Rural Renewal
The City of Medicine Hat, along with regional partners Cypress County, County of Forty Mile, Town of Redcliff, and Town of Bow Island, have recently been approved as a designated community for the Rural Renewal Stream of the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP).
Rural Renewal supports the attraction and retention of newcomers in rural Alberta through a community-driven approach that is responsive to local economic development needs and contributes to the economic growth of the community. This stream empowers rural communities to attract, recruit, screen, and retain newcomers who intend to live, work, and settle in their communities.
We are in the process of designing this program and ask for your patience as details are finalized. We will provide targeted timelines by the end of Q3 2023. As information becomes available, this website will be updated and further communications will be released.
In the meantime, if you are a foreign national interested in this program, please visit Alberta Advantage Immigration Program - Rural Renewal Stream candidate criteria to review eligibility.
| How the Rural Renewal Stream works |
| Please note: items marked with an asterisk (*) are performed by the foreign national |
| Community Designation |
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Medicine Hat and regional community partners received the community designation on January 13, 2023 and are currently developing the local implementation process. More to come. |
| Recruitment and endorsement |
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Once the implementation process of the local program is established (later this year), the community partners will work with employers to recruit the labour needs of the area, ensuring the selected foreign nationals meet the criteria of the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program – Rural Renewal Stream. The community will provide a letter of endorsement to the foreign national. This letter will need to be included in the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program application for a nomination. |
| Application* |
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The endorsed foreign national will apply to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program – Rural Renewal Stream. A non-refundable application fee of $500 is required. You may only have one Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) application in process at any time. While the permanent residency application is being processed, the candidate can request a 204(c) Letter of Support to apply for a temporary work permit to start working in the designated community. |
| Nomination for permanent residency |
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Alberta Advantage Immigration Program reviews the application and issues a nomination for permanent residency. |
| Application for permanent residency* |
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If the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program issues a nomination, the nominee must apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for permanent residence status: https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-rural-renewal-stream-after-you-are-nominated.aspx |
| Settlement |
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The designated community partners support newcomers to settle permanently and be successful in the community. |