Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP): Application process and who can apply

Who can apply

Those eligible to apply are foreign nationals who have applied for permanent residence as members of the rural community immigration class. The applicant must have the ability to become economically established, intend to reside in a designated community, and meet all of the following pass or fail criteria as listed:

• Valid certificate of recommendation
• Minimum education requirements

  Candidates must demonstrate that they have a minimum of a completed Canadian secondary school diploma or equivalent. This must be evidenced by:

  • a completed Canadian educational credential (secondary or post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree) or
  • a completed foreign educational credential and an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report from an organization designated by IRCC, confirming that their foreign credential(s) is/are valid and equal to at least a completed Canadian secondary school credential

  If the original ECA report is not submitted with the application for recommendation, it will not be considered complete, and the entire application will be returned. An ECA report is required for all candidates with a foreign education credential, and it will be used to determine whether the candidate meets the education requirement.

  Minimum language proficiency requirements

  Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the required level of language proficiency in all 4 language skill areas by submitting valid results of an IRCC-approved English or French language test from a designated testing organization with their application.

  Test scores for each of the 4 language abilities must match the required Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) or Niveaux de competence linguistic canadiens (NCLC) as required for the National Occupational Code (NOC) of the candidate’s job offer. Verify IRCC website for the test score equivalency chart of language test taken.

  Test score equivalency chart

  Job offer in NOC skill level	CLB/NCLC
  TEERFootnote * 0 and TEER 1	6
  TEER 2 and 3	5
  TEER 4 and TEER 5	4

• Required work experience

  Candidates must provide proof of the following:

  • at least 1 year of paid, full-time work experience equalling 1,560 hours (or an equal amount in part-time work), within the last 3 years prior to application for permanent residence
  • paid work (not volunteer work or unpaid internships)
  • one or more occupations that are listed in category 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 of the NOC or TEER matrix. The work experience must meet the admissible combination of skill levels for the job offer as seen in the table below.
  • the actions identified in the lead statement of the NOC job description
  • a substantial number of the main duties listed in the NOC job description. This means that they performed some or all of the main duties, including all the duties that distinguish their particular occupation from any other.
  • work that was done only in the employ of a third party (not self-employed, see note below), and
  • both the candidate’s authorization to work in Canada and temporary resident status if the work experience was acquired in Canada.

    • Note: Self-employed work experience can be included when calculating the period of qualifying work experience Only if it was acquired as a medical practitioner entitled to practise medicine under the laws of the jurisdiction where it was acquired.

Table of job offer skill level and eligible work experience

Healthcare exception: If the candidate’s work experience is in NOC 31301 (Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses - TEER 1), the candidate can have a job offer in 1 of the following occupation categories:

• NOC 33102 (TEER 3): Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates or
• NOC 44101 (TEER 4): Home support workers

  Work experience exemption:

  International students are exempt from the work experience criteria if they obtained an eligible credential from a post-secondary program from a publicly funded post-secondary institution located within the community that is recommending them, provided that:

  • they were enrolled as a full-time student during the entire 2 year or more post-secondary program while obtaining the credential
  • the credential was obtained no more than 18 months prior to the application for permanent residence to IRCC, and
  • they were physically present in the community for at least 16 months during the 24 months immediately prior to obtaining the eligible credential
    

    or

  • they were enrolled as a full-time student for the duration of a master’s or doctoral degree which may be less than 2 years
  • the credential was obtained no more than 18 months prior to the application for permanent residence to IRCC, and
  • they were physically present in the community for the duration of the entire period of their master’s or doctoral level of studies

  Credentials not eligible for the exemption:

  • Any full-time program of study or training where the study of English or French as a Second Language amounted to more than half of the program
  • Distance/online learning amounted to more than half of the program. This rule applies to distance/online learning completed outside the community.
    • Note: For a master’s or doctoral degree of less than 2 years, distance/online learning is not permitted outside the community due to the requirement to be physically present in the community for the entire duration of their studies.
  • A scholarship or fellowship was awarded that requires the applicant to return to their home country to apply their knowledge and skills, and
  • Two separate 1-year programs in lieu of a 2-year or more post-secondary program, unless the credential was obtained on the completion of a master’s or doctoral degree program.
• Genuine offer of employment

