Non-profit assists immigrants with permanent residency applications through pilot program

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Peace region non-profit hopes to recommend more workers as candidates for permanent residency under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot program next year.

Executive director of Community Futures Peace Liard, Moira Green, appeared on the August 15th episode of This Week in the Peace to discuss the program.

“The Rural Community Immigration Pilot is an employer-based pilot program which is intended to encourage the retention of skilled labour into rural and remote communities,” Green explained.

“It’s an opportunity for employers to get a recommendation for their staff to aid in the permanent residency process.”

In northeast B.C., the project is a partnership between Northern Lights College and Community Futures. 

According to Green, this is the second iteration of this type of program; the first was “candidate-based,” meaning immigrants looking for work were connected with potential employers.

Under the current “employer-based” model, employers can submit the names of existing workers who are interested in applying for permanent residency, although participation in the pilot isn’t a guarantee they will get it.

“In order to apply for permanent residency, there’s a laundry list of things that you have to be able to prove, accomplish, demonstrate, and to be able to do that, that person needs to have made a significant commitment to their career, their profession, the community that they’re moving to, their education,” Green added.

“All this program does is expedite that application through the process. The permanent residency process does not change, in terms of what Canada is going to ask.”

So far this year, 203 employers have applied to become “designated employers” for the program, meaning they would be able to submit their staff members for consideration. 

Of those, 167 have been designated and 159 have submitted staff members as candidates, with the rest expected to submit candidates over the coming weeks.

“The caveat is that this year we received 60 recommendations from Canada,” Green explained, meaning only 60 people could have their application process expedited. 

“We’re hoping that subsequent years will be significantly more, because that’s a very low number.”

Once Community Futures has selected its 60 candidates, their applications will be forwarded to a selection committee.

“The next step is for the project coordinator and myself to set up a series of selection committee meetings and start to roll out these applications for their review and decision,” Green said.

Green hopes the entire candidate process will be finished by mid-October at the latest. For more information on the Rural Community Immigration Pilot program, visit its website.

To view the full interview with Green, look below.