North Okanagan-Shuswap shares jobs and sectors for new PR program

North Okanagan-Shuswap has released a list of top job sectors and occupations for its Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) program. This program offers a chance for foreign workers to move to Canada with a permanent residency (PR) pathway.

The community has chosen five sectors to focus on. These include health, education, law and social services, sales and service, trades and transport, and manufacturing and utilities.

Here are some of the jobs open for applications. Workers needed include accounting technicians, administrative assistants, appliance repairers, carpenters, construction workers, and early childhood educators. Other roles include hairstylists, heavy equipment operators, machinists, welders, plumbers, and social workers.

Jobs in restaurants and food services, wood products assembly, and fast food outlets also make the list. Some roles, like restaurant and accommodation managers, need a minimum wage of $25 per hour. Most other jobs require a minimum wage of $22 per hour.

Some jobs have a limit on how many recommendations can be made per employer. For example, restaurant managers and executive housekeepers each have a cap of two. Certain sectors like fast food outlets and gas stations also face limits on how many workers they can bring in.

Employers must first get approval from a community development organization to take part in the program. Only businesses working in the priority sectors can hire workers under this immigration pathway.

Foreign nationals must have a valid job offer from one of these approved employers. They must also meet several other conditions. These include having related work experience, passing a language test, having proper educational qualifications, and showing enough savings to settle in Canada.

In 2025, the community will open five intake periods to accept applications. These periods are from May 12 to May 26, July 7 to July 21, August 25 to September 8, October 13 to October 27, and November 24 to December 8. Between these windows, officials will meet to review applications.

North Okanagan-Shuswap stresses that the sector matters more than the NOC code when checking eligibility. A job offer must come from a business working in one of the chosen sectors, even if the job title fits the list.

Candidates also need to score at least 50 points in the region’s scoring system to apply. Only the top scorers will get the chance to move forward.

The eligible communities include Vernon, Salmon Arm, Armstrong, Enderby, Lumby, Sicamous, and many others across the North Okanagan and Shuswap regions.

The RCIP started on January 30, 2025, to help rural areas deal with worker shortages. Foreign nationals must secure a real job offer in one of the selected communities to qualify. The program will run for five years and may lead to permanent immigration pathways if it succeeds.