Post Credit – Bala Venkatesh

In this post we will look into the Rural Northern Immigration Pilot Program (RNIP)

Introduction: 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.

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

• Check that you meet both CICC eligibility requirements and the community-specific requirements
• Find an eligible job with an employer in one of 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 to CICC.

Each community will also have its own additional eligibility requirements, job search process, and community recommendation application process

Eligibility Criteria:

• 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 of 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 NOC the activities listed in the lead statement of your NOC.
• You’re exempt from all the work experience criteria above if you’re an international student who graduated with a credential from a post-secondary program of 2 years or longer 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 and were residing 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 and were residing in the community for the length of your studies.
  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, or a scholarship or fellowship was awarded that requires you to return to your home country to apply what you learned
• 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 have one of the following:
  a Canadian secondary school (high school) diploma,
  or a Canadian post-secondary certificate, diploma
  or degree, 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 a Canadian secondary school (high school)
  or post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree
  (your ECA report must be less than 5 years old on the date of your application)
• 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

To participate in the pilot, you must plan to live in the community.
Each community will have additional requirements for applicants.
Visit their websites to learn about their community-specific requirements

Application Procedure:
Prepare the application with all the duly filled-in documents,
Pay the fees of $1,325 CAD and

Mail the application to:
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program
Centralized Intake Office
PO BOX 1500
Sydney, NSB1P 0J4
Canada

Final Outcome:
After carefully reviewing the application by an assessing officer, you may be granted PR Status.
Please note that you will be asked to do medical tests after the application has been received and started for processing.

Participating Communities as of 14th August 2020:

Sudbury, ON – https://investsudbury.ca/how-can-we-help/immigration-options
Timmins, ON – http://www.timminsedc.com/residents/immigrate-to-timmins
Sault Ste. Marie, ON – https://welcometossm.com/rnip/
Thunder Bay, ON – https://www.gotothunderbay.ca/en/immigration/rural-northern-immigration.aspx?_mid_=12159
Brandon, MB – http://www.economicdevelopmentbrandon.com/BrandonRNIP
Altona/Rhineland, MB – https://www.seedrpga.com/immigration-pilot
Claresholm, AB – http://www.claresholm.ca/rural-northern-immigration-pilot
Vernon, BC – https://rnip-vernon.ca/
West Kootenay (Trail, Castlegar, Rossland, Nelson), BC – https://wk-rnip.ca/

References:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/rural-northern-immigration-pilot.html
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/application-rural-northern-immigration.html
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-0118-rural-northern-immigration.html
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/documents/pdf/english/kits/forms/imm5987e.pdf
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/documents/pdf/english/kits/forms/imm5984e.pdf
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/rural-northern-immigration-pilot/proof-funds.html

Apart from the above program for PR status, if you are eligible under RNIP you may also be eligible to apply for a 1-year work permit

Eligibility Criteria:
To qualify for a work permit, you must have an eligible offer of employment from your employer
have a recommendation from a participating community,
be eligible to apply for a work permit you should have received an acknowledgment of receipt letter from CICC.
This work permit is only for the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and is valid for 1 year. It only allows you work for the employer who offered you the job, in the participating community and, your spouse/common-law partner may also apply for an open work permit References: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/rural-northern-immigration-pilot/optional-tr.html