The Peace Liard region, located in the northeast corner of British Columbia, is the latest to announce its priority sectors and occupations for the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP).

The Peace Liard RCIP region includes (but isn’t limited to) the following BC communities:

• Fort St. John;
• Dawson Creek;
• Chetwynd;
• Tumbler Ridge;
• Taylor;
• Pouce Coupe;
• Hudson’s Hope; and
• Fort Nelson.

The region also includes rural areas within the Peace River Regional District and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.

Assess your eligibility for the RCIP

The RCIP is an employer-driven pathway to permanent residence (PR). Foreign nationals with job offers from designated employers in the participating rural communities can apply to the federal government for PR, provided they meet all other requirements.

Peace Liard’s priority sectors

• Natural resources and agriculture.
• Natural and applied sciences.
• Education, law and social, community and government services.
• Sales and service.
• Trades and transport.

Peace Liard’s priority occupations

Occupation Name	National Occupation Code
Accommodation Service Managers	60031
Accounting Technicians and Bookkeepers	12200
Administrative Officers	13100
Air Pilots, Flight Engineers, and Flying Instructors	72600
Cashiers	65100
Cleaning Supervisors	62024
Computer Network and Web Technicians	22220
Construction Millwrights and Industrial Mechanics	72400
Cooks	63200
Early Childhood Educators and Assistants	42202
Elementary and Secondary Teacher Assistants	43100
Food Counter Attendants, Kitchen Helpers, and Related Support Occupations	65201
Food Service Supervisors	62020
Food and Beverage Servers	65200
General Office Support Workers	14100
Heavy Equipment Operators	73400
Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics	72401
Hotel Front Desk Clerks	64314
Light Duty Cleaners	65310
Pharmacy Technical Assistants and Pharmacy Assistants	33103
Restaurant and Food Service Managers	60030
Service Station Attendants	65101
Social and Community Service Workers	42201
Store Shelf Stockers, Clerks and Order Fillers	65102
User Support Technicians	22221

Significance of the RCIP priority sectors and occupations

Every year, each participating community in the RCIP will identify five priority sectors and 25 National Occupation Codes for the pilot.

Only employers operating within these designated sectors and NOC codes will be eligible to become designated employers and submit applications for the RCIP.

In addition, the job offer to a foreign worker must be full-time, permanent, and within one of the listed priority occupations.

Apart from having a qualifying job offer from a designated employer in the community that is also within a priority occupation, foreign nationals need to meet other criteria:

• Have at least 1 year (1,560 hours) of related work experience in the past three years, or meet the criteria for the international graduate exemption.
• Meet language proficiency requirements.
• Have a Canadian educational credential or the foreign equivalent.
• Have enough money to support the settlement process.

Foreign nationals whose applications are approved by the community can directly apply for PR with the federal government (as well as a work permit, if needed while the application is being processed).

Peace Liard is has yet to announce which of its employers have been designated for the RCIP.

At the time of writing, the following other participating communities have listed their priority sectors and occupations for the RCIP:

• Brandon, Manitoba.
• Claresholm, Alberta.
• North Bay, Ontario.
• North Okanagan-Shuswap, British Columbia.
• Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
• Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
• Steinbach, Manitoba.
• Timmins, Ontario.
• Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Assess your eligibility for the RCIP