West Kootenay Opens Applications For Rural & Northern Immigration Pilot

The West Kootenay region, including the towns of Castlegar, Trail, Rossland and Nelson, has opened its application process for candidates and employers via the Rural & Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP).

The British Columbia region or community has minimal requirement, focusing on language ability, intention to settle in the region and wages offered.

These community requirements are on top of federal requirements, which covers work experience, educational qualifications and available settlement funds.

The region has also published an extensive points grid through which candidates will receive a score up to a maximum of 100, with the highest-scoring candidates selected for provincial nomination.

The requirements, for both principal candidate and spouse/common-law partner, include family ties, time spent in West Kootenay, work experience in the community, job offer, age, driver’s license, language ability.

“The region will continue to use this program to strengthen our local economy and support the development of our labourforce,” says a statement on the West Kootenay RNIP website.

The region is one of nine communities that have recently launched their RNIP application processes.

The others are Claresholm in Alberta, Sudbury, Timmins, Brandon and Altona/Rhineland in Manitoba, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay in Ontario, plus Vernon in British Columbia.

West Kootenay RNIP Employer Criteria

To qualify for the West Kootenay RNIP, the employer must:

• Be based in the region and be eligible to issue genuine job offers.
• demonstrate efforts made to recruit a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident.
• Have operated in the community for a minimum of two years, OR have made a capital investment of at least $200,000 in the West Kootenay region.
• Not be in violation of the provincial employment standards and/or the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada).
• Not accept any form of payments in exchange for providing a job offer.
• The wage offered in your offer of employment must meet the standard or exceed $22/hour and must be above or within the range of wages for the occupation. Candidates who are presently working and/or living in the West Kootenay region for the last six (6) months will be exempt from the region-specific wage criteria of $22/hour if their wages/job offer is between $17/hour and $21.99/hour.

West Kootenay RNIP Community Candidate Requirements

• The person must meet the federal eligibility criteria.
• Candidates must intend to settle in West Kootenay.
• Candidates must have a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of four (4) or higher, in French or English.
• The wage offered must meet the standard or exceed $22/hour and must be within the range of wages for that particular occupation. Candidates who are now studying, working, and/or residing for at least the last six (6) months in the region will be exempt from the region-specific wage criteria of $22/hour if their wage/job offer is between $17/hour and $21.99/hour.
• Only candidates who have completed a Candidate profile on the West Kootenay website are qualified.