A job in a small Canadian town, and the right to stay

This guide is for you if a company in Nigeria has paid you for at least a year of work in the last three years: a welder in a fabrication company, a cleaner with a cleaning firm, a hotel front desk clerk, a bookkeeper in an accounting office, a cook in a restaurant, a care aide, a truck driver, a labourer on a building site, and the other jobs the towns below have listed. Canada's immigration department chose fourteen small towns and cities that are short of workers. Each town approves certain employers to hire people from outside Canada for jobs it cannot fill with local workers. If one of those employers offers you a full-time job and the town recommends you, you can apply from Nigeria to live in Canada for good (permanent residence), and you can ask for a two-year work permit so that you start the job while that application is processed. The programme's name is the Rural Community Immigration Pilot.

This guide walks you through it from the first thing you can do today from Nigeria to your first payslip in that town and your permanent residence: what you do, where, what it costs, how long it takes, and what comes next. Every fee, date and rule in it comes from the official page that sets it. Updated on 3 November 2026. Where a line reports what was published online or what the towns told the press, it is what was reported, not a rule. Nobody can promise you a job, a recommendation or permanent residence, including us. Only the employer decides whom to hire, only the town decides whom it recommends, and only Canada's immigration department decides the visa.

The first section shows whether a town wants your job, and the move you can make today.

The jobs the towns want, their employer lists and how to apply

The jobs the towns want

Each of the fourteen towns publishes its own list of the jobs it wants (its "priority occupations") and the kinds of business it wants them in (its "priority sectors"). Your job offer must be on that town's list. Every job in Canada has a five-digit number, its code in Canada's National Occupational Classification (the NOC), and a level from 0 to 5 called its TEER (the training, education, experience and responsibilities the job needs). The towns write their lists in these codes.

These are the jobs Nigerians most often do, and the towns whose 2026 list carries them, as each town's own page printed it on 3 November 2026:

Three towns print no list of codes: North Bay ("Please note that not all occupations qualify for RCIP."), Sault Ste. Marie (its page names sectors only) and Peace Liard (its page printed six sectors and no codes). Each town's list changes from year to year, and several towns cap a job at one or two people per employer, so read the town's own page before you spend money. Whether a truck driver or an early childhood educator needs a Canadian licence or certificate before the town or the employer takes the file: we cannot tell yet.

Moose Jaw, a small city in the province of Saskatchewan, carries 11 of the 15 jobs in the table above. Its 25 jobs, as its page prints them:

• 33102 Nurse Aides, Orderlies and Patient Service Workers
• 33109 Other Assisting Occupations in Support of Health
• 42202 ECEs and Assistants
• 44101 Home Support Workers, Caregivers
• 42201 Social and Community Service Workers
• 12200 Accounting Technicians and Bookkeepers
• 14201 Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Clerks
• 13100 Administrative Officer
• 63211 Estheticians, Skin and Nail Techs
• 72106 Welders and Related Machine Operators
• 74203 Automotive and Heavy Truck Equipment Parts Installers
• 72410 Automotive and Heavy Equipment Parts Installers
• 72411 Autobody collision, refinishing and glass techs
• 73113 Floor Covering Installers
• 75101 Material Handlers
• 22111 Ag and Fish Products Inspectors
• 95106 Food Processing Labourers
• 94141 Industrial Butchers and Meat Cutters
• 65310 Light Duty Cleaners
• 65312 Janitors, Caretakers, Heavy Duty Cleaners
• 73201 General Building Maintenance Workers and Superintendents
• 64314 Hotel Front Desk Clerks
• 60020 Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers
• 62010 Retail Supervisors (capped at 5 percent a year; full for 2026)
• 63200 Cooks (capped at 5 percent a year; full for 2026)

Moose Jaw adds a rule of its own: "both your NOC and the industry sector of the business you are working for must be prioritized". Both the job and the business must be on Moose Jaw's lists. Its six sectors: business, finance and administration; sales and service; trades and transport; manufacturing and utilities; education, law and social, community and government services; health. Check the business's sector on Moose Jaw's page before you apply.

What these jobs pay in Saskatchewan, by Canada's Job Bank (the government's job site), the middle wage an hour (half of the workers earn more, half earn less), wages updated on 19 November 2025:

• Welder: CAD 32.00, about ₦30,400 an hour.
• Bookkeeper: CAD 27.16, about ₦25,800 an hour.
• Janitor or heavy duty cleaner: CAD 20.62, about ₦19,600 an hour.
• Light duty cleaner: CAD 18.00, about ₦17,100 an hour.
• Hotel front desk clerk: CAD 15.70, about ₦14,900 an hour.

Moose Jaw also asks that the pay "meet or exceed the Canada Job Bank's minimum wage requirement" "for the specific NOC and region".

