New Communities Added To Alberta PNP Rural Renewal Stream

Alberta’s Rural Renewal Stream helps promote the attraction and retention of newcomers to rural Alberta through a community-driven approach.

It aims to meet local economic development needs and contributes to community growth.  

After a community becomes designated, it can attract, recruit and retain newcomers with this stream.

In this article, you can learn about the overview of the Rural Renewal Stream, find newly designated communities, mandatory requirements and how to apply. 

Who Can Apply?

A Rural Renewal Stream candidate is a foreign national who does not have permanent residence or Canadian citizenship. This person could be in or out of Canada.

To be able to participate in the Rural Renewal Stream, communities must be able to attract, recruit, and welcome newcomers. 

List of New Designated Communities For Alberta Rural Renewal Stream

Community	Designation Date
City of Brooks (including: Town of Bassano, Village of Duchess, County of Newell, Village of Rosemary)	May 13, 2022
City of Grande Prairie	July 6, 2022
Town of Whitecourt	July 20, 2022
Town of Taber (including: Municipal District of Taber, Town of Vauxhall)	July 20, 2022
Town of Innisfail	September 9, 2022
Municipal District of Smoky River (including: Town of Falher, Town of McLennan, Village of Donnelly, Village of Girouxville)	September 9, 2022
County of Grande Prairie (including: Town of Sexsmith, Town of Wembley)	September 9, 2022
Town of Trochu	September 9, 2022
Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo	September 9, 2022
Municipality of Jasper	September 13, 2022
Town of Edson	November 8, 2022
County of Barrhead (including: Town of Barrhead)	November 8, 2022
Big Lakes County (including: Town of High Prairie)	November 8, 2022
Town of Hinton	November 8, 2022

Just FYI, communities that have less than 10,000 residents will receive additional points. 

68 High Demand Jobs In Alberta – Important Factor For PNP!

What Is Alberta Rural Renewal Stream

The Rural Renewal Stream assists newcomers settling into rural Alberta communities and addresses labour demands and skill shortages.

For community designation under this stream, communities must apply to the Government of Alberta. 

The community is in charge of this stream. Therefore, an applicant must fulfill all requirements for the Rural Renewal Stream and have endorsement by a designated community.

As an applicant, you cannot apply to the province of Alberta without a community support letter. 

Once a community has been recognized as a designated community, it works with local businesses to attract and hire newcomers.

In addition, it partners with a settlement-supporting group to help retain newcomers by sharing information about settlement services.

These services may include housing, education, healthcare, and language training. 

Mandatory requirements for communities 

Only the applications that meet all the mandatory requirements are evaluated. Below are the mandatory requirements: 

• If rural communities have less than 100,000 population, they can:
  • Form a partnership with rural communities in the same economic region to submit an application 
  • Use census 2016 figures as reference year population count. 
  • Be outside the  Calgary and Edmonton census metropolitan area
• Have one or more interested employers in participating who have permanent (12-month minimum), full-time, non-seasonal jobs available. 
• Have an endorsement letter of support from the community or town council
• The economic development organization with a primary function in economic development signs and submits the application
  • Contains an economic development plan or other similar documents (needs not be current)
• An endorsement letter of support from a settlement-providing organization (does not have to be local) that works with the community to identify and plan for settlement needs to integrate newcomers into the community successfully.

Community requirements and responsibilities 

• Identifying and collaborating with community employers who have permanent (minimum of 12 months, full-time, non-seasonal) job vacancies
• Partnering with a settlement-providing organization to identify and plan for some of the community’s settlement needs
  • Before applying for designation, the community should meet with the settlement-providing organization to discuss and outline their respective roles.
  • The outcome of this discussion should be included in the letter of endorsement. 
• Creating additional optional criteria to recruit foreign nationals
  • The criteria could be narrowed down by occupation that the community is interested in recruiting.
• Responding to inquiries from foreign nationals while the community is actively recruiting
• Working with employers to select and endorse foreign nationals
• Creating and carrying out a plan for welcoming and settling foreign national(s) in the community.

How To Apply?

In collaboration with the community, an economic development agency completes the application.

• Rural Renewal Community Designation Application form (PDF, 135 KB)

Endorsement support letter from settlement providing organizations

On official letterhead, the letter should include the following information:

• name and address of the organisation delivering the payout
• describe the community’s partnership with the settlement giving organisation
• mention the sorts of settlement information and assistance they will provide to newcomers and their families in partnership with the community
• the individual sending the endorsement letter’s name, title, and contact information

Letters of support from participating town or municipal councils

On official letterhead, the letter should include the following information:

• name and location of the town or municipality that is sponsoring the application
• The participating town/municipality expresses its support for this initiative and the date on which it was addressed at the meeting.
• If their community becomes designated, the participating town or municipality recognises that their community name will be placed on the Government of Alberta website. name, title, and contact information of the person sending the endorsement letter

Submit the application

The completed application and supporting documents need to be submitted for designation by email to: ruralrenewal@gov.ab.ca. Once you receive designation from a rural community, then you can apply for Alberta PNP.

After receiving Alberta nomination, applicants can then apply to IRCC for permanent residency.

Source: Government of Alberta

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