Immigration Pilot Programs - CanadianVisa.org

Updated: February 17th, 2021

Immigration Pilots

Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot

This is a community driven pilot aimed at bringing the economic benefits of immigration directly to smaller cities and towns. Skilled foreigners who want to live and work in one of the participating communities can now take a quicker route to permanent residency in Canada.

Atlantic Immigration Pilot

If you are considering immigrating to one of the four participating Atlantic provinces, this pilot is designed to help employers recruit skilled foreign workers and international graduates who wish to settle permanently in Atlantic Canada.

Agri-Food Immigration Pilot

This industry specific pilot will address shortages in the agri-food sector, targeting semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the meat, greenhouse and animal production industries. Eligible jobs for the pilot include butchers, farm workers, harvesting labourers and farm supervisors.

Home Care Provider Pilots

The New Home Care Provider Pilots replaces the Live-In Caregiver Program, allowing both Home Support Workers and Home Child Care Provider to live and work in Canada. These pilots make it more accessible for foreign caregivers to immigrate to Canada and gain permanent residency.

Immigration pilots are limited term programs specifically designed to address the needs of particular areas and communities in Canada. They aim to bring unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled foreigners in to address these shortages by creating a path to permanent residence for those who want to live and work permanently in Canada.

Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot

This pilot is geared for individual towns and communities to address shortages in their labour market. It is similar to the PNP in that if you can get a job offer from a participating business within the community, you will receive a nomination from the local government for permanent residency. There is no skill level required, all occupation levels are eligible.

Atlantic Immigration Pilot

If you are a foreign skilled worker with a valid job offer from a participating business or a foreign graduate from a publicly funded post-secondary school institution in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, or Newfoundland and Labrador you may be eligible to apply for permanent residency through the Atlantic Immigration Pilot. The pilot is scheduled to run until December 2021, and with the regions labour force still contracting, this year is a great time to secure permanent residency in Canada through this pathway.

Agri-Food Immigration Pilot

This pilot opens the door for unskilled and semi-skilled workers who may have struggled to find pathways to permanent residency in the past. Canada has a significant shortage in the food production industry and has thus created this avenue to address the problem. Canadian immigration will process 2,750 permanent resident applications annually for foreign farm labourers, farm supervisors, harvesters, butchers, and food processing labourers. The program works on a first come first serve basis though, so it is important to get in early.

Care Provider Pilots

Replacing the old caregiver program are two new pilots. The Home Child Care Provider Pilot makes provision for foreign workers with an offer to take care of minors such as nanny's and au pairs. The Home Support Worker Pilot makes provision for foreign workers with offers of employment for the care of elderly, disabled or otherwise incapacitated persons. Employers do not require Labour Market Impact Assessments to hire foreigner workers and two years of work experience in Canada is required to become a permanent resident.

1. What is a skilled worker in Canada?

A skilled worker is any person who has special skills, training, qualifications and experience in a certain trade. The Canadian government uses the National Occupational Classification (NOC) to categorize skilled job positions for immigration purposes. Skilled jobs are divided into three types, 0, A and B:

Skill type 0: Management jobs, for example:

Restaurant managers;
Mine managers;
Advertising, marketing and public relations managers; and
Financial managers

Skill level A: Professional jobs that usually require a degree, like:

Doctors;
Architects;
Investment dealers and brokers; and
Human Resource professionals

Skill level B: Technical jobs and skilled trades that usually require a diploma or apprentice training, for example:

Chefs;
Electricians;
Medical administrative assistant; and
Sport and fitness instructors

2. How many skilled workers does Canada accept each year?

In 2016, the Economic Immigration Program accepted approximately 160,600 skilled foreign workers into the country. Canada has a growing economy that is seeking to attract a strong workforce, who will succeed in the labour market, this is why they accept so many skilled workers each year.

3. How do you qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program?

In order to qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, you must meet these minimum requirements:

Have enough work experience in the same type of job as your main NOC;
Prove that you have enough funds to support you and your family after you arrive in Canada if you do not have a job offer or you are not able to work legally in Canada; and
Have good language abilities in French or English

Note: If you have a live-in partner (married, same sex or opposite sex couple) they can apply under Express Entry as the principal applicant, (but only if they meet all requirements).

4. How does the Express Entry program accommodate skilled foreign workers?

Express Entry is a new system implemented in 2015, to help strengthen Canada’s labour market by securing long term economic growth. The program offers skilled foreign workers permanent residence, by reducing processing times to approximately six months for applicants.

Express Entry is not an immigration program, instead it is a management and selection stream.The system is connected to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), to help manage applications for permanent residence under the following economic immigration programs:

The Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC);
The Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC);
The Canadian Experience Class (CEC); and
A portion of the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs)

It is is an electronic process, whereby applicants can provide their credentials (skills, work experience, abilities, language, and education) to the Canadian Government. They will then review and invite potential candidates to apply under the above-mentioned programs.

The best feature of the Express Entry Program is that Canadian employers have access to the Express Entry pool of prospective candidates. This provides employers with the opportunity to offer jobs to candidates, whose skills, qualifications and experience the Canadian employers need. Once a candidate receives a job offer from a Canadian employer, he or she will then be invited to apply for Permanent Residency.

5. How do you get chosen for Express Entry?

The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) is a point based system used to evaluate and score candidate’s profiles in the Express Entry Pool. You are then ranked based on how many points you score. Note : that Express Entry draws’ minimum cut-off points depends on different factors each draw.

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