Rural Community Immigration Program becomes permanent

The employer- and community-led pathway is expected to continue with the 14 communities participating in the existing pilot, while the federal government plans to expand the program to additional communities in the future. The program aims to address persistent labour shortages and help skilled workers, international graduates and their families establish long-term roots in rural and smaller Canadian communities.

Permanent pathway targets rural workforce needs

The permanent program builds on the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, which ran from 2019 to 2024, and the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, launched in January 2025.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), rural and remote communities face population decline, aging workforces and persistent labour shortages that can limit economic growth.

The permanent program will continue the community-driven approach developed under the pilot, providing eligible skilled workers and international graduates in priority sectors with a pathway to Canadian permanent residence.

What the change means for applicants

The permanent Rural Community Immigration Program is scheduled to open on January 1, 2027, replacing the existing pilot.

Applicants generally need a valid job offer from a designated employer and a recommendation certificate from a participating community. They must also meet applicable work experience, language, education and settlement fund requirements.

Applicants who receive a community recommendation under the existing pilot dated on or before December 31, 2026, may still apply under the pilot rules before their recommendation expires. IRCC will continue processing applications already received.

The program is intended for applicants planning to work and settle in participating rural communities, rather than for employment anywhere in Canada.

Existing communities and future expansion

IRCC confirmed that the following 14 communities participating in the Rural Community Immigration Pilot are expected to participate in the permanent program:

• Pictou County, Nova Scotia
• North Bay, Ontario
• Sudbury, Ontario
• Timmins, Ontario
• Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
• Thunder Bay, Ontario
• Steinbach, Manitoba
• Altona/Rhineland, Manitoba
• Brandon, Manitoba
• Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
• Claresholm, Alberta
• West Kootenay, British Columbia
• North Okanagan Shuswap, British Columbia
• Peace Liard, British Columbia

Canada also plans to expand the permanent program to additional communities. However, no expansion date or list of new participating communities has been announced. IRCC says the eligibility criteria for future communities will be communicated later.

Which communities can qualify for the program?

According to the November 9 backgrounder, communities were initially selected for the pilot based on three main considerations:

• Economic needs: Identified labour shortages, unfilled positions that cannot be filled by Canadians or permanent residents, and evidence of economic development or growth.
• Settlement capacity: Access to housing, health care, educational facilities and organizations providing settlement services for newcomers.
• Administrative capacity: Available funding, experience managing multi-year initiatives and previous involvement in attracting, settling or retaining newcomers.

These factors are intended to ensure participating communities have both genuine labour market needs and the capacity to support newcomers over the long term.

How does IRCC define a rural community?

IRCC’s backgrounder explains that, under the community expression-of-interest framework, a community may qualify if it has:

• A population of fewer than 200,000 people.
• A score of at least 0.20 on Statistics Canada’s Index of Remoteness.

The Index of Remoteness measures how geographically remote a community is based on its accessibility to population centres.

These criteria relate to the selection of participating communities, not the individual eligibility requirements for permanent residence applicants. The federal government has not yet announced the criteria for selecting additional communities in a future expansion.

How the permanent immigration program will work

The permanent Rural Community Immigration Program will retain the employer-community partnership model used during the pilot. IRCC has identified three central elements of the program.

1. Communities identify priority occupations

Participating communities will identify priority sectors and occupations based on local labour market shortages and economic development strategies.

This approach allows communities to direct immigration toward positions that employers cannot readily fill through the local workforce.

2. Employers must receive community designation

Employers must be reviewed and designated by participating communities before hiring workers through the program.

Designation considers demonstrated labour needs, employer standing and the ability to support newcomer employees.

Only designated employers operating in community-identified priority sectors will be able to access the program.

A job offer from an employer located in a participating community does not automatically qualify an applicant. The employer and position must meet the applicable program and community requirements.

3. Stronger employer accountability and monitoring

IRCC also announced enhanced program integrity measures, including mandatory employer training and strengthened monitoring and reporting requirements.

These measures are intended to improve employer understanding of program responsibilities, support compliance and help IRCC evaluate program outcomes.

The permanent model will therefore continue to rely on community recommendations, designated employers and local employment priorities, while introducing stronger oversight of participating employers.

Permanent residence admission targets for 2027–2029

Under Canada’s 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan, the permanent Rural Community Immigration Program has separate annual permanent residence admission targets.

The targets represent planned permanent resident admissions, not the number of available jobs, community recommendations or guaranteed approvals.

Actual admissions will depend on application processing and the implementation of the program.

More than 1,950 employers designated under the pilot

Between January 2025 and August 2026, communities participating in the Rural Community Immigration Pilot vetted and designated more than 1,950 employers experiencing labour shortages that could not be filled locally.

According to IRCC, these employers issued more than 4,700 job offers and community recommendations during the same period.

These figures demonstrate employer participation and community recommendation activity but should not be interpreted as the number of permanent residence applications approved.

Pilot results cited by IRCC

More than 2,800 employers participated in the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, which operated between 2019 and 2024. Through that earlier pilot, more than 12,500 candidates and their family members were admitted to rural and smaller communities across Canada.

IRCC also reported that early results from the Rural Community Immigration Pilot show newcomers helped address persistent workforce shortages in health care, education, and sales and services during 2025 and 2026.

With the transition to a permanent program, the federal government intends to maintain a locally driven immigration pathway that connects economic immigration with the long-term workforce and settlement needs of smaller Canadian communities.

Sources: IRCC News Release