Your past year of work and the job you are offered must match. Canada's rule, by the job offer's level: a job at TEER 0 or 1 takes experience at TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3; a job at TEER 2 takes TEER 1, 2, 3 or 4; a job at TEER 3 or 4 takes TEER 2, 3 or 4; and a job at TEER 5 takes experience in the same five-digit code. So if your offer is at TEER 5, your year must be in that very job, not in something near it. IRCC describes TEER 5 as jobs that "usually need short-term work demonstration and no formal education", and TEER 4 as jobs that usually need a secondary school certificate or several weeks of training on the job. Brandon's list prints the level beside each job: construction trades helpers and labourers TEER 5, industrial butchers and meat cutters TEER 4, nurse aides TEER 3, carpenters and early childhood educators TEER 2. Find your code and level on the NOC website (noc.esdc.gc.ca; IRCC's page links it as "Find your NOC code and TEER"): search by your job title, open the closest title, and read its main duties. If most of the main duties are what you did, that is your code. One exception helps nurses: a registered nurse's experience (31301) can support an offer as a nurse aide (33102) or as a home support worker (44101).

Their employer lists

Each town approves the employers allowed to make an offer under this programme ("designated employers"). Most towns publish them. This is where each list is on 3 November 2026:

Read the top of Moose Jaw's list before you do anything else. It is headed "Important Notice to Applicants", and it says: "Most designated employers use the RCIP to support individuals already employed by them and are not accepting new applications. Please do not mass email employers on this list." It tells you to apply for "actively advertised positions in the Moose Jaw region that match your skills and experience". And it ends: "Many successful applicants first secure local employment and the businessess hiring them are supported for designation later." (the list's own spelling).

Other towns say the same thing in their own words. Altona/Rhineland heads its list "Designation does not mean current job openings". Brandon: "Not all employers listed here may be hiring at the present time". Steinbach: "Do not contact these employers directly to request a job offer unless a position has been publicly advertised." Claresholm marks most of its employers not hiring and asks people not to contact them.

So the list tells you who is allowed to make you an offer. It does not tell you who is hiring. The job you apply for is an advert.

How to apply, and your first step today

Your first step, today, from Nigeria: search Canada's job site for adverts open to people outside Canada.

Canada's Job Bank has a page for people abroad. Its words: "you should only apply to jobs from employers who are recruiting international candidates", and "On Job Bank, these jobs are clearly identified." Each such advert carries an icon that means it "is open to international candidates". An advert with the other icon is for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and people who already hold a Canadian work permit, and you cannot apply to it.

1. Open the search of jobs open to international candidates: Job Bank, jobs open to international candidates, opens in a new tab. It is the button "Search jobs open to international candidates" on Job Bank's page Find a job as a foreign candidate, opens in a new tab.
2. Type your job in the search box ("welder", "cleaner", "front desk", "bookkeeper") and search. On 3 November 2026 the search for "welder" with this filter showed 105 adverts across Canada.
3. Read the place on every advert. Most adverts are not in the fourteen towns; an advert in Montreal or Oakville is not for this programme. You want an advert in one of the towns whose list carries your job (the table above).
4. Read the employer's name and check it against that town's list of approved employers. An employer who is not on the list cannot make you an offer under this programme until the town approves it. Moose Jaw says many of its hiring businesses "are supported for designation later".
5. If an advert is in one of your towns, for your code, and asks for what you have done, apply as the advert says.

If nothing shows for your town today, that is normal. Come back to the search every week, and read the next town on your list.

Two towns run their own job boards as well: Altona/Rhineland takes a candidate profile and applications to its postings on its job board, opens in a new tab ("Only apply for jobs that match your skills and experience"; "One active application at a time"), and Sault Ste. Marie posts jobs on its careers page, opens in a new tab. Sudbury sends job seekers to Job Bank, Indeed and other job sites, and runs a reverse job board on its Move to Sudbury site, where job seekers upload a CV for employers to search. West Kootenay names Indeed and Job Bank. Claresholm: "All employers hiring through RCIP will be required to list job offers on Canada Job Bank". Steinbach's employers must advertise the job for at least two months on its local board, Local Job Shop, and on Indeed or Job Bank.

After that, in this order. Each step is a stage in Part 3.

1. Ask each past employer for a reference letter now (Stage 2).
2. Start your certificate report with World Education Services (WES) now (Stage 3).
3. Save, in one account, the money Canada asks you to show (Stage 5).
4. Apply to adverts every week, with a CV and a short note (Stage 6). Write the English test while you apply (Stage 4).
5. When an approved employer offers you the job, the employer sends your file to the town in one of the town's windows (Stage 7). You never send it to the town yourself.
6. When the town recommends you, you apply for permanent residence online from Nigeria (Stage 8), give your fingerprints in Lagos or Abuja and do your medical (Stage 9), and you can ask for the two-year work permit to start the job sooner (Stage 10).

Part 1. Before you start

What this is

One application with an optional permit beside it.

• Permanent residence, through the Rural Community Immigration Pilot. Canada's immigration department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), "chose 14 communities who showed they can support and benefit from skilled migrants". The communities "will approve certain employers to hire for jobs that they can't fill with local workers." With a job offer from one of those employers and the town's recommendation, you apply for permanent residence: the right to live and work in Canada with no end date. IRCC's page reads "Open" on 3 November 2026. Moose Jaw says: "Pending funding, the RCIP program will be available until 2029."
• The two-year work permit, if you want to start sooner. Once you have applied for permanent residence, with the offer and the town's recommendation, you can also apply for a two-year work permit. IRCC: "The work permit lets you work while your permanent residence application is being processed." It only lets you work for the employer who offered you the job.

