Pictou County in Nova Scotia announces priority sectors and occupations for rural PR pathway

Pictou County has released its list of priority sectors and occupations under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP).

Located a two-hour drive from Halifax, Pictou County’s RCIP designated area includes Pictou Landing First Nation, the Municipality of Pictou County, and the towns of New Glasgow, Pictou, Stellarton, Trenton, and Westville.

Assess your eligibility for the RCIP

The RCIP is a federal pathway to permanent residence for foreign nationals with job offers from designated employers in participating rural communities in Canada.

Pictou County’s priority sectors

Each participating community has been allowed to choose five sectors for the RCIP.

Pictou County will be focusing on the following sectors for 2025:

Business, finance, and administration;
Health;
Sales and service;
Trades, transport, and equipment operators; and
Manufacturing.

Only companies in the identified priority sectors are eligible to become designated employers. Once designated, these companies can offer jobs to foreign workers, giving them a pathway to PR through the pilot.

Pictou County’s priority occupations

Occupation	NOC Code
Accounting technicians and bookkeepers	12200
Automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics, and mechanical repairers	72410
Business systems specialists	21221
Carpenters	72310
Cooks	63200
Cybersecurity specialists	21220
Data scientists	21211
Database analysts and data administrators	21223
Other wood processing machine operators	94129
Pharmacists	31120
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants	33103
Pharmacy technicians	32124
Plasterers, drywall installers, and finishers and lathers	73102
Plumbers	72300
Printing press operators	73401
Residential and commercial installers and servicers	73200
Restaurant and food service managers	60030
Retail sales supervisors	62010
Roofers and shinglers	73110
Rubber processing machine operators and related workers	94112
Sheet metal workers	72102
Software developers and programmers	21232
Supervisors, forest products processing	92014
Telecommunications equipment installation and cable television service technicians	72205
Woodworking machine operators	94124

The following occupations will be capped at no more than 10% of Pictou County's total annual RCIP allocation:

Cooks – 63200.
Restaurant and food service managers – 60030.
Retail sales supervisors – 62010.

The Pictou County RCIP has been allocated 60 slots in total for 2025.

What is the significance of the priority occupations?

The RCIP is an employer-driven pathway. Foreign workers need a job offer from a designated employer that is within a priority occupation to be eligible.

Once an employer has identified a candidate to fill a vacancy, they must complete a Recommendation Application and submit this to the Pictou County Partnership.

A foreign national needs to receive a recommendation before they can apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for PR (and a work permit, if needed).

Designated employers can submit recommendation applications from the 1st to the 15th of each month until the end of the year (except in December when the deadline is the 10th).

Apart from having a qualifying job offer that is from a designated employer in the community and within a priority occupation , foreign nationals need to meet other criteria:

Have at least 1 year (1,560 hours) of related work experience in the past three years, or meet the criteria for the international graduate exemption.
Meet language proficiency requirements.
Have a Canadian educational credential or the foreign equivalent.
Have enough money to support the settlement process for themselves and their family.

The RCIP is a federal PR pathway aimed at helping rural communities outside Quebec address labour shortages by attracting foreign nationals who want to live and work in these communities long term.

Assess your eligibility for the RCIP