The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is a community-driven program. It’s 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 namely
- North Bay, ON
- Sudbury, ON
- Timmins, ON
- Sault Ste. Marie, ON
- Thunder Bay, ON
- Brandon, MB
- Altona/Rhineland, MB
- Moose Jaw, SK
- Claresholm, AB
- Vernon, BC
- West Kootenay (Trail, Castlegar, Rossland, Nelson), BC
In view of establishing this new pathway to permanent residence in rural Canada for skilled foreign nationals at various skill levels, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) partnering with these communities in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan to test new approaches to:use immigration to help meet local labour market needs and support regional economic development and create welcoming environments to support new immigrants staying in rural communities with access to jobs, community, supports and infrastructure are essential to attracting and retaining newcomers.
The Rural and Northern pilot (NRIP) as a community-driven program, meaning that the participating communities will:
- promote the pilot and their respective community to prospective candidates and utilize immigration to help meet their local labour market needs and support regional economic development
- identify job opportunities in the local economy and work to match right applicants to jobs
- assess prospective candidates who best fit the economic needs of their community, have a genuine employment opportunity and the intention of staying in the community
- recommend candidates for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for a final decision
- provide a Welcoming environment in the community for new immigrants
- connect immigrants to established members of the community and settlement services
- report on the results of the pilot
Eligibility Requirements
Job Offer :
The potential candidates need to find a job with an employer in one of the participating communities, If a community recommends the candidate who is successful in for permanent residence, will be required to live and work in the community that recommended., the respective community will decide who to recommend based on :
- Candidate’s intention to live in the community
- job offer in the community and the economic needs of the community
- work experience and skill set
- The job must be full time job, this means mean you work at least 30 paid hours per week
- The job must be non-seasonal, in general, this means you have consistent and regularly scheduled paid employment throughout the year
- Employment is permanent, this means that there is no set end date
- The wage must meet or exceed the Job Bank’s minimum wage for your job offer’s NOC
- Work experience must demonstrate that the candidate can perform the duties of as per the job offered
Work Experience :
- Candidates need one year of work experience (at least 1,560 hours) in the past 3 years. Applicants no need to have accumulated work experience over a continuous period of time. Instead, Canada will count the work experience requirement if it was completed within the three years preceding the application. One year of eligible work experience is still required for the program, but having breaks in employment does not make someone ineligible for the program.
- The hours must be over a period of at least 12 months, these working hours can be inside or outside Canada
- if worked in Canada, the candidate must have been a temporary resident with authorization to work in Canada
- Volunteering, Unpaid Internships or Self-employed working hours hours cannot be included
- Work experience must include a substantial number 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 :
Job offer must be at the same skill level, 1 level above or 1 level below the skill level that applies to the work experience
However, if candidate’s experience is in NOC Skill Level D, then the job being offered must be in the same occupation.
Educational and Language :
- A Canadian high school diploma or
- An Educational Credentials Assessment (ECA) report, from one of the designated organizations or professional body, showing 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 and the original ECA report must have been issued on or after the date the organization was designated
The candidate must meet the minimum language requirements based on the NOC that applies to the job offer in the community.
The minimum language requirements for each NOC category are
- NOC 0 and A: CLB/NCLC 6
- NOC B: CLB/NCLC 5
- NOC C and D: CLB/NCLC 4
The language proficiency test results from a designated language test centre is required,. These results must be less than 2 years old at the time of application
Settlement Funds :
The potential candidates must prove having enough money to support any family members they may have.