On November 9, the Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, launched in January 2025, is transitioning into a permanent program called the Rural Community Immigration Program.

What changed

The pilot is being converted into a permanent economic immigration pathway to permanent residence for skilled workers and international graduates working in priority sectors. The permanent program keeps the pilot’s employer and community partnership model: candidates are hired by employers who have been vetted and designated by a participating community.

IRCC has indicated that program integrity measures are being strengthened, including mandatory employer training and monitoring and reporting requirements.

Who is affected

• Skilled workers and international graduates seeking permanent residence through a rural community pathway.
• Employers in participating rural communities who wish to be designated to hire through the program.
• The 14 pilot communities expected to continue in the permanent program.

The participating communities are Pictou County (NS); North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay (ON); Steinbach, Altona/Rhineland and Brandon (MB); Moose Jaw (SK); Claresholm (AB); and West Kootenay, North Okanagan Shuswap and Peace Liard (BC).

How communities qualify

Communities can apply through an expression of interest process if they have a population under 200,000 and score 0.20 or higher on Statistics Canada’s Index of Remoteness. Selection criteria look at economic needs such as labour shortages and vacant jobs that cannot be filled by Canadians or permanent residents, capacity to welcome and settle newcomers through health care, housing, educational facilities and settlement services, and administrative capacity including funding and experience with multi-year initiatives and with attracting, settling and retaining newcomers.

What this means in practice

For candidates, the route to permanent residence under this program continues to run through a job offer from a designated employer in a participating community and a priority sector. Only employers vetted and designated by a participating community can access the program, so identifying the right community and employer is the starting point.

For employers in participating rural areas, including the three BC communities, designation is granted through the local economic development organization that administers the program on behalf of the community.

Full details from IRCC are available in the official program overview.

Next steps

• Candidates should identify participating communities and target designated employers in priority sectors.
• Employers in participating communities should contact their local economic development organization about designation.
• Applicants, employers and communities should monitor IRCC and community websites for the opening date, intake procedures and application instructions for the permanent program.