What is the Alberta Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream?

It's a stream under the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) aimed at foreign nationals who graduated from a recognized post-secondary institution and want to start or acquire a business in Alberta. It fills a gap between the Start-Up Visa (which targets high-growth, VC-backable ideas) and general provincial entrepreneur streams (which typically assume a much higher net worth than a recent graduate has).

To be a realistic fit, you generally need to have graduated from an eligible post-secondary institution, have a specific and viable business concept (not just an idea), demonstrate access to the capital needed to start and sustain the business, and intend to actively manage it day-to-day from within Alberta rather than running it remotely.

This is one of the more overlooked pathways in Canadian immigration — most general content focuses on Express Entry and the Start-Up Visa because they're federal and more heavily searched, so provincial graduate entrepreneur streams get comparatively little coverage even when a client would be a strong fit. It's also a program Mahyar has particular depth in. Investment thresholds and specific requirements are set by AAIP directly and are updated periodically, so any figure should be verified at the time of application rather than assumed from a prior year — Mahyar will confirm current requirements during your assessment.