Alberta issued 1,169 Invitations to Apply for permanent residence through the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program across four draws from January 26 to February 2, 2026, led by a February 2 round that sent 915 Invitations to Apply through the Alberta Opportunity Stream.
The February 2 draw set a minimum score of 57, making it the biggest early-2026 selection under the program and a sharp signal that Alberta started the year with a high-volume invitation round.
Three earlier draws in late January spread Invitations to Apply across health care and technology-linked pathways, with separate rounds for Dedicated Health Care and an Alberta Express Entry tech pathway.
For prospective applicants, those late-January and early-February results matter less as a promise of future outcomes than as a snapshot of how Alberta began allocating attention across streams. They show where the province actively issued invitations at the start of the year, but they do not guarantee that later rounds will look the same.
The AAIP functions as Alberta’s provincial pathway for selecting candidates for permanent residence based on provincial criteria, including work and sector needs. A provincial Invitation to Apply is not the same thing as a nomination, and it is not permanent residence itself.
An Invitation to Apply means Alberta invited a candidate to submit a full AAIP application under a specific stream. A nomination comes later if Alberta approves the application, and permanent residence comes after that at the federal stage, where the applicant must still meet federal requirements.
That distinction matters because a high number of Invitations to Apply can indicate strong selection activity, but it does not automatically translate into the same number of nominations issued or permanent residence approvals. The steps are sequential, and each stage carries its own requirements and review.
AAIP draws operate across multiple streams, and each draw publishes a minimum score and the number of Invitations to Apply issued. The minimum score is a threshold for the invited profiles in that particular round, not a universal pass mark across the program.
Minimum scores can move from draw to draw because the underlying pool of eligible candidates, the stream targeted, and Alberta’s selection objectives change. A score that clears one draw in one stream may not clear another draw in a different stream, even in the same week.
Stream selection also reflects labor-market targeting, with Alberta issuing invitations through pathways tied to particular occupations and sectors. In the late-January sequence, Alberta issued invitations through health care-focused draws and a technology-linked pathway, before shifting to a large Alberta Opportunity Stream round.
Candidates also need to distinguish between Express Entry-aligned and non-Express Entry AAIP pathways. Under Express Entry-aligned routes, candidates generally connect their provincial selection to a federal Express Entry profile, while non-Express Entry routes follow a different application flow, even though both lead toward permanent residence after provincial steps.
Those differences can affect what an applicant prepares and how they maintain their eligibility. Express Entry alignment depends on having and maintaining the required federal profile, while a non-Express Entry path focuses on meeting the requirements of that AAIP stream and proceeding through the provincial process before later federal steps.
Alberta’s draw results also arrive alongside an annual nomination cap and a live processing inventory that can shape what applicants see next. The province operates within a yearly nomination allocation from the federal government, which sets the maximum number of nominations Alberta can issue in 2026.
Because nominations, not Invitations to Apply, represent the formal provincial approval that can support the federal permanent residence stage, the relationship between invitations, nominations issued, remaining spaces and pending applications can shape expectations. A larger in-progress inventory can affect how Alberta manages its queue and how it plans the pace and targeting of invitations.
Alberta provided a program status update as of February 5, 2026 that covered its overall 2026 nomination allocation, nominations issued so far, remaining spaces available and applications pending processing. For applicants, those metrics matter because they describe both capacity and workload at a fixed point in time, rather than a forecast of how long any individual file will take.
Early-year issuance can influence later-year strategy without locking it in. Alberta can adjust draw frequency, stream targeting and the size of invitation rounds as it manages both its annual allocation and the applications already in the system.
The Alberta Opportunity Stream sits at the center of the early-2026 story because it produced the largest draw in this sequence. The stream generally serves candidates who are working in Alberta and meet the program’s criteria, which can include eligible status and occupation fit, and the February 2 round indicates Alberta used it for a high-volume invitation run.
Alberta also reported Opportunity Stream-specific status metrics, including allocated spots, how many it had issued, how many remained and how many applications were in process. In practical terms, those figures help candidates gauge how much activity has occurred so far in the stream and how much work remains in the queue.
