This past November the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) was introduced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) opening a path for permanent residence for applicants willing to settle permanently in smaller, northern communities across Canada. Following upon the success of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program, IRCC solicited communities to participate and at the time of introduction of the program, 11 communities across western Canada and Ontario had registered. However, of those communities who registered for the RNIP, at the introduction of the program only three have finalized their selection criteria with the other 8 communities listed as posting their community criteria in early 2020. For prospective immigrant applicants, there remains much to be learned about the RNIP.
The goal of the RNIP is to encourage economic immigration to Canada’s smaller communities by creating a path to permanent residence for foreign workers who intend to reside in these communities and who might otherwise not be able to qualify for Canada’s other economic immigration programs.
The communities that are registered with the RNIP are:
• North Bay, Ontario
• Sudbury, Ontario
• Timmins, Ontario
• Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
• Thunder Bay, Ontario
• Brandon, Manitoba
• Altona/Rhineland, Manitoba
• Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
• Claresholm, Alberta
• Vernon, British Columbia
• West Kootenay (Trail, Castlegar, Rossland, Nelson) BC.
Currently only three communities are actively participating in the pilot program - Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Altona/Rhineland, Manitoba and Thunder Bay, Ontario - and have launched their websites for both employers and prospective applicants. The other communities are anticipated to launch their websites early in the New Year.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for the RNIP, you must obtain a full time and permanent job offer from an employer that carries on business within a participating community and you must demonstrate the intention to live permanently within the community.
You must also have one year of continuous, full time, paid employment related to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) description for the position being offered by your prospective employer. (See our former blog: https://canadian-visa-lawyer.com/immigration-essentials-getting-the-reference-letter-right/ for more information about proof of work experience.)
International students who have graduated from a public university, college or trade school within the community that they are applying to, may be exempt from the work experience requirement. In addition, you must demonstrate that you have either a Canadian high school diploma or a foreign equivalent confirmed by an educational credential assessment (ECA) and proof of English or French language proficiency with a designated language test in accordance with the minimum requirements associated with the NOC description for your occupation.
Application Process
In order to apply under the RNIP you must first obtain an eligible job offer from an approved employer in the community in which you intend to reside. Once you receive an eligible job offer, you will need to apply for a community recommendation. You will need the community recommendation letter in order to be able to submit an application for permanent residence to IRCC.
Obviously, the individual community criteria are crucial to the RNIP application process. With only three communities having launched their websites there is much left to learn, even for our experienced team of Vancouver immigration lawyers, about the RNIP process for prospective immigrants. Stay tuned as the remaining eight communities launch their websites and fully engage in the RNIP in 2020!

The Liberal government is postponing the next round of its widely criticized family reunification program while it looks into developing a new intake process, according to a statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The program allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to apply to bring grandparents and parents to Canada. Critics have called the selection process unfair since all of the online application spots were snapped up in just minutes last year.
In a statement, IRCC said it's delaying the 2020 round as it works on a new intake system. "This means that the opportunity to express interest in sponsoring a parent or grandparent will not take place on Jan. 1, 2020," reads the statement.
"Further information about the expected launch date and 2020 intake process will be available in the new year. This will give all interested sponsors the same opportunity to submit an interest-to-sponsor form and a fair chance to be invited to apply."
Jamie Liew, an immigration lawyer and professor at the University of Ottawa, said it's upsetting news for families who were hoping to apply this time around.
"It's a significant announcement in the fact it will impact a lot of people who have a lot of hope this time of year," she said.
"It is a significant thing that people who may have missed out on their opportunity last year are waiting for the opportunity this year. And to have that postponed must be disappointing for people who are separated from their families."
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said the department wanted to give families a heads up that the application process won't be open in January as it has been in the last few years.
In a follow-up statement to CBC News, Immigration Canada said the move was made in "an effort to provide the best client service possible" and noted it "will begin the intake of new applications as early as possible in 2020."
Earlier last year, the government accepted 27,000 submissions for sponsoring parents or grandparents and confirmed that more than 100,000 people had attempted to access an online form to express interest. The online form opened Jan. 28 at noon ET, and closed less than nine minutes later, a process that left tens of thousands of people frustrated and furious because they couldn't access the form or fill it out fast enough.