Seven draws in two weeks target four key sectors

According to data published on the Government of Alberta's official webpage on June 2, the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) conducted seven provincial nomination draws between May 20 and June 2, issuing a cumulative 1,550 invitations to apply (ITAs). Invited candidates were concentrated in sectors facing acute labour shortages in the province: manufacturing, technology, agriculture, and construction.

Invitations went out through three streams, with the Alberta Opportunity Stream leading by a wide margin at 64.1% of all invitations. The stream, which targets foreign nationals already working in Alberta on valid work permits, has long served as the province's principal channel for retaining workers its employers depend on.

Several of these rounds set new records for 2026:

• May 29: the largest Express Entry Accelerated Tech Pathway draw of the year;
• May 27: the largest Alberta Opportunity Stream selection of the year;
• May 22 and May 21: the largest agriculture and manufacturing rounds, respectively, under the Express Entry Priority Sector pathway;
• May 20: the AAIP's first-ever draw specifically targeting skilled trades linked to the construction sector.

The debut of a construction trades draw is no coincidence. Alberta signalled at the start of the year that in 2026 the AAIP would prioritize draws and nominations for occupations in key sectors such as health care, technology, construction, manufacturing, aviation, and agriculture, along with communities designated under the Rural Renewal Stream. Notably, the province no longer discloses cut-off scores or other parameters of recent draws, citing the need to protect program integrity.

Forty percent of nomination allocation used as pace accelerates

As of June 3—the date of the AAIP's most recent webpage update—Alberta reported having used 2,587 of the 6,403 nomination spaces allocated to the province by the federal government for 2026, leaving 3,816 remaining. That allocation represents an increase of roughly 31% over Alberta's initial 2025 allotment of 4,875 spaces, the province's largest expansion in recent years. The pace of nominations is also picking up: the previous update in late April showed 1,849 nominations issued, meaning roughly 740 were added in about five weeks.

The stream-by-stream nomination distribution is as follows:

Alberta has also drawn on nomination spaces outside its regular PNP allocation to attract targeted groups, nominating 50 practice-ready physicians and 12 francophone candidates so far. These spaces come from a federal initiative that sets aside up to 10,000 additional spots across all provincial nominee programs specifically for practice-ready physicians and French-speaking candidates; nominations issued under the initiative do not count against Alberta's 6,403-space allocation.

Candidate pool nears 40,000, with competition concentrated in the Opportunity Stream

The AAIP also publishes stream-specific data on Expressions of Interest (EOIs) and nomination applications awaiting processing. As of June 3, there were 38,292 worker EOIs in the pool, 63.4% of which were submitted under the Alberta Opportunity Stream, while 1,222 provincial nomination applications were awaiting processing. Compared with late April, the EOI pool has shrunk from 41,763 to 38,292, suggesting that draws are absorbing candidates faster than new EOIs are coming in.

Here is the breakdown by stream/pathway:

To date, the AAIP has invited no fewer than 7,819 candidates to apply for provincial nomination in 2026, with the Alberta Opportunity Stream accounting for 4,850 of those invitations—still the primary route into the province for the vast majority of applicants. For candidates already working in Alberta, nearly 60% of the year's allocation remains available for the second half of 2026; for Express Entry candidates in construction, manufacturing, and agriculture, the normalization of priority sector draws signals that more targeted opportunities are on the way.