Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot: About the pilot
Permanent resident applications
We’ll begin accepting applications from eligible candidates in the fall of 2019. The community application period is now closed.
About the 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.
We’re 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:
- community-based partners
- other federal government partners
- provincial and territorial governments
About the process
Skilled workers
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. We’ll provide more information at that time, including:
- details about who can apply
- what documents you need for your application
View the step-by-step guide (PDF, 1.2 MB) that shows how the complete application process will work. Final details will be provided in 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.
We received a strong response to the pilot from communities. The pilot will allow us to establish best practices that can be applied more broadly in the future.
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
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