Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot: who can apply

You need 1 year of continuous work experience (at least 1,560  hours) in the past 3 years, unless you’re exempt as above.

To calculate your hours of work experience

• count the hours worked in part-time and full-time jobs
  • The hours can be in more than 1 occupation and with different employers.
  • The hours must be over a period of at least 12 months.
  • The hours can be inside or outside Canada.
    • If you worked in Canada, you must have been allowed to work in Canada.
• don’t count hours you weren’t paid for (such as hours worked as a volunteer or in unpaid internships)
• don’t count hours when you were self-employed

You need 1 year of work experience (at least 1,560 hours) in the past 3 years.

To calculate your hours of work experience

• count the hours worked in part-time and full-time jobs
  • The hours can be in more than 1 occupation and with different employers.
  • The hours must be over a period of at least 12 months.
  • The hours can be inside or outside Canada.
    • If you worked in Canada, you must have been allowed to work in Canada.
• don’t count hours you weren’t paid for (such as volunteering or unpaid internships)
• don’t count hours when you were self-employed, unless the experience was acquired as a medical practitioner entitled to practice medicine under the laws of the jurisdiction.

You’re exempt from the work experience criteria above if you’re an international student who graduated with

1. A credential from a post-secondary program of 2  years or longer and you
   1. were studying as a full-time student for the full duration of the 2+ years
   2. received the credential no more than 18  months before your application for permanent residence
   3. were in the community for at least 16 of the last 24  months spent studying to get your credential

   or

2. A master’s degree or higher and you
   1. were studying as a full-time student for the duration of your degree
   2. got your degree no more than 18  months before your application for permanent residence
   3. were in the community for the length of your studies

You cannot apply as an international student if your credentials are from a program in which

• studying English or French made up more than half of the program
• distance learning made up more than half of the program
• a scholarship or fellowship was awarded that requires you to return to your home country to apply what you learned

You must meet the minimum language requirements based on the NOC category that applies to the job offer in the community. This can either be the

• Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) or
• Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC)

The minimum language requirements for each NOC category are

• NOC 0 and A: CLB/NCLC 6
• NOC B: CLB/NCLC 5
• NOC C and D: CLB/NCLC 4

You must submit your results from a designated language test. These results must be less than 2 years old when you apply.

Find out more about language testing.