The fourteen towns: Pictou County (Nova Scotia); North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay (Ontario); Steinbach, Altona/Rhineland and Brandon (Manitoba); Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan); Claresholm (Alberta); West Kootenay, North Okanagan Shuswap and Peace Liard (British Columbia).

The bodies you will deal with

• IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada): Canada's immigration department. It decides your permanent residence and your work permit. You deal with it online, through its Permanent Residence (PR) Portal.
• The town's programme office: each town's economic development office (in Moose Jaw, the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce). It approves employers, publishes its jobs list and windows, and decides whether to recommend you. None of them finds you a job: Moose Jaw "does not match candidates with employment"; Steinbach: "we will not be responding to your inquiries at this time"; North Bay answers employers, not candidates. Everything you need from them is on their pages.
• The approved employer (the "designated employer"): the business that offers you the job and sends your file to the town.
• Job Bank: Canada's government job site, where the adverts open to people abroad are marked.
• World Education Services (WES): one of the five bodies IRCC accepts for the report that says what your Nigerian certificate equals in Canada.
• IDP: it runs the IELTS English test in Nigeria.
• VFS Global: the company that runs Canada's visa application centres in Lagos and Abuja, where you give your fingerprints and photo.
• A panel doctor: a doctor on IRCC's list who does the immigration medical.
• The Nigeria Police Force: it issues the Police Character Certificate, through its online Police Services portal.
• Service Canada: it gives you your Social Insurance Number when you arrive, the number you need to be paid.

The rules that govern you, where two rules meet

Canada's rules and the town's rules both apply to you, and you live under the stricter of the two. Where they differ, this guide says so at the top of the stage. The ones that matter most:

1. The job. Canada says the job must be in the town's boundaries, "full time (at least 30 paid hours per week)", "non-seasonal (year-round)" and "indeterminate (no end date)". The town adds its own list: the job must be one of its priority jobs, and in Moose Jaw the employer's business must also be in one of its priority sectors.
2. The year of work. Canada: "at least 1 year (1,560 hours) of related work experience in the past 3 years", paid, not self-employed. Volunteer work and unpaid internships do not count. 1,560 hours over 52 weeks is 30 hours a week.
3. English. Canada sets the minimum by the job's level: CLB 4 for TEER 4 and 5, CLB 5 for TEER 2 and 3, CLB 6 for TEER 0 and 1, in all four parts of the test. Brandon prints the level beside each of its jobs.
4. Visitors. If you are inside Canada as a visitor, Moose Jaw will not take you, and Timmins will not take anyone holding a visitor permit or without valid status in Canada. From Nigeria this does not touch you. In those two towns, entering Canada as a visitor to look for a job does not help you.

5. Points. Some towns rank the files their employers send and take the highest. North Bay and Thunder Bay need at least 50 points to enter their pool. North Okanagan Shuswap's cut-off scores in 2026 were 91, 93, 94 and 96, and West Kootenay's September 2026 minimum was 93. Timmins needs at least 79 points. Each town's grid is on its own site; read it before you choose the town.

   Here is how Timmins's 2026 grid counts, as a reading of the town's own grid and not a prediction: each of five parts gives 10 to 25 points (the job offer, your work, your English, your education, and your written statement that you mean to live in the town). One year of work gives 10, two 15, three 20, four or more 25. For a TEER 4 or 5 job, CLB 4 gives 10 and each level above adds 5, up to 25 at CLB 7; for a TEER 2 or 3 job, CLB 5 gives 10, up to 25 at CLB 8. A secondary school report gives 10, a post-secondary certificate 15, a bachelor's degree 20. So one year of work, the lowest English and a secondary school report give 30 of the 79, before the job offer and the statement, which give at most 25 each. The parts you can still raise from Nigeria are your English score and your years of work: Timmins's grid (PDF), opens in a new tab.

Who this is for, and who it is not for

This is for you if, in the last three years, an employer paid you for at least 1,560 hours (about thirty hours a week for a year) in a job at a level that matches a job on one of the towns' lists (the rule on levels under "The jobs the towns want"), and you can prove it. The main proof is a reference letter from each employer (Stage 2); your contract and payslips help if you have them.

It is not for you if your year was in your own shop, as an apprentice who was not paid, or as a volunteer: "Volunteer work and unpaid internships don't count", and the work must "not be from a self-employed job". A welder who runs his own workshop under the bridge does not have a year that counts, however good his work. If that is you, the first move is a paid job with a company in Nigeria, and the year starts from there.

You also need about ₦9.97 million in savings for yourself alone (CAD 10,507; more for a family, Stage 5), a certificate report (Stage 3) and an English test result (Stage 4).

Where it stands on 3 November 2026

The programme is open, and it runs on the towns' windows. A town takes the files its employers send only in its own windows, and some towns have used up their places for 2026:

These windows are the employer's, not yours. Your file reaches a town only after an employer has offered you the job. If you start today, the papers in Stages 2 to 5 take weeks to months, so your real aim is the towns' 2027 windows, with your papers ready the day an advert in your town appears.

