The new RNIP immigration program is designed to attract professionals to remote areas of Canada
As Russian Toronto notes, it has long been said that such programs should become an important part of a new approach to immigration. The fact is that few question that Canada needs an influx of skilled professionals from abroad. However, opponents of immigration argue that immigrants mostly settle in and around large cities, while remote areas, which face the most acute labor shortages, get nothing from this. That is, immigration in its current form does not fulfill its purpose.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that many cities are in decline due to the changes brought by the fourth industrial revolution. Traditional industries that supported the development of these cities are becoming unnecessary or uncompetitive due to outdated technologies, and modernizing them and creating new industries requires people who know what and how to do.
All this is happening against the backdrop of an overall aging population and an outflow of youth to large metropolitan areas, which in turn leads to a decline in birth rates and further exacerbates the situation. Immigrants, who play a significant role in population growth and replenishing skilled labor in Canada, are not eager to move to such small towns, even though that is where jobs are available. It should also be added that currently no one can force immigrants to go to such towns and remote areas, let alone force them to live there.
It is precisely to create a mechanism that, on the one hand, will encourage immigrants to go where there is work, and on the other hand, will help local businesses meet their needs for skilled labor, that programs granting permanent resident status only to those who will live and work in remote regions were created.
As of today, this approach has already been tested and shown good results. In particular, in 2017, such a program was created for the Atlantic provinces, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, which is considered quite successful. It is currently being expanded, and while initially it had a quota of 1,000 people, in 2019 the quota was increased to 2,500 people. Four Atlantic provinces, which face acute labor shortages, participate in this program.
Such programs are also beginning to be offered by individual provinces. The most well-known is the Manitoba provincial program to attract immigrants to the city of Morden. In recently announced plans, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec have also outlined priorities for attracting immigrants to remote and northern areas of those provinces. Therefore, the federal Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program fits organically into the overall concept.
Since these programs address the issue of replenishing population and labor in remote areas, everything suggests that they may soon become the main ones. At least, everyone planning immigration to Canada should understand that such programs will be given increasing priority.
What is known about the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program targets all provinces of Canada, except the Atlantic provinces, which have their own program – the Atlantic Immigration Pilot. Currently, five provinces participate in RNIP, and on June 15, a list of 11 communities that will select specialists under this program was announced.
• In Ontario, these are the cities of Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins, and North Bay.
• In Manitoba, these are the cities of Gretna-Rhineland-Altona-Plum Coulee and Brandon.
• In British Columbia, these are the regions of West Kootenay and Vernon.
• In Saskatchewan, this is the region of Moose Jaw.
• In Alberta, this is the region of Claresholm.
Detailed explanations on exactly how immigrants will be selected have not yet been published; this is promised to be done in the coming months. However, it is highly likely that the selection rules will be similar to those used for the analogous Atlantic Immigration Pilot program.
It is also not yet clear what quotas will be allocated for it. If we draw an analogy with the Atlantic provinces, the quotas should clearly be no smaller, since more provinces participate in the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program, and the need for labor in them is incomparably higher. There is also confidence that quotas under this program will increase year by year.
As of today, it is only known that selection will begin this fall, and the first candidates selected under this program should enter Canada in 2020.
Chances of passing the RNIP program
To understand the appeal of this program, one must recall that currently, chances of successful immigration are mainly available only to those who have either received a job offer from a Canadian company or worked for a year in Canada. As a rule, these are either graduates of Canadian colleges and universities, or a small category of highly skilled professionals in the high-tech field who receive a job offer in Canada under simplified rules. One can also add those who immigrate through provincial programs, but among them, there are also many graduates of Canadian colleges and universities, plus specialists invited to work by local employers.
That is, in any case, everything revolves around obtaining a job offer in Canada.
Therefore, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program certainly opens up additional opportunities for immigration to Canada for those who do not have a job offer in Canada. They get a chance that an employer from the provinces participating in this program will notice their application and give them the coveted job offer.
At the same time, it must be understood that the competition for applications under the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot will be high. For skilled professionals, the only chance to immigrate to Canada now is to obtain a job offer in Canada. And as soon as there is any opportunity to get such an offer, a huge flow of applicants rushes in. Therefore, there is no doubt that the number of applications under this program will far exceed the allocated quotas.
It is also worth noting the following point. Although the program is aimed at attracting people to remote and northern areas, the cities included in the list can hardly be called very remote, let alone northern. At least, judging by the province of Ontario, the list includes fairly large cities with populations from 50 to 150 thousand people, located within a driving distance of 4 to 8 hours from Toronto. Moreover, the places are very beautiful, and many Canadians move there to retire. Therefore, there will be many people willing to go there.
Moreover, it can be confidently predicted that the majority of applicants under this program may be graduates of Canadian colleges and universities from among foreign students. Since practically the only available way to immigrate to Canada now is to obtain education at Canadian colleges and universities with subsequent employment in Canada under an open work permit (issued to graduates for a period of 3 years), this has led to a significant increase in the number of foreign students. As a result, there is already a situation where the number of immigration applications from graduates has noticeably exceeded the quotas under the Canadian Experience Class program, through which the main flow of immigration passes.
Many of those who are left out begin to use other opportunities, in particular, to go through provincial programs. Given that competition will only increase in the future, it can be confidently stated that graduates of Canadian colleges and universities will also apply under the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program.
Given that information about new programs usually does not immediately come into focus for people interested in immigration, as people mostly rely on proven paths, in the early stages of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program, the chances of getting through it will be much higher than in a year or two. Therefore, for those interested in immigration to Canada, we recommend paying attention to this program and acting promptly if it suits you.