One processing signal stands out for many applicants: Alberta reported that Opportunity Stream applications were “assessing up to October 21, 2025 submissions.” That phrase does not set a guaranteed processing time for any one file, but it does indicate the submission date up to which the program had progressed in its assessments at the time of the update.
Applicants often watch “assessing up to” dates because they show the point in time where processing has reached, not where it will be next week. For candidates deciding whether to apply after receiving an invitation, the date can help frame expectations about how the queue has been moving.
Alberta’s 2026 capacity picture also matters beyond a single stream because it provides a ceiling for nominations for the year. Even when Alberta issues Invitations to Apply in large numbers, it still must manage nominations issued within its allocation and its broader inventory of pending applications.
Selection priorities also shape who gets invited, and Alberta said the AAIP prioritizes sectors including health care, technology, construction, manufacturing, aviation, agriculture, and rural communities under the Rural Renewal Stream, which Alberta updated effective January 1, 2026. For candidates, sector priority can affect which pathways Alberta emphasizes, but it does not remove the need to meet eligibility requirements for the specific stream.
Health care appeared prominently in the late-January draw activity through Dedicated Health Care pathways. Technology also appeared through the Alberta Express Entry – Accelerated Tech Pathway, indicating another area where Alberta used targeted selection early in the year.
Construction, manufacturing, aviation and agriculture also sit on Alberta’s priority list. For applicants with experience in these areas, the priority designation can help explain why Alberta might direct invitations toward certain occupations at certain points, though a priority label alone does not substitute for meeting the stream’s rules.
The Rural Renewal Stream reflects a community-driven approach tied to rural needs. Alberta’s update effective January 1, 2026 signals that the province treats rural communities as a selection priority within its wider program, which can shape employer and candidate decisions about where job offers and settlement plans fit into eligibility.
Candidates “especially with job offers” face improved selection odds, Alberta said. Even with that advantage, applicants still need to match the stream they enter, because AAIP pathways differ in who they target and what documentation supports eligibility.
Another planning consideration sits outside Alberta’s annual nomination allocation altogether. Alberta said additional federal spaces exist outside Alberta’s quota for practice-ready physicians and qualified Francophones, described as “up to 10,000 nationwide.”
For candidates who may qualify in those categories, the distinction matters because the federal spaces are not limited by Alberta’s AAIP nomination allocation. Practice-ready physicians typically face licensing and credentialing requirements alongside immigration steps, while qualified Francophones generally must demonstrate language ability as part of proving eligibility.
Those outside-quota federal spaces can affect how applicants weigh options, including whether to pursue an Alberta pathway or consider other routes that align with their profile and documentation. The categories still require candidates to verify definitions and prepare evidence, but the existence of a federal channel outside Alberta’s cap changes the context for some applicants.
Tourism and hospitality also appeared as an area of targeted capacity. Alberta reported that the Tourism and Hospitality Stream showed 150 allocated, 29 issued, and 121 remaining as of the latest update, offering a snapshot of how Alberta positioned that stream at the time.
That capacity snapshot points to targeted labor needs even when Alberta’s largest early-2026 invitation round ran through the Alberta Opportunity Stream. For candidates in tourism and hospitality roles, the stream-specific allocation and remaining spaces can be one indicator of Alberta’s attention, alongside eligibility requirements and the province’s draw decisions.
Alberta’s early-2026 sequence also illustrates how applicants should read draw results as information rather than assurance. A minimum score applies to the invited candidates in that draw, and the number of invitations reflects the scale of that particular round, not a promise that the next draw will match it.
A practical planning approach starts with choosing the stream based on eligibility rather than score-watching alone. Applicants typically need to confirm they meet the stream’s criteria, prepare documents that support their work history and status, and keep any required profiles current, especially where Express Entry alignment applies.
After receiving an Invitation to Apply, the next step is assembling a complete AAIP application that matches the stream requirements. Candidates then need to respond to requests during processing if Alberta asks for additional information, and only after a nomination would they move into the federal permanent residence stage.
Alberta’s approach to issuing Invitations to Apply across health care, technology and the Alberta Opportunity Stream at the start of 2026 suggests the province intends to use the AAIP to address high-demand occupations. For applicants, the February 5, 2026 status update and the early draw pattern offer a structured way to track capacity, queue progress and stream priorities while preparing for the steps that follow an invitation.