What the towns themselves have said about who gets in: in June 2026 two of the towns told the press that most, or nearly all, of the people they had recommended were already in Canada on work permits, most of them working in the town, and one town called the programme more a tool to keep workers than to bring new ones. A December 2025 presentation on the programme that came before this one gave a "91% TR to PR rate": about nine in ten of the people it made permanent residents were already in Canada as temporary residents. Nobody wrote online in 2025 or 2026 of winning an offer under this programme from Nigeria. Canada's rules let you apply from Nigeria, and Moose Jaw's notice says how: the advert comes first. The towns' own pages say the opening is there: Moose Jaw, "Yes, you can apply for the RCIP from outside of Canada."; Claresholm, "Designated employers recruit in Canada (temporary residents) or overseas to fill job vacancies". Go in knowing it is a narrow opening, and get your papers ready so that you lose nothing when an advert comes.

Where you apply from

Everything is done from Nigeria. You search and apply to adverts online. The employer sends your file to the town. You apply for permanent residence online on IRCC's PR Portal. You give your fingerprints and photo at the Canada visa application centre in Lagos or Abuja. You do your medical with a panel doctor on IRCC's list. You get your police certificate from the Nigeria Police Force (Stage 8). You apply for the two-year work permit online from outside Canada.

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

1. Choose your town and your job code. Today. Free.
2. Your work papers. Ask for reference letters now; a few weeks, depending on your past employers. Free, unless an employer charges.
3. Your certificate report (WES). About 3 weeks once WES has every document; your school's part is usually the slow part. CAD 264 (about ₦251,000) plus delivery, and tax if WES adds it.
4. Your English test (IELTS General Training). Results in 1 to 5 days on computer. ₦299,000 at IDP.
5. Your savings. CAD 10,507 for one person (about ₦9.97 million), shown when you apply and when the visa is issued; it stays yours.
6. Find the advert and apply from Nigeria. Every week until an employer says yes. Free.
7. The offer, and the town's recommendation. The employer sends your file in the town's window. In Moose Jaw, North Bay and Timmins the recommendation is valid six months.
8. Your permanent residence application on the PR Portal. CAD 1,590 (about ₦1.51 million) and the biometrics fee of CAD 85 (about ₦81,000), paid when you apply.
9. Fingerprints and the medical. Within 30 days of each set of instructions.
10. The two-year work permit, if you want to start sooner. CAD 155 (about ₦147,000).
11. The decision, the journey and arrival. Your Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), the border, your Social Insurance Number, your health card.
12. Your first payslip in the town that recommended you.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Choose your town and your job code

Back to the short stages

Why. Your offer must be for a job on the town's list, in the town's boundaries, and your past year must match its code. Everything after this depends on choosing right.

What you do.

1. Find your code and level on the NOC website, noc.esdc.gc.ca, opens in a new tab: search by your job title and read the main duties of the closest title. Write the five digits down.
2. Find the towns whose list carries your code (the table at the top of this guide), and open each town's own page:

3. On each town's page, read: its list for this year, its caps (how many per employer, which jobs are full), its windows, and its points grid if it has one.
4. Keep two or three towns, not one.

What you must have. A phone with data. Nothing else.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. One sitting.

How you know it is done. You have your five-digit code, your TEER level, and the names of two or three towns whose 2026 list carries your code.

What goes wrong. Reading a list on a video or a blog instead of the town's page. A copied list can be months old, and the towns change theirs during the year: Moose Jaw's cooks and Thunder Bay's retail salespersons were full for 2026 before November. If your job is on no list, this programme is not your option this year; check the towns again when their 2027 lists come out.

What opens next. Stages 2 to 5, all at once.

Stage 2. Your work papers

Back to the short stages

Why. Canada asks for proof of at least 1,560 paid hours in the last three years, in the same kind of job as the offer.

What you do. Ask every employer you worked for in the last three years for a reference letter on the company's letterhead. IRCC asks that it carries:

• the dates you worked there (from and to);
• your main responsibilities and duties;
• your job code, if the employer knows it;
• your total yearly salary and benefits;
• the hours you worked each week;
• the employer's name, signature, full address, telephone number and email address.

Keep your contract and your payslips too. IRCC lists "work contracts" and "pay stubs" as other proof.

What you must have. The name and the contact of someone at each past employer who can sign for the company.

What it costs. Nothing from Canada.

How long. It depends on your past employers. Ask this month.

How you know it is done. You hold a letter from each employer with all six things on it, and the duties in it are the main duties of your code.

What goes wrong. A letter that gives a job title and no duties, or no hours, or no pay. IRCC compares your duties with the code's description, and they must include most of its main duties. Show the employer the duties of your code on the NOC website, and ask that the letter says what you actually did.

What runs at the same time. Stages 3, 4 and 5.

Stage 3. Your certificate report (WES)

Back to the short stages

Where two rules meet. Timmins asks bookkeepers (12200) for "A degree or diploma in accounting or bookkeeping".

