The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) allows skilled foreign workers to live, work, and move permanently to the Vernon region in the North Okanagan/Shuswap areas in the province of British Columbia.
What is the Okanagan/Shuswap region?
The North Okanagan/Shuswap region has been defined specifically based on border markings, as shown on the map below:
Source: elections.ca
This region comprises of the City of Salmon Arm, District Municipality of Sicamous, and the Indian reserves of Chum Creek No. 2, Hustalen No. 1, North Bay No. 5, Okanagan (Part) No. 1, Quaaout No. 1, Salmon River No. 1, Scotch Creek No. 4, Switsemalph and Switsemalph No. 3.
Eligibility for the program
Eligibility is first checked against the federal criteria for qualifying for the RNIP. These federal criteria include:
- Qualifying work experience.
- Meeting education and language requirements.
- An intention (that you can demonstrate) to live in the community of choice.
- Proof of funds
- Legal status in Canada (as proven through authorisations such as a work permit, study permit etc.)
- Meet the requirements set out by each community.
Community-specific criteria
The exact nature of the community-specific criteria changes with the application cycle that the RNIP program is in, and all updates to the criteria are announced on rnip-vernon-northok.ca.
For instance, one of the community-specific criteria is Skill Levels, divided into the following sub-categories:
Skill Level 0, Managerial positions: Management occupations with varying education requirements.
Skill Level A, Professional positions: Occupations that require a university education.
Skill Level B, Technical and skilled positions: Occupations requiring a college education, apprenticeship training, or a college education.
Skill Level C, Semi-skilled jobs: Occupations that require secondary school only or some kind of professional-specific training.
Skill Level D, Entry-level jobs: Occupations where training is provided as a part of the job.
Another eligibility requirement for the RNIP is whether the candidate makes at least $23 an hour.
Next steps
If you already have a recommendation from the recommendation community of the specific RNIP offshoot that you have applied to, you have until August 31, 2024 to apply for permanent residency.
