The three draws in detail

Moving into September, the AAIP kept up the pattern of clustering its draws early in the month that has defined the year so far, inviting candidates from three different streams within nine days. The three draws break down as follows:

The Alberta Opportunity Stream's 575 invitations made it the largest of the three rounds, though the figure was down from the 743 issued on August 14, and the cut-off eased from 58 to 56. The Accelerated Tech Pathway held its cut-off at 60 for a second consecutive month, and its size was essentially flat as well (95 invitations in August, 96 in September) - both well below the 140 to 200 invitations per round seen in the first half of the year. The Dedicated Health Care Pathway – Express Entry has now held steady at around 60 points for several rounds since June, and the 51 invitations issued on September 9 are in line with the 57 issued on August 12 and the 49 issued on June 8.

Looking at the cumulative figures for the year to date, the three streams can be summarized as follows:

• Alberta Opportunity Stream: 11 draws so far this year (including the February 20 priority sector draw), for a cumulative 8,183 invitations, with cut-offs fluctuating between 50 and 65 points; the 993 invitations issued on May 27 remain the largest single round of the year;
• Accelerated Tech Pathway: 10 draws so far this year, for a cumulative 1,366 invitations, with cut-offs ranging from 55 to 63 points;
• Dedicated Health Care Pathway: eight Express Entry rounds totalling 481 invitations and eight non-Express Entry rounds totalling 414, for a combined 895.

Expression of interest pool versus invitations issued this year

Alberta also published the number of Worker Expression of Interest (WEOI) profiles sitting in each stream's pool as of September 9. Setting those figures against the invitations each stream has issued so far this year shows just how unevenly competition is distributed:

One caveat applies to the "priority sector" row: the 1,821 invitations it reflects include the 831 issued in the February 20 priority sector draw, which was run under the Alberta Opportunity Stream and is therefore also counted within that stream's 8,183. Counting only the Express Entry priority sector draws, this year's 20 rounds have produced roughly 990 invitations (plus one round of fewer than 10), spanning construction, manufacturing, health care, agriculture and aviation.

The pool now totals 35,957 profiles, down roughly 9,700 from the 45,659 recorded on January 13. The decline reflects the changes Alberta has made to the expression of interest system this year: from February 25, candidates holding an Alberta job offer have had to add wage and hours information to their profile, and older profiles that were not updated risk being excluded from draws; from April 7, submitting an expression of interest has carried a CAD 135 fee; and from May 26, candidates have been able to edit a submitted profile directly and to decline an invitation to one stream within 15 days and return to the pool. Analysts have suggested that the fee and the added information requirements pushed large numbers of stale or duplicate profiles out of the system - yet the Alberta Opportunity Stream pool still stands above 22,000 profiles, more than 60 percent of all expressions of interest.

How much of the 2026 allocation is left

Alberta's initial nomination allocation for 2026 was 6,403. IRCC approved an additional 200 spots on August 10, taking the total to 6,603. At the time, Alberta said the extra spots would help "support regional labour market needs and advance key provincial priorities." The additional allocation went mainly to the Alberta Opportunity Stream (+137), the Rural Renewal Stream (+57), the Accelerated Tech Pathway (+19), priority sector draws (+19) and the Dedicated Health Care Pathway (+18), with corresponding reductions for the Law Enforcement Pathway (-26) and the entrepreneur streams (-30).

As of September 9, Alberta had issued 4,864 nominations, leaving 1,739 spots, with a further 1,238 nomination applications in processing. The allocation and balance for each stream is as follows:

• Alberta Opportunity Stream: 3,562 allocated, 2,725 issued, 837 remaining;
• Rural Renewal Stream: 1,057 allocated, 673 issued, 384 remaining;
• Tourism and Hospitality Stream: 156 allocated, 141 issued, just 15 remaining;
• Dedicated Health Care Pathway: 518 allocated, 310 issued, 208 remaining;
• Accelerated Tech Pathway: 619 allocated, 447 issued, 172 remaining;
• Express Entry priority sector draws: 619 allocated, 527 issued, 92 remaining;
• Law Enforcement Pathway: 12 allocated, fewer than 10 issued;
• Entrepreneur streams: 60 allocated, 34 issued, 26 remaining.

Alberta has also issued 50 physician nominations and 12 francophone nominations under separate federal allocations set aside for those groups, neither of which counts against the 6,603.

