RCIP: immigrating through smaller Canadian communities

From an employer admitted by the community to the program

Each participating community independently determines which employers may use the RCIP.

Official term:

RCIP eligible employer

In simple words:

This is an employer that the community has officially accepted to participate in RCIP.

Further on the page we will call it:

employer participating in RCIP.

But this status does not mean that the company has a vacancy right now.

IRCC specifically states that RCIP does not match candidates with jobs.

You need to find a real job opening and go through the normal hiring process.

RCIP has its own federal requirements

The proposed work should:

• be within the boundaries of the selected community;
• be paid;
• be full-time - at least 30 paid hours per week;
• not be seasonal;
• be permanent, without a predetermined end date;
• comply with RCIP rules in relation to your previous experience.

In addition, the community checks to see if the work is within its current priority industry or profession.

Therefore, it is not enough to find any job opening in North Bay, Brandon or any other participating region.

You need to check at the same time:

1. whether the employer participates in RCIP;
2. whether the proposal itself is suitable under federal rules;
3. whether the work relates to the community's current priorities.

These categories link the new job to previous experience and language.

In Canada, occupations are classified using the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system.

Each profession has a TEER category.

Very simplified:

Unlike AIP, RCIP allows proposals for TEER 5 work.

Typically a minimum of 1,560 hours in the last 3 years

This roughly equates to one year of full-time employment.

Experience must:

• be paid;
• be received within the last 3 years;
• not be self-employed;
• include actions from your NOC description;
• include most of the essential responsibilities of the profession;
• comply with the rules of connection between TEER experience and the proposed work.

Volunteer work and unpaid internships do not count.

RCIP uses a separate table

The table shows what work experience is appropriate for each TEER level of the job offered.

Some health care professions have a separate exception.

For example, the Registered Nurse/Registered Psychiatric Nurse experience may be used for certain offers in the nursing assistant or home health care professions.

Minimum: Canadian school or foreign equivalent

For RCIP you need to have:

• Canadian Certificate of Secondary Education;
• or a Canadian certificate, diploma or post-secondary degree;
• or foreign equivalent.

If education was completed outside of Canada, a Education Assessment for Immigration Purposes (ECA) is required.

In simple words:

ECA shows how foreign education compares to the Canadian level.

less than 5 years must have passed since the ECA was issued by the filing date.

This is the main local stage of RCIP

Even if there is a job offer and federal requirements are met, this is not enough.

The employer sends documents for community recommendation.

In Russian:

recommendation from the participating community.

The community checks, among other things:

• whether the work belongs to a priority industry or profession;
• Is the offer real?
• whether the candidate meets RCIP requirements.

If the community decides to recommend a candidate, it will issue a Community Recommendation Certificate.

Only then can the candidate submit a federal application for permanent residence.

In some cases yes

After applying for permanent residence under the RCIP, the applicant may be eligible for a separate temporary work permit.

It:

• designed specifically for RCIP;
• valid up to 2 years;
• tied to the employer who made the offer.

For such permission, among other things, you need:

• suitable job offer;
• recommendation from the participating community;
• Compliance with general work permit requirements.

A spouse or partner can apply for an open work permit at the same time.

But such a permit allows the spouse to work only in the same community as the main candidate.

Important:

temporary work permit does not guarantee permanent residence.

Regular LMIA is not required for RCIP recommendation

Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a separate procedure that is used in many other foreign worker recruitment processes.

A regular LMIA is not needed for RCIP recommendations.

But the job offer is still checked.

The employer must:

• be admitted to RCIP;
• fulfill program requirements;
• make a real offer;
• show that the job could not be filled by a local employee;
• confirm the candidate’s compliance with the requirements;
• participate in supporting its development.

Check real vacancies

Admission to RCIP only means that the community has authorized the employer to participate in RCIP.

This does not mean:

• that he is hiring right now;
• that any vacancy relates to a priority profession;
• that the candidate will automatically receive a recommendation;
• that the community is guaranteed to support the statement.

IRCC indicates that communities publish RCIP participating employers and available positions on their websites as information becomes available.

There is no one list of professions for all of Canada

Each participating community identifies its own current priority industries and professions.

Therefore, the federal IRCC page is not sufficient to fully test a particular option.

On the website of the selected community you need to check:

• current priority sectors;
• priority professions;
• employers participating in RCIP;
• current vacancies;
• procedure for obtaining a recommendation;
• local admission rules;
• official borders.

These details are subject to change.

Listings of occupations and employers vary in each community, so they should be checked on the local official website.

Eight questions

1. Which of the 14 communities are you really ready to live in?
2. What industries and professions does the community currently consider priority?
3. Are there RCIP participating employers in your area?
4. Is there a real vacancy?
5. Does the proposal comply with federal RCIP requirements?
6. Is there a qualifying experience or exception for a graduate?
7. Are the language and education sufficient?
8. Can you get a community recommendation?

If there is no employer or job offer yet, this does not mean that RCIP is excluded.

But this means:

you don't yet have a ready-made RCIP path.

This is especially useful if:

• it is unclear which community is suitable;
• the profession is located on the border of several NOCs;
• TEER of previous experience and job offers differ;
• an exception applies for certain health professions;
• the candidate is counting on the graduate exception;
• the employer only receives RCIP participant status;
• the list of local priorities has recently changed;
• the work is located near the border of the community;
• there is self-employment;
• foreign education requires ECA;
• work permit expires soon;
• there are questions about your spouse or family resources;
• You need a temporary work permit after applying for permanent residence.

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