Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP)

How To Prepare For The Rural Community Immigration Pilot Program (RCIP) in Canada

1. THE FEDERAL CRITERIA

Work Experience

• You have a minimum 1 year of work experience in priority sectors 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 Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) 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 from a designated Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) employer
• 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 TEER 0 and 1 job offers: CLB or NCLC 6
• For TEER 2 job offers: CLB or NCLC 5
• For TEER 3 and 4 job offers: CLB or NCLC 4
  

Education Requirements

• You have attained the minimum of an equivalent of a Canadian High School Diploma.
  

Funds

•  If you are not already working in Canada as a skilled foreign worker when you apply, you will need to demonstrate settlement funds according to the number of family members that you have included on your permanent residence application.
  

Intention To Live in The Community

•  You must intend to live in the community that is sponsoring your RCIP immigration. Please see the links above to help assess which community fits your needs and the needs of your family while you are working towards your permanent residence.
  

2. THE COMMUNITY CRITERIA

Here are the communities participating in the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) program. Check the website for current participating communities but recent ones have included: Pitou County,  North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Brandon, Altona/Rhineland, Moose Jaw, Claresholm, West Kootenay, North Okanagan Shuswap, Peace Laird.

You must secure an RCIP eligible job offer from an RCIP Designated Employer. 

The employer will send your community recommendation application directly to the community to review.

Communities will check to make sure

• Your job is in a priority sector or occupation and the offer is real
• You meet all the requirements for the the Rural Community Immigration Pilot as laid out by their local economic development organization.