Why. Canada asks for "a Canadian educational credential or the foreign equivalent". For a Nigerian certificate, that means a report from one of five bodies IRCC names (an educational credential assessment, or ECA), less than 5 years old on the day you apply, showing your certificate equals at least a Canadian secondary school diploma. WES's report says whether your certificate reaches it.

The five bodies are the Comparative Education Service of the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada, World Education Services, the International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) and the International Credential Evaluation Service. This guide shows the steps with WES.

What you do.

1. Apply on WES's site for its "Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)" for IRCC: WES, ECA for immigration, opens in a new tab. You get a WES reference number. Put it on everything.
2. Send only your highest certificate: "ECA applicants only need to submit their highest earned credential." Which documents your school or exam body must send for it, and how: we cannot tell yet.
3. Ask your school, or your exam body for a secondary school result, to send the documents to WES, and follow them up.

What it costs. WES's price is CAD 264 (about ₦251,000). WES adds delivery (standard delivery CAD 14, about ₦13,000; an international courier CAD 97, about ₦92,000) and says its price does not include "a 13% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)": if WES adds it, it is CAD 34.32 (about ₦33,000) on CAD 264. Your school may charge for sending.

How long. "WES only starts the process after receiving all required official documents from you and your institution." Then, for an ECA for IRCC, document checks "Typically 2 weeks" and the evaluation "Typically 1 week (complex evaluations may take up to 2 weeks)". So the clock that matters is your school's: WES waits until the school's documents arrive. Start now, and follow the school up until WES shows them received.

How you know it is done. WES issues your report, and IRCC can see it. It is valid five years from the date of issue.

What goes wrong. The school never sends. Keep the school's receipt and the date you asked, and follow up.

What runs at the same time. Stages 2, 4 and 5.

Stage 4. Your English test

Back to the short stages

Why. Canada asks every applicant for an approved test. There is no exemption for Nigerians.

Where two rules meet. Canada's minimum is the level in the table below, but the towns that rank files give more points for a higher English score (Timmins's grid, Part 1). Write the test to score as high as you can, not to the minimum: it is the part of your score you can still raise from Nigeria.

What you do. Book IELTS General Training (not IELTS Academic) on computer with IDP in Nigeria: IDP IELTS Nigeria, test dates and fees, opens in a new tab. The other tests IRCC accepts are CELPIP-General, PTE Core, and in French TEF Canada and TCF Canada.

The score you need depends on the job you are offered. IRCC's minimum, in all four parts:

Your offer's TEER is on its code's page on the NOC website. Brandon, for example, asks CLB 4 for construction labourers (TEER 5) and CLB 5 for nurse aides (TEER 3).

What it costs. ₦299,000 for IELTS General Training on computer at an IDP centre (IDP's fee table: "IELTS Academic & General Training - at the test centre" "299,000 NGN").

How long. Results for IELTS on computer in 1 to 5 days. The result must be "less than 2 years old when you apply" for permanent residence.

When. Write it while you are applying to adverts, not before you have chosen your towns, so the result is still in date when the offer comes. An employer may want to see it.

How you know it is done. You hold a result at or above your job's level in all four parts, as high as you can reach.

What goes wrong. Booking IELTS Academic by mistake: IRCC asks for "IELTS General Training". Book the ordinary General Training at ₦299,000, not the UKVI booking at ₦315,500 (IDP's fee table). Your result counts for two years: if it will be older than that on the day you apply for permanent residence, write the test again.

Stage 5. Your savings

Back to the short stages

Why. You must show Canada you can settle. This money stays yours.

How much. IRCC's table, updated 29 July 2025, in Canadian dollars:

Count yourself, your husband or wife, your children who depend on you and your partner's, even if they are not coming with you.

What you do. Keep the money in your account and let the statements build. IRCC takes bank statements, bank drafts, cheques and money orders. The money must be there "when you apply" and "when we issue your permanent resident visa".

What goes wrong. Savings that are not in your account on both days. Start this month, in one account. You do not show this money if you are already working in Canada with a valid work permit, which is not your case from Nigeria.

Stage 6. Find the advert and apply from Nigeria

Back to the short stages

Where two rules meet. In Moose Jaw the business must also be in one of its six sectors (its questions page). In Steinbach the job "Must be advertised on Local Job Shop for a minimum of 2 months as well as either Indeed or Canada Job Bank."

Why. The towns do not find you a job. Moose Jaw: "Individuals are required to find suitable employment from an employer willing to support their application on their own."

What you do, every week.

1. Search Job Bank's jobs open to international candidates for your job (the first step at the top of this guide). Read the place and the employer on each advert.
2. Check each town's own board where it has one (Altona/Rhineland's board, Sault Ste. Marie's careers page) and the job sites the towns name, such as Indeed.
3. Apply where the advert is in one of your towns, for your code, and asks for what you have. An approved employer can make you the offer now; in Moose Jaw, an employer not yet on the list can be approved after it hires (its notice).
4. Send what the advert asks for. Job Bank's advice is a CV with your name, where you live, your work experience, and whether you hold a valid Canadian work permit (you do not). Put each job with its dates, its duties and its hours a week.
5. Add a short note. Change every line that is not true for you:

"Good morning. I am applying for your advertised [job title] position in [town]. I have [number] years of paid, full-time experience as a [job] in Nigeria, most recently at [employer], where I [two main duties]. I can apply under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot from Nigeria. My CV and references are attached. Thank you."

