West Kootenay opens final 2026 RCIP recommendation intake

The submission window closes September 7

West Kootenay opened its final scheduled 2026 Rural Community Immigration Pilot community-recommendation intake at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time on September 2. Complete applications must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. Pacific time on September 7.

The candidate does not submit the community application directly. The official process requires the West Kootenay designated employer to complete the recommendation form after the employer and candidate have assembled the required documents.

About 75 recommendations may be issued

The community says approximately 75 recommendations may be issued in each intake, subject to the available federal allocation, application quality, community priorities and the results of the review. This is not a guaranteed quota for the September window.

West Kootenay has not set a score cut-off in advance for September. The minimum score reached in the June intake was 91, but that result does not establish or predict the September threshold.

Applications in the June pool carry forward automatically

Complete applications that remained in the June candidate pool will be considered again in September without a new submission. An employer should resubmit only if withdrawing the earlier application and replacing it with a stronger, complete application.

The community says it will not maintain a pool after this September intake because changes are expected for 2027. An application that is not selected in September will therefore not carry forward to a later 2026 intake.

A designated-employer job offer is required

• The offer must come from an employer designated by the West Kootenay RCIP and must be genuine, full-time, non-seasonal and permanent.
• The candidate must also meet the federal RCIP requirements, including the language level tied to the job's TEER, education or an eligible foreign credential assessment, qualifying work experience unless exempt as a local graduate, settlement funds when required and an intention to live in the community.
• A candidate applying from inside Canada must have valid temporary resident status. The community's guide states that visitors and people without status are not eligible for a recommendation.

A community recommendation is not permanent residence

Selection by West Kootenay is one step in the RCIP process. A recommended candidate must still submit a permanent residence application to IRCC and meet all federal eligibility, documentation and admissibility requirements. The community's published intake rules should be checked again before the designated employer submits the form.