A new immigration pathway will attract tech-savvy newcomers from across the globe to help diversify Alberta’s economy and support the emerging tech industry.
The Accelerated Tech Pathway will support Alberta’s Recovery Plan and strengthen Alberta’s workforce by providing a fast track to permanent residence for highly skilled tech professionals who want to live and work in Alberta.
The Accelerated Tech Pathway is part of the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, a federal-provincial program that nominates individuals for permanent residence in Alberta if they have skills to fill job shortages or are planning to buy or start a business in Alberta.
Tech professionals from across Canada and overseas with a job offer in an in-demand tech industry occupation will be fast-tracked, getting them to permanent residence sooner.
Quick facts
- According to the Alberta Enterprise Corporation, Alberta is home to more than 3,000 technology companies, a 233 per cent increase since 2012 (2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study).
- Alberta-based tech companies are scaling in growth and financing:
- Forty-three per cent of Alberta’s technology startups are at the pre-seed or seed stage and 43 per cent have raised at least US $1 million to date (2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study).
- Forty per cent of survey respondents have achieved profitability and 38 per cent of companies reported revenue greater than $1 million in the last fiscal year (2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study).
- The number of companies with 25 or more employees has increased by 12 percentage points to 25 per cent, between 2018 and 2020 (2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study).
- Access to talent, including developing, acquiring and retaining teams, remains a challenge for Alberta tech companies, particularly in the case of sales (39 per cent) and technical (36 per cent) talent (2021 Alberta Technology Deal Flow Study).