What you must have. Your CV, your reference letters (Stage 2), and your English result once you have it.

What it costs. Nothing. Nobody charges you to apply for a job.

How long. Nobody can say how long. A no, or no answer, is normal. Keep applying every week while your papers stay in date.

How you know it is done. An approved employer in a town on your list offers you a full-time, permanent, year-round job in your code, in writing.

What goes wrong.

• Mass emailing the employer list. Moose Jaw asks you not to, and most listed employers are backing their own staff. One careful application to one advert does more.
• An advert outside the town's boundaries. Canada: the job must be "within the boundaries of your community". Altona/Rhineland: "Only job offers located within the Town of Altona or the Municipality of Rhineland" count.
• A job that is not on the town's list, or a business outside Moose Jaw's sectors.
• A job you are not qualified for. Brandon: "If you are not qualified for the position listed, do not apply."

What opens next. Stage 7, the day an employer says yes.

Stage 7. The offer, and the town's recommendation

Back to the short stages

Why. Canada takes your permanent residence application only with the town's recommendation. IRCC: "Once you have a valid job offer from a designated employer, they will send your community recommendation application directly to the community to review."

Where two rules meet. Moose Jaw is stricter than IRCC on two things. Its job must be one of its 25 codes, and "both your NOC and the industry sector of the business you are working for must be prioritized" (its questions page). Its questions page also asks that the pay "meet or exceed the Canada Job Bank's minimum wage requirement" for the job and the region; IRCC's job-offer page prints no wage rule. Live by Moose Jaw's words if your offer is there, and by your town's own page if it is another town.

What happens.

1. The employer makes you the offer and fills in Canada's offer form with you (Offer of Employment to a Foreign National, IMM 0247).
2. The employer sends your recommendation application to the town, in one of the town's windows. Moose Jaw: "the employer is responsible for submitting the application for community recommendation on your behalf". Moose Jaw returns an incomplete file to the employer and it loses its place, so give the employer every paper at once: your letters, your English result, your certificate report, your passport and your proof of savings.
3. The town checks that the job is on its list, that the offer is real, and that you meet every requirement. Towns with points rank the files.
4. If it recommends you, you get a recommendation certificate. In Moose Jaw it "is valid for a period of 6 months after it's issued", so your permanent residence application must go in before it ends.

What it costs you. Nothing. Designation is free to the employer too (Moose Jaw: "The employer designation process is free of charge.").

How long. It depends on the town's window and its meeting. In North Okanagan Shuswap, the November 2026 intake (8 to 10 November) has its meeting on 9 December 2026.

How you know it is done. You hold the town's recommendation (the form IRCC calls Recommendation from the Designated Economic Development Organization, IMM 0249).

What goes wrong. The town's places run out, the job is capped, or your score is under the town's cut-off. The towns' own pages show it happening in 2026: Moose Jaw's cooks and retail supervisors full, Thunder Bay's retail salespersons full in June, West Kootenay closed after September. Ask the employer which window it will send your file in, and keep your papers in date.

Stage 8. Your permanent residence application on the PR Portal

Back to the short stages

Why. This is the application that gives you permanent residence.

What you do.

1. Make your account on IRCC's Permanent Residence (PR) Portal, from IRCC's page Rural Community Immigration Pilot: Apply for permanent residence, opens in a new tab. "You must apply online using the Permanent Residence (PR) Portal." The four programme forms (IMM 0246 to 0249) and the document checklist are on the same page. IRCC says a paid representative cannot open the portal account for you.
2. Fill in the forms in the portal: the Generic Application Form for Canada (IMM 0008), Schedule A Background/Declaration (IMM 5669), Additional Family Information (IMM 5406) and Supplementary Information, Your travels (IMM 5562).
3. Upload the programme's four forms: the Document Checklist (IMM 0246), the Offer of Employment (IMM 0247), Schedule 1 (IMM 0248) and the town's Recommendation (IMM 0249).
4. Upload your proof: your English result, your certificate report, your work papers, your proof of savings, your passport (a regular passport), your identity and civil status papers, your photos (no older than 6 months), and your Nigerian police certificate. Anything not in English or French needs a certified translation.
5. Pay the fees online and upload the receipt, with the biometrics fee at the same time ("Pay your biometrics (fingerprints and photo) fee when you submit your application to avoid delays."). Which cards IRCC's permanent residence payment takes: we cannot tell yet. For the work permit, IRCC's page takes Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and UnionPay, and "The card you use doesn't have to be in your name."
6. Submit. "If your application is incomplete, we'll reject it." Use IRCC's document checklist, line by line.

The police certificate. Canada asks a "Police Character Certificate" from Nigeria for permanent residence, and one for every country you lived in for six months or more since you were 18. The Nigeria Police Force's own page starts the application online on its Police Services portal (possap.gov.ng, opens in a new tab): you apply and upload your documents there, attend a fingerprint session at the police station it names, the Force CID checks the records, and you download and print the certificate from the portal. Canada's own page for Nigeria still gives the Lagos registry: you apply at the "Central Criminal Registry, Force C.I.D. Annex", Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, with your valid passport, two passport photographs and the fees. Its fee: we cannot tell yet. IRCC says police certificates are "usually valid for 1 year", so get it close to the day you apply.

