• Posted 09-Oct-2020

Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) launches in Vernon B.C.

Vernon, a small city located in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia has launched a new immigration program known as the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP).

The RNIP was created due to the need to link foreign immigrant workers to various communities where there are shortages of labour.

Applicants must ensure that they have an eligible job offer with an hourly wage of at least $25 per hour in order to have a full time position permanently in Vernon B.C.

Applicants must ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria as set by the federal government as well as the community before applying for permanent residence through Vernon B.C. and these include –

• Applicants must meet the minimum of level five or higher in English or French in order to pass the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB)
• Applicants must ensure that their profiles have been updated on Vernon B.C’s official website.
• Applicants must be ranked based on the Vernon’s Comprehensive Ranking System (VCRS). The applicant is ranked based on the score from a number of human factors such as – ability to integrate well in the host community, previous working, schooling or other commercial activities in Vernon, possession of a valid Canadian government issues ID card, family affiliation in Vernon as well as the wage of the job offered to the applicant.

When an applicant meets the above requirements, it is deemed that he or she is fully eligible for a pool draw where applications will be randomly selected by a committee set up by Vernon.

On a monthly basis, the committee will randomly pick 10 applicants who best fit in for the RNIP program and offer them recommendations. If an applicant is not chosen for recommendation within a period of 3 months, then such applicant will have to reapply.

Vernon can only process 100 recommendations per year and this program is set to last up till February 2022.

Applications can be submitted outside the country subject to an interview that will be conducted via video call while applicants residing in Vernon B.C. can access the in – person services offered by Vernon under strict COVID-19 health guidelines.