In the Rural Community Immigration Program, the job offer is not one requirement among many. It is the door. Without an offer from a designated employer there is no community recommendation, and without a recommendation there is no permanent residence application and no work permit.
This guide is for people who already have, or are chasing, an offer in one of the 14 participating communities. It sets out what IRCC says a valid offer must contain, which employers can make one, and the order in which the paperwork happens. Every rule below comes from IRCC's own pages and forms, read on 10 November 2026, the day after the pilot was made permanent.
A valid offer must be for a full-time job (at least 30 paid hours a week) that is year-round, has no end date, sits inside the community's boundaries, pays at least the Job Bank wage for that occupation and region, and comes from an employer the community has designated (IRCC, 2026).
The Rural Community Immigration Pilot closes on 1 January 2027 and a permanent program opens the same day, in the same 14 communities. What changes, what stays and what to do if you already hold a recommendation.
What must the job itself look like?
IRCC's employer page lists the conditions. The job must be:
- within the boundaries of the community
- full time, meaning at least 30 paid hours per week
- non-seasonal, meaning year-round
- indeterminate, meaning no end date
- at a skill level similar to your qualifying work experience
Volunteer work and unpaid internships do not count. The Offer of Employment form (IMM 0247) adds two more: the employer must carry on business in the community, and the job must be "genuine and represents a labour market need". If any one of these is missing, IRCC says the offer "will not be considered valid".
How does the offer have to match my experience?
The match runs on the TEER categories of Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC). Your past work does not need to be the same job, but it must be close enough in skill level:
| TEER of the job offer | TEER your work experience can be in |
|---|---|
| 0 or 1 | 0, 1, 2 or 3 |
| 2 | 1, 2, 3 or 4 |
| 3 or 4 | 2, 3 or 4 |
| 5 | the same 5-digit NOC code as the offer |
There is one named exception. If your experience is as a registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse (NOC 31301), the offer can be for a nurse aide or patient service associate (NOC 33102) or a home support worker or caregiver (NOC 44101). International students who graduated from a public post-secondary school in the community can be exempt from the work experience requirement altogether, under conditions IRCC lists on the work experience page.
The TEER of the offer also sets your language bar: CLB 6 for TEER 0 or 1, CLB 5 for TEER 2 or 3, and CLB 4 for TEER 4 or 5.
What wage counts?
The IMM 0247 instructions say the wage must be at or above the wage for that occupation published by Job Bank for the region where you will work. If Job Bank has no regional figure, the provincial wage applies; if there is no provincial figure, the national one does. The wage has to meet that test twice: when the application is submitted and again when the permanent resident visa is issued. A salaried job is converted to an hourly rate by dividing the yearly salary by 52 weeks and then by the weekly hours. These are the pilot form's instructions; IRCC may publish new ones for the program.
That second check is easy to miss. If Job Bank's figure for your occupation rises while your file is in processing, an offer that passed on the day you applied may need to be revised.
Which employers can make an offer?
Only employers the community has designated. To be designated, an employer must, among other things:
- have operated continuously for at least two years in the community (a community can still designate a business that recently moved there if it makes a substantial contribution to the local economy)
- do at least 75% of its business work inside the community
- work in at least one of the priority occupations the community has chosen
- be in good standing with employment standards and workplace safety rules
- complete free onboarding and intercultural competency training
- agree to support the settlement of newcomers and their families
Some employers can never be designated: consulates, staffing or employment agencies, any business that you or your spouse or partner owns or controls (including a stake above 50%), employers that owe administrative penalties or offer jobs that are not genuine, and businesses owned by an authorized immigration representative. Designation is free for the employer, and each community runs its own application.
So the program is not a way to employ yourself, and an offer from a recruitment agency placing you with a third company does not qualify.
In what order does it happen?
- Find the job. IRCC says the program does not match candidates with jobs; you find an employer, or one finds you. Each community lists its designated employers and openings on its website.
- The employer makes the offer on IRCC's Offer of Employment form (IMM 0247, still titled for the pilot when we checked on 10 November 2026), signs it, and you sign it too.
- The employer sends your recommendation application to the community. The community checks that the job is in a priority sector or occupation, that the offer is real, and that you meet every requirement.
- If recommended, you receive a certificate and apply to IRCC for permanent residence.
- Optionally, you apply for the two-year work permit. For that, the employer issues an offer of employment number through IRCC's Employer Portal, and IRCC's form instructions say this should happen only after you have the recommendation and have submitted your PR application.
IRCC suggests gathering your language test, credential assessment, work experience proof and proof of funds before the offer is made, because, in IRCC's words, some of these documents "take time to get".
What should I check before I accept an offer?
- Is the employer on the community's designated list right now?
- Is the job in one of the community's current priority occupations?
- Are the hours at least 30 a week, all year, with no end date in the contract?
- Does the hourly wage meet the Job Bank figure for this occupation in this region?
- Is the workplace inside the community's boundaries, not a branch elsewhere?
- Has anyone asked you for money in exchange for the offer? Treat that as a warning sign: IRCC's rules bar employers that offer jobs that are not genuine.
For what the move to a permanent program means for timing, see our piece on the RCIP becoming permanent. VisaRoads offers mentorship, not legal advice; confirm each point on the current IRCC pages before you sign.
Sources
- IRCC, Hire through the rural and Francophone pilots and program: Hire a candidate (read 10 Nov 2026)
- IRCC, Get designated as an employer
- IRCC, Offer of Employment to a foreign national, Rural Community Immigration Pilot (IMM 0247), instructions
- IRCC, Rural Community Immigration Program: Get a job offer and a community recommendation
- IRCC, Rural Community Immigration Program: Work experience
- IRCC, Rural Community Immigration Program: Language assessment
- IRCC, Rural Community Immigration Program: Optional work permit