Prince Edward Island limits Atlantic Immigration Program to workers in three sectors

To pursue permanent residency under the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) in Prince Edward Island (PEI), foreign nationals must now work in healthcare, construction, or manufacturing.

The PEI Office of Immigration will not accept endorsement applications for workers in any other sectors, as of 24 January, 2025.

Foreign nationals working in other sectors and seeking to settle in PEI will now have to pursue other pathways to permanent residence (PR).

PEI employers outside these sectors will need to rely on other pathways or work permit programs for bringing in foreign workers.

The rest of this article will cover

Eligibility for the AIP;
How to apply to the AIP;
Alternative pathways to permanent residence; and
The reasons for this change.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

Getting PR through the AIP

The AIP is a pathway to permanent residence for foreign workers and international student graduates seeking to settle in one of Canada’s Atlantic provinces: PEI, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Nova Scotia.

To be eligible for the AIP, you must

Have a job offer from a designated employer in an Atlantic province;
Have your job offer endorsed by the province;
Have at least a one-year post-secondary credential, for *NOC TEER 0 or 1 occupations, OR a high school diploma, for NOC TEER 2, 3, or 4 occupations;
Have language proficiency of at least Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 for TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupations, OR CLB 4 for TEER 4 occupations;
Have at least one year of work experience, OR have at least a two-year post-secondary credential earned while studying in an Atlantic province; and
Have enough settlement funds, based on the size of your family.

To see if you qualify for the AIP, you can check the detailed candidate requirements on our designated webpage.

*The National Occupation Classification (NOC) is Canada’s national system for identifying and classifying jobs based on Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER). All jobs fit into one of six TEER levels, ranging from TEER 0 (requiring the most education/training) to TEER 5 (requiring the least).

How to apply for PR through the AIP

If you meet the language, education, work experience, and settlement fund requirements, and you have a job offer from a designated employer, you must

Get a settlement plan;
Get your job offer endorsed by the province; and
Apply to the federal government for permanent residency.

Your designated employer will handle getting your job offer endorsed by the province.

Because PEI is no longer endorsing job offers outside the healthcare, construction, and manufacturing sectors, you’ll have to pursue other PR pathways if you don’t work in one of these sectors.

Alternative PR pathways

You can pursue other economic pathways to PR when seeking to settle in PEI, including:

Express Entry; and
The PEI Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP).

Express Entry

You can pursue PR through Express Entry, the federal government’s application management system, if you intend to reside in any province or territory other than Quebec.

To immigrate to PEI via Express Entry, you must meet the requirements for at least one of the three federally managed economic immigration programs:

To pursue PR through Express Entry, you must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) in the online Express Entry system, and then receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residence from the Canadian federal government.

Submitting an EOI merely allows you to compete against other candidates in the Express Entry pool; it does not guarantee that you will receive an ITA.

The higher your Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, the more likely you are to receive an ITA. You have the best chances of success through Express Entry if you have a high CRS score and/or qualify for a category-based draw through having high French proficiency or working in an in-demand occupation.

The CRS ranks candidates (and their spouses, if applicable) based on factors such as age, education, language proficiency, and work experience.

Express Entry is highly competitive, but if you receive an ITA through Express Entry, you will benefit from faster processing times for your PR application than other pathways.

PEI Provincial Nominee Program

You can also pursue permanent residency through obtaining a provincial nomination from PEI’s PNP—and this may be your best shot, if you don’t qualify for the AIP, or if you have a low CRS score or don't qualify for Express Entry.

A provincial nomination will either award you an additional 600 CRS points (in the case of an enhanced PNP program), or a certificate of nomination (base PNP).

After receiving your provincial nomination, you can expect to be able to apply to the federal government for permanent residence.

If you are aged 18 to 59, you can seek a provincial nomination from PEI under the following PNP streams:

Critical Worker – for workers in NOC TEER 4 or 5 occupations.
Intermediate Experience – for workers in NOC TEER 4 occupations.
International Graduate – for graduates from PEI postsecondary institutions.
Skilled Worker – for workers in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupations.
Occupations in Demand – for workers in the following occupations:
- Nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates (NOC 33102).
- Transport truck drivers (NOC 73300).
- Construction trades helpers and labourers (NOC 75110).
- Light duty cleaners (NOC 65310).
- Other labourers in processing, manufacturing, and utilities (NOC 95109).
- Material handlers (NOC 75101).
- Process control and machine operators food and beverage processing (NOC 94140).
- Industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers (NOC 94141).

Assess your eligibility for enhanced PNP programs

All PEI PNP streams have requirements for

Qualifying job offer;
Work experience;
Education;
Language proficiency; and
Settlement funds.

Work experience, education, and language requirements vary depending on the stream.

If you obtain a provincial nomination, PEI will issue you a work permit support letter to assist you in obtaining a work permit while your PR application is being processed by the federal government.

To learn more about eligibility for the PEI PNP stream, visit our dedicated webpage.

Reasons for the change

The PEI Office of Immigration has limited employment sectors for the AIP on account of an increase in demand combined with a reduction in immigration spaces allocated by the federal government.

The federal government’s reduction in permanent residency allocations for economic immigration programs means the Atlantic provinces are seeing a drop in admissions, with only 5,000 AIP spots in 2025—a decrease from 6,500 in 2024—as outlined in Canada’s 2025-27 Immigration Levels Plan.

On account of the large demand for immigration and the oversupply of candidates with job offers, PEI has decided to devote all its AIP spaces to the most in-demand sectors in the local labour market.

Similar limitations have also been established by other Atlantic provinces. New Brunswick, for example, is only endorsing job offers for the AIP in the healthcare, construction, and education sectors.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration