On December 14, the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) announced changes to make the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) more flexible for applicants. He also welcomed the first two practical nurses under the Pilot to Sault St. Marie.
The RNIP is a community-driven program that advocates immigration to smaller communities. The program helps these communities to attract the workers they need by creating a path to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers.
The new changes to the program indicates that candidates will no longer have to obtain eligible work experience over a continuous period of time. Instead, they can show that they have accumulated the required 1 year of eligible work experience (1,560 hours) in the span of 3 years preceding their application, even if there were breaks in their employment. The policy applies to all applications received under the Pilot, as well as all future applications going forward.
This change will allow for short breaks and not penalize candidates for events such as temporary work interruptions or layoffs caused by pandemic.
But, individuals must still meet all other existing admissibility and program requirements, including the recommendation process in the participating RNIP community in which they wish to settle.
Additionally, IRCC has introduced a temporary measure that allows RNIP applicants who are waiting for a decision about their permanent residence application to apply for a work permit without being penalized due to processing delays caused by the pandemic.
For more information, please visit https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2020/12/minister-mendicino-announces-increased-flexibility-in-rural-and-northern-immigration-pilot-and-welcomes-practical-nurses.html?fbclid=IwAR3k8he9TW_S6jSOISVgrKcvDN3B8PiNkE2qPSGhiY1iIXacA2RlTlNpHBE
Word of the Day
Penalized: Subject to some type of punishment
