canada as a temporary resident. 
• In your calculations, count the hours you accumulated over at least 12 months. 
• Count job experience gained while studying as long as the work hours do not exceed the maximum allowed. 

The acquired work experience should be among the following National Occupational Classification (NOC) TEERs.

• TEER 0 (management jobs such as restaurant managers or mine managers)
• TEER 1 (professional jobs that usually need a degree from a university, such as doctors, dentists or architects)
• TEER 2 (technical jobs and skilled trades requiring at least 2 years of college or apprenticeship, or occupations with supervisory or safety responsibilities such as police officers and firefighters)
• TEER 3 (technical jobs and skilled trades requiring less than 2 years of college or apprenticeship; or more than 6 months of on-the-job training)
• TEER 4 (intermediate jobs that usually call for high school and/or several weeks of job-specific training, such as industrial butchers, long-haul truck drivers, or food and beverage servers)

Your work experience must include most of the primary responsibilities in your NOC’s description and the main duties. 

Requirements for international graduates 

If you are an international graduate, you do not need to satisfy the work experience requirements. However, you must meet the following criteria: 

• Have a degree, diploma, certificate, or trade or apprenticeship that
  • Took at least two years to complete, and 
  • Your degree is from a recognized post-secondary institution in 1 of the 4 Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, or Newfoundland and Labrador)
• You were a full-time student for the entire time you were studying.
• Lived in one of the four provinces for at least 16 months in the last two years before graduation, these provinces include:
  • New Brunswick
  • Nova Scotia
  • Newfoundland and Labrador or
  • Prince Edward Island
• Had a valid permit while studying, living or working in Canada 

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Education requirements 

You must meet one of the following requirements: 

• If you have a job offer at the NOC 2021 TEER 0 or 1 category, you must have a Canadian one-year post-secondary educational credential or higher, or the equivalent from outside Canada.
• If you have a job offer at the NOC 2021 TEER 2, 3 or 4 category, you must have a Canadian high school diploma, or the equivalent from outside Canada.

If you studied outside of Canada, you would need an educational credential assessment (ECA) to demonstrate that your studies are at or above the required level of education for your employment offer.

Additionally, your educational credential assessment (ECA) must be under five years old from the date you submit your application. 

Language requirements 

You must fulfill the minimal language criteria for the NOC category applicable to your employment offer. It might be either the meeting of the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) for English or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) for French. 

Each NOC category’s minimum language requirements are: 

• CLB/NCLC 5 for TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3
• CLB/NCLC 4 for TEER 4

Ensure that your language results are from a designated language testing organization, which must be less than two years old when you apply. 

Required settlement funds

Unless you already have a valid work permit and are currently working in Canada, you must demonstrate that you have enough funds to sustain yourself and your family after arriving in Canada.

Some of the other requirements are you:

• Can not borrow settlement funds from another person.
  • Must have this money to cover your family’s living expenses even if they are not coming with you. 
• Provide evidence to your home country’s Canadian visa office that you have sufficient funds when you apply to immigrate. 
• The amount of money required to sustain your family depends on the size of your family. These fund requirements are updated each year. 

Number of family members (including those you support that aren’t immigrating with you)	Funds required (in Canadian dollars)
1	$3,327
2	$4,142
3	$5,092
4	$6,183
5	$7,013
6	$7,909
7	$8,806
For each additional family member	$896

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Getting a job offer 

As mentioned earlier, you need a job offer from designated employers from one of the four provinces. You can find these employers on each province’s website:

• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island

The job offer must meet all of the following requirements: 

• In addition, the job offer should be full-time, non-seasonal and have consistent and regularly scheduled paid employment throughout the year.  
• Employers must offer you a position that will last at least one year for NOC 2021 TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 category (1 year from when you become a permanent resident).
• The employer must offer you permanent employment with no set end date for NOC 2021 TEER 4 category job offers.
• The employment offer cannot come from a firm in which you or your spouse possess majority ownership.
• Unless you are an international graduate from a recognized post-secondary institution in Atlantic Canada, the job offer must be at the same or higher TEER level than the work experience that qualified you for the position (see the chart below).
• Certain healthcare industry occupations may not require a job offer at the same or higher TEER level as the qualifying work experience.
  • For example, work experience in NOC 32101 (licensed practical nurses) and NOC 31301 (registered nurses) can be used as qualifying work experience if you have a job offer in NOC 33102 (nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates) or NOC 44101 (home health care workers).

Qualifying work experience requirement for each NOC level job offer

NOC 2021 TEER job offer category	Work experience requirement
TEER 0	TEER 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
TEER 1	TEER 1, 2, 3, 4
TEER 2	TEER 2, 3, 4
TEER 3	TEER 3, 4
TEER 4	TEER 4

Source: IRCC

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