  The candidate must have a genuine offer of employment from a designated employer that carries on business in the community, and must not be from an employer who is 1 of the following:

1. a consulate
2. an employer referred to in paragraphs 200(3)(g.1) or (h) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR)
3. a business that recruits individuals in order to establish a pool of candidates who are intended to be transferred or contracted to other businesses, a business in which a majority of voting (more than 50%) or ownership interests is held, either individually or collectively, by the foreign national or their spouse or common-law partner or that is controlled, directly or indirectly, by the foreign national or their spouse or common-law partner
   • Note: The intent of this provision is to exclude from designation any foreign national with a business who is seeking to recommend themselves through the pilot.
4. a business owned by an immigration consultant or an immigration lawyer.

In addition, the offer of employment must indicate that

• it is for full-time, non-seasonal (year-round) work for an indeterminate period (no end date)
• at least 75% of the work is to be performed within the community boundaries
• the wage is above or within the range of wages for that particular occupation in Job Bank in the region
  • Note: Employers should always determine whether there is an available regional wage. It is not always possible to determine occupational wages for all economic regions in Job Bank. In instances where the regional wage is unavailable, the employer may offer the wage in the following order:
    • a region with similar characteristics in the same province, or
    • the provincial rate, or
    • the national rate
• it is in an occupation that is at an eligible NOC skill level corresponding to the candidate’s work experience:

Healthcare exception: Applicants who acquired work experience in NOC 31301 (Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses - TEER 1), can have a job offer in 1 of the following occupation categories:

• NOC 33102 (TEER 3): Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, or
• NOC 44101 (TEER 4): Home support workers.

  All candidates must demonstrate they meet the relevant employment requirements of the job they are being offered. Relevant employment requirements may include education, training or other qualifications listed in the NOC description, including Canadian licensing requirements in the case of regulated occupations. For example, architects, doctors and pharmacists are all regulated occupations that require licensing in Canada before working. For regulated occupations, IRCC officers will assess whether candidates have the required licensing for the job.

  Job offers require that the majority of work (at least 75%) be performed within the community boundaries. Therefore, while an employer’s address may be located within the community, officers should ensure that the work being performed for the employer is also within the community. If the job offer is for work that is primarily performed outside community boundaries, then officers may refuse the PR application. This approach ensures that the job is located within the community while also providing flexibility when the employee is required to work occasionally outside the boundaries. For example, while long-haul truck drivers may have a job offer from an employer in the community, given that they would be expected to perform the majority of work outside of the community, they are considered ineligible for the RCIP.

  Note: To recognize physicians as self-employed, they need to demonstrate they are in a fee-for-service arrangement with the relevant jurisdiction to establish the employee/employer relationship. Physicians in some specialties (for example, Cosmetic Dermatology) may not have this arrangement with the jurisdiction, such as billing patients directly for the procedures, and wouldn’t qualify. In order to be recommended under the pilots, physicians must have employment with a third-party, such as a hospital, clinic or similar organization.

• Minimum settlement funds

  Candidates not already working in Canada must have sufficient funds available for settlement in Canada. This requirement is determined with the funds according to the candidate’s family size (including both accompanying and non-accompanying dependents) using 50% of the current Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) for Rural Areas Outside Census Metropolitan Areas or Census Agglomerations published by Statistics Canada as shown on the IRCC website.

  Officers can refer to IRCC’s website which shows how much money is needed depending on the candidate’s family size. The amount of settlement funds needed is updated on the website, yearly.

  If the candidate is unable to demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to meet the requirements, the application for permanent residence may be refused.

  Note: Candidates living and working in Canada under a valid work authorization at the time of their application for permanent residence are not required to provide proof of funds.

Submitting an application

All applications for permanent residence under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) must be submitted online.

Eligibility for processing

The RCIP pilot program is to operate for 5 years, and a maximum of 2,750 complete applications (from principal applicants) will be accepted into processing each year, in accordance with the requirements specified in section 14.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. To be considered complete and eligible for processing, applications must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in section 10 of the IRPR and in the application kit.