As you all know by now, the Alberta Government temporarily paused the Alberta Opportunity Stream application intake until further notice. So many applicants and potential applicants are affected by this pause.  Although, it is supposedly a “temporary pause”, it will have a great and, at times, unfortunate impact on many people. You won’t be affected, of course, if you paid the fees and submitted your application.  However, any draft applications in the portal will not be accepted, even those pending a final payment.  

I had so many phone calls and messages within a few days of this news announcement.  I can certainly feel people’s confusion and frustrations. However, there’s little I can do as an Immigration Consultant, other than offer you and assist you with other available immigration paths. Remember, there are different streams in Alberta including the upcoming Tourism and Hospitality Stream, which is launching on March 1st, 2024.  

In light of this new development, I want to talk about the importance of timely application documents provision by clients to their Immigration Consultants.

Time and again, after requesting the supporting documents from clients, I wait for weeks at times to get all of the necessary documents to be able to finally submit the application. Despite my explanations and repeated reminders about missing documents, some clients take their time to get back to me. As you can see from the recent Alberta Opportunity Stream news, it is so important to not wait to submit your application.  If you made up your mind, gather the documents as soon as possible and pass them on to your consultant. The consultant can only do so much on their end if you haven’t provided your documents to them. 

Remember that you and your consultant are a team. Help your consultant help you and, hopefully, these types of news won’t affect you.