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:

designated employer under RCIP

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 job offer must:

• 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 job offer itself meets federal requirements;
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 job offers in TEER 5.

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 occupation’s main duties;
• meet the program rules linking the TEER category of your experience to the job offered.

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:

• a Canadian secondary school (high school) diploma;
• or a Canadian certificate, diploma or post-secondary degree;
• or foreign equivalent.

If you completed your education outside Canada, you need an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) for immigration purposes.

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.

Regular LMIA is not required for RCIP recommendation

A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a separate process used in many other foreign-worker recruitment pathways.

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

Designation under RCIP means only that the community has authorized the employer to participate in the pilot.

This does not mean:

• that the employer is currently hiring;
• that any vacancy relates to a priority profession;
• that the candidate will automatically receive a recommendation;
• that the community is guaranteed to support the application.

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 application intake 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 job offer meet 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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