Viewed over several years, Alberta's allocation reached 9,750 in 2024; the province's initial 2025 allocation was cut to 4,875 before two federal top-ups lifted it to 6,603; and the 6,603 available in 2026 is essentially level with where 2025 ended, but still around a third below the 2024 figure. At the federal level, the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan raises the national Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) target for 2026 sharply, from 55,000 the previous year to 91,500, and the top-ups provinces have been receiving this year are a direct expression of that shift.

What happens after an invitation, and the new federal bridging work permit measure

Invited candidates must submit a complete provincial nomination application to Alberta within the specified window. Once nominated, applicants can file a permanent residence application with IRCC; nominees in Express Entry streams receive 600 additional points in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), while nominees in base streams such as the Alberta Opportunity Stream apply through the federal paper-based provincial nominee route. Applicants inside Canada can apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP) to maintain lawful work status while their PR application is processed.

Previously, one of the conditions for a BOWP was that the applicant had already received IRCC's Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR) for the PR application. Because federal completeness checks on provincial nominee PR applications take considerable time, many nominees with work permits nearing expiry found themselves stuck in the window between filing the PR application and receiving the AOR. Operational Bulletin 699, published and effective on June 9, 2026, sets out a temporary arrangement for exactly this problem:

• It applies to provincial nominees inside Canada who have submitted a PR application but have not yet received an AOR, in both base and Express Entry streams;
• Applicants may substitute the submission confirmation email from the PR application portal together with proof of payment for the AOR, or an officer may verify in IRCC systems that the PR application has been received and is pending;
• It covers three types of in-Canada work permit: the provincial nominee bridging open work permit (code A75), the employer-specific work permit for applicants whose nomination has expired but whose PR application was submitted while it was valid (code T13), and the open work permit for the spouse of a provincial nominee principal applicant;
• Applicants who have already received an AOR must still submit it in the usual way; the measure does not apply to applicants outside Canada or to Quebec-selected applicants;
• The measure is in effect until December 31, 2026.

For Alberta Opportunity Stream nominees, this means that since June 9 they have been able to start a BOWP application before the AOR arrives. One caveat: as of publication, Alberta's official "after you are nominated" guidance page for the Alberta Opportunity Stream still states that applicants must have received an AOR and an IRCC file number, and has not been updated to reflect Operational Bulletin 699. Applicants should follow IRCC's current rules.

Priority sectors and the basic requirements of the three streams

In its 2026 nomination allocation notes, Alberta states that, apart from candidates holding a job offer in a designated community under the Rural Renewal Stream, health care, technology, construction, manufacturing, aviation and agriculture are the province's priority sectors for the year, while also noting that this is not an exhaustive list and that stream allocations may be adjusted without notice. The targeted draws held on September 3 and September 9 fall squarely within that framework.

The basic requirements of the three streams can be summarized as follows:

• Alberta Opportunity Stream: candidates must hold a valid work permit (including an LMIA-based work permit, an LMIA-exempt work permit or a Post-Graduation Work Permit; those on maintained status do not qualify), hold a full-time job offer from an Alberta employer in the same occupation they currently work in, and work in an eligible occupation within TEER categories 0 to 5 of the 2021 National Occupational Classification (NOC); language requirements are CLB 5 for TEER 0 to 3 and CLB 4 for TEER 4 to 5, with CLB 7 required for nurse aides; candidates must have at least a high school education and must meet the experience requirement of 12 months of work in Alberta within the past 18 months or 24 months of work in Canada or abroad within the past 30 months, while Post-Graduation Work Permit holders need six months of work in Alberta;
• Accelerated Tech Pathway: candidates must have a valid Express Entry profile with a CRS score of at least 300 and hold full-time employment or a job offer in an eligible tech occupation with an Alberta tech-sector employer, with the occupation matching the one in the Express Entry profile; part-time, temporary, seasonal, contract and remote positions do not qualify;
• Dedicated Health Care Pathway: split into Express Entry and non-Express Entry routes, it is open to nine occupations including physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered psychiatric nurses, physician assistants, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, clinical social workers and psychologists; candidates must hold an eligible job offer from an Alberta health care employer and meet the registration requirements of the relevant regulatory body, and the non-Express Entry route requires CLB 5 or the level of language ability required for professional registration.

Alberta scores expressions of interest out of 100, based on human capital factors and economic factors, and the province stresses that the score is not the only basis for selection. Judging by this year's actual cut-offs, the Alberta Opportunity Stream threshold has mostly landed between 50 and 60 points, while the tech and health care draws have generally sat between 55 and 64.