A new visa category has been introduced by the Alberta Immigrant Nominee program which targets the H – 1B visa holders. This program would allow the skilled migrants on a work permit in the United States to apply for Permanent Residence in Alberta. This way, they would be given an opportunity to work in Alberta, Canada.

This amendment is expected to overcome the skilled shortages in various occupations that are high on the priority list. This program would enable faster processing of the applications for a Permanent Residence permit.

The eligibility criteria for the above include the following:

• The first and the foremost being that the applicant must show interest and enthusiasm to live permanently in Alberta.
• He should be working in the United States while filing his application. With this, he should be working under either of the following: H1 – B, H1 – B1, H – 1C or the E – 3 visas.
• The applicant must stick on to his H – 1B visa till a final decision has been taken on his application and its status.
• Prior to applying, he would have atleast a year of work experience in the United States under the above mentioned visas.
• The “Alberta Occupation Under Pressure List” should feature the applicant current occupation. The list consists of 80 different occupations. Some of these include IT occupations, management, business, finance and other administration related jobs, sales and service occupations and so on.

Get in touch with a Visa Consultant who can further enlighten you on the same.