What it costs. For you alone: CAD 1,590 (about ₦1.51 million), which is the processing fee and the right of permanent residence fee, plus biometrics CAD 85 (about ₦81,000). You can pay CAD 990 (about ₦940,000) when you apply and the right of permanent residence fee, CAD 600 (about ₦569,000), when your application is approved: "You will have to pay it before you can become a permanent resident." IRCC suggests paying both together "to avoid delays". Your husband or wife: CAD 1,590 more. Each child: CAD 270 (about ₦256,000). Biometrics for a family applying together: CAD 170 at most (about ₦161,000).

How long. IRCC's processing-times page carries no time for this programme (updated 29 October 2026). The time: we cannot tell yet. Two stories published online in 2026, of people already working in Canada, report about four and about six months from the recommendation to permanent residence.

How you know it is done. IRCC sends you an acknowledgement of receipt (AOR), and you can track your application.

Rekoja's desk. If you want help with the papers, Rekoja's desk can prepare your CV, your note to the employer and your permanent residence application with you while you are in Nigeria. You open your own PR Portal account and submit the application from it yourself. You pay in naira, the official fees are passed on at cost, and you see the price first. The desk cannot get you a job offer: only an employer gives that, and nobody can promise you the town's recommendation or the visa.

Stage 9. Fingerprints and the medical

Back to the short stages

Fingerprints and photo (biometrics). "If you're between 14 and 79 years old, you need to give your fingerprints and photo (biometrics)." You must give them every time you apply for permanent residence, even if you gave them before. After you pay and submit a complete application, IRCC emails you a letter, which "can take up to several weeks", and you have 30 days from the date on it. Book on VFS Global's Canada page for Nigeria (VFS Global, Canada, Nigeria, opens in a new tab); "Booking of appointments for enrolling your biometrics at the VAC is absolutely free of cost". IRCC lists two centres in Nigeria, Lagos and Abuja. The Abuja centre: Sterling Bank Plaza, 3rd Floor, Plot No 1083, Mohammadu Buhari Way, Central Business District, Abuja, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. The Lagos centre's address: we cannot tell yet. Carry the letter and your passport.

The medical. "You and your family (partner and children) must have a medical exam before you come to Canada." You wait for IRCC's instructions, then "You must get your medical exam within 30 days of getting these instructions." Only a doctor on IRCC's list of panel physicians can do it; your own doctor cannot. Find the panel doctors by choosing Nigeria on IRCC's panel physician list, opens in a new tab. "You must pay all fees related to the medical exam at your appointment." What the panel doctor charges: we cannot tell yet. The results are valid for 12 months.

What goes wrong. Missing the 30 days. Read your email every day after you apply.

Stage 10. The two-year work permit, if you want to start sooner

Back to the short stages

Why. Permanent residence takes months. The two-year work permit lets you start the job while it is processed.

What you need. Your acknowledgement of receipt (AOR) for the permanent residence application, the town's recommendation form, the offer of employment form, and proof you are qualified for the job, in one scanned file called "Client information" (one document, up to 4 MB). And from your employer: "your employer must give you an offer of employment number before you start your work permit application".

What you do. Apply online from outside Canada, from IRCC's page Rural Community Immigration Pilot: Work permit, opens in a new tab: "You need an account to apply online." In the questionnaire, choose work, a temporary stay of more than six months, and the work permit that needs no labour market test (the LMIA-exempt option). Pay by card: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB or UnionPay; "The card you use doesn't have to be in your name."

What it costs. CAD 155 (about ₦147,000). Your husband or wife can apply for an open work permit at the same time, to work only in the same town: CAD 155 and the open work permit holder fee of CAD 100 (about ₦95,000).

What it lets you do. Work for the employer who offered you the job, in that town, while your permanent residence is processed. Moose Jaw: if you have no work permit, "apply for the RCIP-specific work permit as soon as possible after applying for PR".

How long. IRCC's processing time for a work permit applied for from Nigeria was 10 weeks (updated 29 October 2026); it is the figure for all work permits from Nigeria, not this one alone.

When it is approved, and the journey. Nigeria is on Canada's list of countries whose citizens need a visa to travel to Canada. What IRCC sends you when this work permit is approved, how the visa is put in your passport and what you carry to the border: we cannot tell yet. When you arrive, Stage 12 follows; Stage 11 comes when your permanent residence is approved.

Stage 11. The decision, the journey and arrival

Back to the short stages

The decision. If IRCC approves you, you are told right away and emailed what to do next. If it refuses, it sends a letter with the reasons. You get your Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), and, because Nigeria is on Canada's list of countries whose citizens need a visa, a permanent resident visa. How you send your passport for the visa: we cannot tell yet. Your savings must still be there "when we issue your permanent resident visa".

Free help before you fly. Once approved and still outside Canada, you can use IRCC's free online pre-arrival services with your COPR letter, your passport request letter or your visa: Pre-arrival services, opens in a new tab.

