Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program

How To Prepare For The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program in Canada

YOU MUST BE EITHER:

• A recent graduate of a recognized post-secondary institution in Atlantic Canada, or
• A skilled worker
• Meet the below requirements
  

1. THE FEDERAL CRITERIA

Work Experience

• you have a minimum 1 year of work experience within the past 3 years; it need not be continuous 
• your work experience can be inside or outside of Canada, but it must have been paid and cannot be from self-employment
• you do not need to show work experience if you completed post-secondary studies in the past 18 months and:
• you obtained a Master’s or PhD degree after full-time study while living in the participating community, or 
• you completed of a program of full-time study at least 2 years in duration while living in the participating community for at least 16 of the last 24 months of study
  

Job Offer

• your job offer must be permanent, full-time, non-seasonal and directly related to your previous work experience within the past 3 years
• there is no requirement for an LMIA to be associated with the job offer
  

Language Requirements

• you have achieved the following minimum scores on a language test:
• for NOC 0 and A job offers: CLB or NCLC 6
• for NOC B job offers: CLB or NCLC 5
• for NOC C and D job offers: CLB or NCLC 4
  

Education Requirements

• you have attained the equivalent of a Canadian High School Diploma
  

Funds

• if you are not already working in Canada when you apply, you will need to demonstrate settlement funds according to the number of family members that you have
  

Intention To Live in The Community

• you must intend to live in the community that is sponsoring your immigration
  

2. THE COMMUNITY CRITERIA

Each of the communities participating in the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program has developed a unique set of qualifying criteria based on the labor needs of their community. Check the website for current participating communities but recent ones have included: North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Brandon, Altona/Rhineland, Moose Jaw, Claresholm, Vernon, West Kootenay (Trail, Castlegar, Rossland and Nelson).

Once you have met the eligibility criteria and you have a letter of recommendation from a participating community, you can then make an application for Permanent Residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Note that you do not have to be living in Canada in order to apply for this program, however, many of the community programs give priority to foreign nationals who are already living and working in their community.