The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is a community-driven program. It is designed to spread the benefits of economic immigration to smaller communities by creating a path to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers who want to work and live in one of the participating communities.

 

About the process

There are 4 steps to applying for permanent residence under this pilot.

• IRCC eligibility requirements and community-specific requirements
• Find an eligible job with an employer in the participating communities
• Once you have a job offer, submit your application for recommendation to the community
• If a community recommends you, apply for permanent residence

Each community will also have their own

• additional eligibility requirements
• job search process
• community recommendation application process

 

Participating communities

Ontario

• North Bay
• Sudbury
• Timmins
• Sault Ste. Marie
• Thunder Bay

Manitoba

• Brandon
• Altona / Rhineland

Saskatchewan

• Moose Jaw

Alberta

• Claresholm

British Columbia

• Vernon
• West Kootenay (Trail, Castlegar, Rossland, Nelson)

 

What you can expect from a community

This pilot is community-driven, meaning the communities will:

• assess prospective candidates who
  • best fit the economic needs of the community
  • have a genuine employment opportunity that meets their community requirements
  • have the intention of staying in the community
• recommend candidates for permanent residence to IRCC for a final decision
• connect newcomers with settlement services and mentoring opportunities with established members of the community

 

Eligibility requirements

• have qualifying work experience or have graduated from a publicly funded post-secondary institution in the recommending community
• meet or exceed the language requirements
• meet or exceed the educational requirements
• prove you have enough money to support your transition into the community
• intend to live in the community
• meet community-specific requirements

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

You need 1 year of continuous work experience (at least 1,560 hours) in the past 3 years.

To calculate your hours of work experience

• count the hours worked in part-time and full-time jobs
  • the hours must be in 1 occupation, but they can be with different employers
  • the hours must be over a period of at least 12 months
  • these working hours can be inside or outside Canada (if you worked in Canada, you must have been allowed to work in Canada)
• don’t count hours you weren’t paid for (volunteering or unpaid internships don’t count)
• don’t count hours when you were self-employed

Your work experience must include

• most of the main duties and all the essential duties listed in your National Occupational Classification (NOC)
• the activities listed in the lead statement of your NOC

Skill level

• NOC 0 job offer: work experience in NOC 0 or A
• NOC A job offer: work experience in NOC 0, A, or B
• NOC B job offer: work experience in NOC A, B, or C
• NOC C job offer: work experience in NOC B, or C
• NOC D job offer: work experience in NOC D

Exemption for international students who graduated from Canadian publicly-funded institutions in the community recommended with;

• A credential from a 2+ year-long post-secondary program and you
  • were studying as a full-time student for the full duration of the 2+ years
  • received the credential no more than 18 months before your application for permanent residence
  • were in the community for at least 16 of the last 24 months spent studying to get your credential

or

• A master’s degree or higher and you
• were studying as a full-time student for the duration of your degree
• got your degree no more than 18 months before your application for permanent residence
• were in the community for the length of your studies

 

LANGUAGE

Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC)

• NOC 0: CLB 6 / NCLC 6
• NOC A: CLB 6 / NCLC 6
• NOC B: CLB 5 / NCLC 5
• NOC C: CLB 4 / NCLC 4
• NOC D: CLB 4 / NCLC 4

 

EDUCATION

• a Canadian high school diploma or
• an educational credential assessment (ECA) report, from a designated organization or professional body, showing that you completed a foreign credential that’s equal to Canadian secondary school (high school)
  • the ECA report must be less than 5 years old on the date of your application
  • the original ECA report must have been issued on or after the date the organization was designated

 

SETTLEMENT FUNDS

Number of Family Members (including those you support that aren’t immigrating with you)	Funds Required (Canadian dollars)
1	$8,722
2	$10,858
3	$13,348
4	$16,206
5	$18,380
6	$20,731
7 or more	$23,080

 

INTEND TO LIVE

To participate in the pilot, you must plan to live in the community.

 

COMMUNITY-SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Each community will have additional requirements for applicants.