Newfoundland and Labrador publishes list of employers designated under Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program

FILE: Greenspond on the northeast coast of Newfoundland (Photo By Johnathan Nightingale – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The list of Newfoundland and Labrador employers taking part in the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program has been made public, and the provincial government is encouraging foreign nationals to get in touch with them.

The list contains 172 employers that have been designated by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program (AIPP), which fast-tracks eligible foreign workers and international graduates with a job offer from a designated employer for Canadian permanent residence.

The designated employers listed by Newfoundland and Labrador span the province’s business landscape, from coffee shops and restaurants to aerospace companies, and are located in communities around Canada’s easternmost province.

A note at the bottom of the list reads “Foreign nationals, including international graduates, interested in utilizing the Atlantic Immigration Pilot are encouraged to contact the listed employers.“

Newfoundland and Labrador is currently the only province taking part in the AIPP to make its list of designated employers public.

A government report says thousands of job openings are anticipated in Newfoundland and Labrador between now and 2025 as a result of population decline in the province.

Introduced last year, the three-year AIPP helps employers in Canada’s four Atlantic Provinces — Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island — to hire eligible foreign workers and international graduates of post-secondary institutions in region for jobs they haven’t been able to fill locally.

In order to take part in the AIPP, an employer must first be designated by its respective provincial government. This process requires specified commitments from employers that include working with a settlement services provider to help principal applicants and their families adjust to life in Canada.

Admissions through the AIPP had been set at 1,000 in 2018, 2,000 for 2019 and 4,000 for 2020. However, its growing popularity led the federal government to raise the 2018 target to 2,500 in July.

The pilot is run as a partnership between Canada’s federal government and the governments of Canada’s four Atlantic Provinces.