/ ABOUT THE Immigration PILOT
Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
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 1 of the participating communities.
IRCC is partnering with these communities to test new approaches to:
Use immigration to help meet local labour market needs and support regional
economic development
Create welcoming environments to support new immigrants staying in rural
communities
This pilot will help increase long-term retention of skilled newcomers to rural areas by working with:
Other federal government partners
Provincial and territorial governments
As a candidate, you need to find a job with an employer in 1 of the participating communities.
If a community recommends you and you’re successful in applying for permanent residence, you’ll
then move there to work and live.
The application process for eligible candidates will begin as early as fall 2019.
Communities
The community application period is now closed. The deadline for
eligible communities – archived to apply to participate in the pilot was March 11, 2019.
Pilot communities were selected based on:
Their economic need for immigration
The resources and community partners in place to administer the pilot and
Whether the federal government has existing newcomer settlement partners and
resources in the community
Eligibility criteria
The community application period is now closed. The deadline for
eligible communities – archived to apply to participate in the pilot was March 11, 2019.
To be eligible for the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program, you must meet all these requirements.
You must
Get a recommendation from a designated community economic development organization
Have qualifying work experience or have graduated from a publicly funded post-secondary
institution in the recommending community
Have a qualifying job offer
Meet or exceed the minimum 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
Recommendation from a designated community
You must get a recommendation from 1 of the communities participating in the pilot.
They decide who to recommend based on
Your intent to live in the community
Your job offer in the community and the economic needs of the community
Your work experience and skill set
Your ties to the community
When communities are ready to begin recruiting and recommending candidates, more information will be available.
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 a temporary resident with
authorization 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
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
You can see what duties are involved by searching your job title on the NOC web page.
Job offer
You need 1 year of continuous work experience (at least 1,560 hours) in the past 3 years.
The job you’re offered must meet all of these requirements
The job must be full-time, 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
Your 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
Your experience must demonstrate that you can perform the duties of the job offered
Skill level
Your job offer must be at the same skill level, 1 level above or 1 level below the NOC that applies to your work experience.
However, if your experience is in NOC skill level D, then the job you’re being offered must be in the same occupation. For example
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 the same occupation
International students
You’re exempt from the work experience criteria above if you’re an international student who graduated 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 within 18 months before your application for permanent residence
were in the community for at least 16 months of the last 24 months spent studying to
obtain your credential
Or
A master’s degree or higher and you
Were studying as a full-time student for the duration of your degree
Obtained your degree within 18 months before your application
Were in the community for the length of your studies
3
Prove that your business meets the ownership requirements.
You cannot apply as an international student if your credentials are from a program in which
Studying English or French made up more than half of the program
Distance learning made up more than half of the program
A scholarship or fellowship was awarded that requires
you to return to your home country to apply what you learned
What is a credential?
Credential here means a degree, diploma, certificate or trade or apprenticeship
from a Canadian publicly funded institution in the community recommending you.
You must also have had valid temporary resident status for the duration of your studies.
Language requirements
You must meet the minimum language requirements based on the NOC category
that applies to the job offer in the community. This can either be the:
Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) or
Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC)
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
You must submit your results from a designated language test. These results
must be less than 2 years old when you apply.
You must have
Educational requirements
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
Unless you’re already working legally in Canada when you apply, you must prove you have
enough money to support yourself and any family members while you get settled in your
community.
You must prove you have enough money to support any family members you may have,
even if they’re not coming to Canada with you.
Intend to live in the community
To participate in the pilot, you must plan to live in the community.
