Employers

Once your business is designated under the RCIP, you can make job offers to eligible international candidates to fill roles you were not able to hire locally.

The Pictou County Partnership does not provide recruitment services, but contact our RCIP team who can support you with learning more about international talent pools and how to make connections rcip@pictoucountypartnership.com

Hire through the Rural Community Immigration pilots

Job offer requirements:

• within the boundaries of Pictou County designate area
• full time (at least 30 paid hours per week)
• non-seasonal (year-round)
• indeterminate (no end date)
• Volunteer work and unpaid internships don’t count.
• at a similar skill level as your candidate’s qualifying work experience

Candidate Requirements:

Candidates who are existing employees with a valid work permit and new international candidates can be considered for RCIP recommendations. To learn more about candidate requirements and the documents they will need to submit to you as part of the recommendation application, visit:

Rural Community Immigration Pilot – Who can apply

Recruitment Activities:

Employers will need to demonstrate that they tried to hire from within Canada before looking to hire skilled workers from outside of Canada. See the Recommendation Application Guidelines for more details.

EN – RCIP Recommendation Application Guidelines

FR – RCIP Recommendation Application Guidelines

Once you have identified a candidate to fill an existing vacancy, you must complete a Recommendation Application for each Principal Applicant and submit it to the Pictou County Partnership. A recommendation is required before the candidate can apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residency and a work permit.

The recommendation application will confirm the business, job offer, and the candidate meet the eligibility requirements for Pictou County RCIP.

To learn more visit: Submit a recommendation to your community.

To get started and to access the Pictou County RCIP Recommendation application, reach out to our team.

Email: rcip@pictoucountypartnership.com

Copy the subject line: [Insert Business name] Recommendation Application

Offer of Employment to a foreign national – Rural Community Immigration Pilot (IMM 0247)

EN – RCIP Recommendation Application Guidelines

FR – RCIP Recommendation Application Guidelines

Intake periods 2025

The Pictou County Partnership will be inviting Pictou County RCIP designated employers to submit their completed recommendation applications during the following intake periods:

July 14 – 25
August 1 – 15
September 1 – 15
October 1 – 15
November 1 – 15
December 1 -10

The Recommendation Selection Process

Recommendation applications that meet the minimum requirements, once processed, will be notified and added to an application pool.

The Pictou County Partnership will pull the highest scoring candidates from the pool at the end of each month where a recommendation intake is scheduled, or until the annual allocations have been met. Approximately 10 recommendations will be made each intake period in 2025, or until the annual allocations have been met.

Pictou County RCIP Scoring Grid May 2025

If a work permit is required and a recommendation has been issued, the candidate may be eligible for a 2 year work permit so your new employee can work while the permanent resident application is processed.

Employers can support a recommended candidate by submitting an offer of employment in the IRCC Employer Portal and paying a $230 compliance fee. After submitting, you will receive a 7-digit number which is the employment number you must share with the candidate for their work permit application.

Visit Employer Portal user guide to learn more.

Note: The candidate’s work permit application process for RCIP will depend on where the candidate is applying from – inside or outside of Canada.

Rural Community Immigration Pilot – Work Permit