Eligibility Requirements Eased for Canada’s Rural & Northern Immigration Pilot

Key Highlights:

• Media Release by Marco Mendicino
• On Work Experience for RNIP Program
• RNIP Applicants Awaiting a Decision
• Rural Communities Participating in RNIP
• Admissibility & Program Requirements

Eligibility requirements for Canada’s Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program is easy now.

Media Release by Marco Mendicino

Mendicino said, “Newcomers have played an outsized role in our hospitals and long-term care homes during the pandemic. They also account for Canada’s practical nurses, family doctors, pharmacists and others.” 

Marco Mendicino, immigration minister of Canada, on 14 December 2020, made a couple of announcements about changes in the Rural and North Immigration Pilot (RNIP).

On Work Experience for RNIP Program

• RNIP applicants are no longer required to have accumulated work experience over a continuous period. Work experience completed by the candidate within the last three years will be counted.

Having breaks in employment will not make an applicant ineligible. But one-year work experience is still required for the program. 

It is now applicable to all who have applied in the past or will in future. This change has made it easier for candidates to be eligible for Canadian immigration.

RNIP Applicants Awaiting a Decision

• IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) will allow RNIP applicants to apply for a work permit while waiting for their permanent residence. They will not be penalized for processing delays.

It is a temporary measure for applicants going through the RNIP process during the pandemic. 

Rural Communities Participating in RNIP

Eleven rural communities are participating in the RNIP program.

RNIP Participants

Admissibility & Program Requirements

However, applicants are still required to meet the admission requirements despite these changes. RNIP program is an excellent opportunity to immigrate to Canada.