The journey. Travel before the date on your COPR. At the border carry your passport, your COPR and your permanent resident visa for each person travelling. Tell the officer if you carry more than CAD 10,000 (about ₦9.49 million); the officer will ask "How much money do you have with you?" The officer signs and dates your COPR with your entry date. That day you are a permanent resident.

The first weeks.

• Your Social Insurance Number (SIN). "A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number you need to work in Canada". Apply online or at a Service Canada office with your COPR: Service Canada, apply for a SIN, opens in a new tab. "There is no fee to apply for a SIN." Give it to your employer.
• Your permanent resident card. It comes by post. "Your first card won't cost anything if you send your photo and address within 180 days of becoming a permanent resident." Give IRCC your Canadian address straight away.
• Your health card. In Saskatchewan, apply to eHealth Saskatchewan, opens in a new tab: "you need an active Saskatchewan health card for yourself and your dependents to receive provincial health benefits", and "There is no charge to receive a health card". In another province, apply to that province's health card office.

Stage 12. Your first payslip

Back to the short stages

You start the job your offer names, in the town that recommended you. At Saskatchewan's middle wages, thirty hours a week (the least a full-time offer can give) is CAD 960 a week for a welder (about ₦911,000) and CAD 540 a week for a light duty cleaner (about ₦512,000), before tax. In Moose Jaw that pay must meet or beat Job Bank's figure for the job and the region.

Part 4. What can stop you

Your dates

• Your English result: under 2 years old on the day you apply for permanent residence.
• Your certificate report: under 5 years old on the day you apply.
• Your reference letters: the year of work must fall in the 3 years before you apply.
• The town's recommendation: in Moose Jaw, valid 6 months; apply for permanent residence inside it.
• Your police certificate: usually valid 1 year.
• Your photos: no older than 6 months.
• Biometrics: within 30 days of IRCC's letter.
• The medical: within 30 days of the instructions; valid 12 months.
• Your COPR: travel before its date.
• Your PR card: send your photo and address within 180 days of arriving to get it free.

What stops people, and what you do

The trap: paying for a job offer

You never send the recommendation application to the town yourself; the employer does. The only thing you give a town is a profile or a CV on its own job board, where it has one. You never buy an offer. North Bay names "accepting or offering money for a job offer" as fraud it takes "very seriously", and Peace Liard says such fraud can bar people for the rest of the programme. Thunder Bay says an employer who asks for payment for a job offer can be removed, fined or blacklisted. Claresholm: "Job offers can only be provided by the employer themselves", and neither employers nor consultants may ask you for money for a job offer or an interview. Anyone who sells you a "designated job offer", or tells you to fill a form to apply to a town yourself, is not this programme. IRCC: "You don't need to hire a representative!" and "If you use an unauthorized representative, in Canada or abroad, we may return your application or refuse it."

Part 5. If you already did some of this

• You hold an IELTS General Training result under two years old at your job's level: skip Stage 4. If it will be over two years old before you can apply, write it again.
• You hold a WES report for Canada under five years old (from Express Entry, for example): skip Stage 3; WES's report "is valid for five years from the date of issue".
• You already have an offer from an approved employer in one of the towns: check it against the town's list and Canada's job rules (Stage 7), give the employer every paper, and ask which window it will send your file in.
• You hold the town's recommendation: go straight to Stage 8 and apply before it ends.
• You applied for permanent residence and have your AOR: Stage 10 if you want to start work; watch your email for Stage 9.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

1. Your town and code: one sitting.
2. Your work papers: as long as your past employers take; start this month.
3. Your certificate report: about 3 weeks once WES has every document; the school's sending is the slow part.
4. Your English test: results in 1 to 5 days on computer; valid 2 years.
5. Your savings: build them from this month.
6. Adverts: every week until an employer says yes.
7. The recommendation: the town's window, then its meeting; valid 6 months in Moose Jaw, North Bay and Timmins.
8. Permanent residence: we cannot tell yet.
9. Biometrics and medical: 30 days from each set of instructions.
10. The work permit: 10 weeks for work permits applied for from Nigeria (IRCC, updated 29 October 2026).
11. Travel: before the date on your COPR.
12. Your first payslip: your employer's first pay day.

Part 7. The money, all of it

For you alone, in the order you meet it.

For your family. Your husband or wife's permanent residence: CAD 1,590 (about ₦1.51 million); each child: CAD 270 (about ₦256,000); biometrics for the family together: CAD 170 at most (about ₦161,000); the savings by family size in Stage 5; your husband or wife's open work permit: CAD 155 and CAD 100 (about ₦242,000 together).

What you earn. At Saskatchewan's middle wages: a welder CAD 32.00 an hour (about ₦30,400), a bookkeeper CAD 27.16 (about ₦25,800), a janitor CAD 20.62 (about ₦19,600), a light duty cleaner CAD 18.00 (about ₦17,100), a hotel front desk clerk CAD 15.70 (about ₦14,900).

Naira figures are at the rate of record of 20 October 2026, ₦949 to the Canadian dollar, and are rounded.