The IRCC Updates the Instructions for Atlantic Immigration Program
On January 1, 2022., the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) was introduced. This program is a pathway toward permanent residency of skilled foreign workers as well as international graduates who came from a Canadian institution and wish to work and live in one of the four Atlantic provinces in Canada. It was on December 31, 2022, when the AIP replaced the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program (AIPP) and stopped accepting applications for the program on March 5, 2022. However, the Atlantic Immigration Program opened its applications the following day – March 6, 2022.
April 7, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada update the program application instructions for the permanent resident program. The said updated instructions apply to all Non-Express Entry applications that include the following:
- Applications for Non-Express Entry Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
- Applications that are submitted through the start-up business class
- Applications that are submitted through the self-employed person class
- Applications under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Programs (AIPP)
- Applications under the Atlantic Immigration Program
- Applications under the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) Program
- Applications under the Agri-Food Pilot (AFP) Pilot
All applicants are expected to submit their complete application to the Centralized Intake Office (CIO) along with all the mandatory forms, fees, information as well as supporting documents. Applications may be submitted either physically in CIO Sydney, Nova Scotia, or online through the Permanent Residence Portal. As soon as the CIO received the application, it will be checked for completeness according to the document checklist requirements. If the submitted application meets all the requirements, the CIO will then do the following:
- Encode the received information from the application in the Global Case Management System (GCMS)
- Recovers the necessary processing fee
- Provide an acknowledgment receipt to the applicant
However, in the instance that the submitted application is found incomplete, the CIO will return the incomplete application package including the fees to the applicant and records the action taken in the GCMS.
