Employers in Atlantic Canada

The pilot helps employers in Atlantic Canada hire foreign skilled workers who want to immigrate to Atlantic Canada and international graduates who want to stay in Atlantic Canada after they graduate.

There are 3 programs that employers can use to hire someone are:

• Atlantic International Graduate Program
• Atlantic High-skilled Program
• Atlantic Intermediate-skilled Program

Each program has requirements that the employer and the candidate must meet.

Before the employer makes a job offer, they must be designated by the provincial government of the Atlantic province where the candidate will be working.

Once the employer makes a job offer, they and the candidate will work through several steps. If the employer and the candidate meet all the requirements, the candidate gets permanent resident status in Canada.

International graduates and skilled foreign workers

The Atlantic Immigration Pilot is a pathway to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers and international graduates who want to work and live in one of Canada’s 4 Atlantic Provinces:

• New Brunswick
• Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island
• Newfoundland and Labrador

This is an employer-driven program designed to help employers in Atlantic Canada hire qualified candidates for jobs they have been unable to fill locally.

To immigrate to Atlantic Canada through the pilot, you must be a recent graduate of a publicly funded institution in Atlantic Canada or a skilled worker who meets the program requirements.

You can be living abroad or already be in Canada temporarily.

You must receive a job offer from a designated employer in Atlantic Canada to participate in the pilot.

If you receive a job offer from an employer:

• ask for a copy of the employer’s Confirmation of Designation, or
• tell them about the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and ask them to consider becoming designated, if they aren’t already

As a caregiver, you have options to come to Canada to become a permanent resident or work temporarily.

Permanent residence for caregivers

There are two pilot programs:

• Home Child Care Provider Pilot NOC 4411 (experience as a foster parent doesn’t count) and
• Home Support Worker Pilot NOC 4412 (experience as a housekeeper doesn’t count)

The Home Child Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot are 5-year pilot programs that let qualified caregivers and their family members come to Canada with the goal of becoming permanent residents.

If you’ve been offered a job in Canada as a caregiver or have experience working in Canada as a caregiver, you may be able to apply for permanent residence through one of these pilots.

The application process will be different depending on your situation and how much qualifying work experience you have.

Qualifying work experience

Qualifying work experience means you’ve worked full-time in Canada in NOC 4411 or NOC 4412.

Determine your work experience:

1. You don’t have any qualifying work experience
   • You’ve never worked full-time as a caregiver in Canada.
2. You have some qualifying work experience, but less than 24 months
   • You are working full-time as a caregiver in Canada right now, or
   • You recently worked full-time as a caregiver in Canada but you don’t have 24 months of experience yet.
3. You have 24 or more months of qualifying work experience
   • In the last 36 months, you’ve worked full-time as a caregiver in Canada for a total of 24 months or more.

The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is a community-driven program. It’s designed to spread the benefits of economic immigration to smaller communities by creating a path to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers who want to work and live in one of the participating communities.

About the process

There are 4 steps to applying for permanent residence under this pilot.

1. Check that you meet both
   1. IRCC eligibility requirements and
   2. the community-specific requirements.
2. Find an eligible job with an employer in one of the participating communities.
3. Once you have a job offer, submit your application for recommendation to the community.
4. If a community recommends you, apply for permanent residence.

Each community will also have its own

• additional eligibility requirements
• job search process
• community recommendation application process

The pilot will help address the labour needs of the Canadian agri-food sector, particularly in meat processing and mushroom production, by testing a new industry-specific approach.

About the pilot

The Agri-Food Immigration Pilot helps address the labour needs of the Canadian agri-food sector by testing a new industry-specific approach.

The pilot is designed to

• help address the labour needs of the Canadian agri-food sector, particularly in year-round mushroom and greenhouse crop production, meat processing and livestock raising industries, and
• attract experienced, non-seasonal workers who can settle in Canada

This pilot will run until March 2023.

About the process

To apply for permanent residence through the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot, you need

• eligible Canadian work experience, and
• a job offer from a Canadian employer in one of the industries and occupations listed as eligible for the pilot

Eligible industries

Industries are classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Your employer needs to include the industry code in your job offer.

Eligible industries for the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot are:

• meat product manufacturing (NAICS 3116)
• greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, including mushroom production (NAICS 1114)
• animal production, excluding aquaculture (NAICS 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 or 1129)

Eligible jobs under the pilot program

Eligible jobs for the pilot are classified by the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code and are listed below.

For meat product manufacturing (NAICS 3116), eligible jobs are

• NOC B 6331 - Retail butchers
• NOC C 9462 - Industrial butchers
• NOC B 8252 - Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
• NOC D 9617 - Food processing labourers

For greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, including mushroom production (NAICS 1114), eligible jobs are

• NOC B 8252 - Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
• NOC C 8431 - General farm workers
• NOC D 8611 - Harvesting labourers

For animal production, excluding aquaculture (NAICS 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 and 1129), eligible jobs are

• NOC B 8252 - Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
• NOC C 8431 - General farm workers

Application limits by occupation

There are annual limits on the number of applications that are processed for each occupation.

Starting on January 1 of each year, applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. This pilot will last for 3 years. For the first and final years of the pilot, the annual limits are adjusted based on the remaining period for that year under the pilot.

Overview

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) allows foreign workers, international students and others with the right skills, experience and education to apply for a nomination for permanent residence in Ontario.

The OINP Regional Immigration Pilot will help fill local labour shortages and support economic growth by spreading awareness of the program and increase uptake in rural and small communities.

About the pilot

The two-year pilot includes:

• approximately 150 nominations under the employer job offer category set aside for applicants destined for pilot communities
• marketing and outreach to raise awareness among local employers
• dedicated business service support for employers
• partnering with stakeholders to leverage the entrepreneur stream for local business succession

Note that the Regional Immigration Pilot works within the existing Employer Job Offer streams of the OINP. There is not a separate set of criteria for the pilot. If you qualify for any of the OINP Employer Job Offer streams and your full-time job offer is from an employer located within one of the pilot communities, then you may qualify for the pilot.

The pilot will allow employers in the pilot communities to leverage the OINP to target skilled labour that is not available locally. The pilot is not intended to overlap with local efforts to employ workers who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who may have been laid off as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

How to participate

If you are an OINP applicant, you may want to explore opportunities to move to or work in the partnering communities. Intake for applications under the Regional Immigration Pilot is now open.

Applicants to the Regional Immigration Pilot must:

• have a full-time and permanent job offer from an employer located in one of the pilot communities (Chatham-Kent, Cornwall or Quinte West/Belleville)
• meet the criteria for one of the streams under the OINP’s Employer Job Offer category

If you are an employer in one of the partnering communities, you can contact us at [email protected] to find out more about the program.

Partnering communities

Communities participating in the pilot are:

• Chatham-Kent
• Cities of Belleville and Quinte West
• City of Cornwall