Canada Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (Closed)
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) was a community-driven federal permanent residence pathway designed to help smaller and northern Canadian communities attract and retain skilled foreign workers. Applicants needed to meet federal eligibility requirements, secure an eligible job offer and receive a recommendation from a participating community before applying for permanent residence. The pilot operated in 11 communities across Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. RNIP permanently ended on August 31, 2024, and IRCC no longer accepts new applications, although applications received on or before that date continue to be processed.
Former RNIP Requirements
RNIP requirements changed during the life of the pilot. The summary below reflects the later requirements used under the NOC 2021 TEER system. Applicants with older pending RNIP applications may be subject to earlier requirements based on when they applied for their community recommendation.
Before RNIP ended, applicants generally needed to:
- have qualifying work experience or qualify for the international graduate exemption
- meet the applicable language requirement
- meet the education requirement
- have an eligible job offer in a participating community
- meet the community’s additional eligibility criteria
- receive a recommendation from the participating community
- have sufficient settlement funds, unless already working legally in Canada with a valid work permit
- intend to live in the recommending community
- have valid temporary resident status if applying from inside Canada
- meet federal admissibility requirements
Most applicants needed at least 1 year of qualifying work experience, equal to at least 1,560 hours, gained within the 3 years before applying. Certain international graduates from publicly funded post-secondary institutions in the recommending community could be exempt from the work-experience requirement if they met the applicable RNIP graduate criteria, including the program-length, full-time study, residence and timing requirements.
Applicants also needed an eligible full-time, non-seasonal job offer that met the applicable RNIP requirements. The offer also had to have no set end date, be for work in the participating community and come from an employer carrying on business there. The wage had to meet the applicable requirements. The job offer and the applicant’s previous work experience had to satisfy the program’s NOC-related requirements.
Language requirements depended on the TEER category of the job offer:
- TEER 0 or 1 — CLB/NCLC 6
- TEER 2 or 3 — CLB/NCLC 5
- TEER 4 or 5 — CLB/NCLC 4
Applicants had to submit results from an approved language test, and the results had to be less than 2 years old when the permanent residence application was submitted.
Applicants needed a Canadian secondary or post-secondary credential, or a foreign credential supported by an Educational Credential Assessment. For foreign education, the Educational Credential Assessment had to be less than 5 years old on the date of application.
Meeting the federal requirements alone was not enough. Applicants also had to satisfy the criteria established by the participating community and receive its recommendation before applying to IRCC for permanent residence.
End of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot permanently ended on August 31, 2024, when its time-limited pilot phase concluded. IRCC later introduced new community-based pathways, including the Rural Community Immigration Pilot and the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot. These are separate programs with their own eligibility requirements and participating communities.
IRCC no longer accepts new applications under RNIP, and participating communities no longer issue recommendations for new applicants under the former pilot.
Applications received by IRCC on or before August 31, 2024 continue to be processed under the applicable RNIP rules.
After RNIP ended, Canada introduced the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) as a separate community-driven permanent residence pathway with its own participating communities, designated employers and eligibility requirements. People who did not submit an RNIP permanent residence application before the program closed must qualify independently under a current immigration pathway, and previous RNIP eligibility does not automatically transfer to RCIP.
Pending RNIP Permanent Residence Applications
IRCC continues to process RNIP permanent residence applications received on or before August 31, 2024. A community recommendation or an application started at the community level did not, by itself, count as a permanent residence application submitted to IRCC.
Applicants with pending applications should continue to:
- monitor IRCC correspondence
- respond to requests for additional documents or information
- complete biometrics and medical examinations when requested
- provide police certificates or other admissibility documents where required
- report relevant changes affecting their application, family circumstances or contact information
Eligible applicants who already submitted an RNIP permanent residence application may still be able to apply for a temporary employer-specific work permit while their application is being processed, provided they meet the applicable work-permit requirements. The work permit is tied to the employer and participating community connected to the RNIP application.
Processing times vary depending on application completeness, verification requirements, background and admissibility checks, applicant response times and IRCC’s existing inventory.
Applicants with files still in process should rely on IRCC’s current application-status and processing-time information rather than historical RNIP estimates.
