Francophone Community Immigration Pilot (FCIP): Eligibility, Communities and How to Apply

On This Page, You Will Find:

• What the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot is
• The six participating communities
• Who can apply: work experience, French language, education and funds
• Job offers and designated employers
• How to apply for a community recommendation and permanent residence
• Fees and application caps
• How the FCIP differs from the Rural Community Immigration Pilot
• Frequently asked questions

The Francophone Community Immigration Pilot (FCIP) is an active federal pathway to permanent residence for French-speaking skilled workers who take a job with a designated employer in one of six Francophone-minority communities outside Quebec. Each community approves local employers to hire for roles they cannot fill locally, then recommends successful candidates for permanent residence.

The FCIP is one of the tools behind Canada’s push to grow French-speaking immigration outside Quebec. Under the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government raised its target for French-speaking permanent residents admitted outside Quebec to 9 per cent in 2026, rising to 9.5 per cent in 2027 and 10.5 per cent in 2028, on the way to a longer-term goal of 12 per cent by 2029. Canada exceeded its 2025 goal, with French-speaking admissions outside Quebec reaching about 8.9 per cent that year.

This guide covers who qualifies for the FCIP, how the job offer and community recommendation process works, current fees, and how the pilot differs from its sister program, the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP).

What Is the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot?

The FCIP offers permanent residence to skilled workers who speak French and want to live and work in a smaller Francophone-minority community. Candidates need a genuine, full-time job offer from an employer the community has designated. Once a community reviews and recommends the candidate, the candidate applies for permanent residence and may also qualify for an LMIA-exempt work permit to start working while that application is processed.

The Six Participating Communities

• Acadian Peninsula, New Brunswick
• Greater Sudbury, Ontario
• Timmins Region, Ontario
• Superior East Region, Ontario
• St-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba
• Kelowna, British Columbia

Sudbury and Timmins also participate in the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, so employers and candidates in those two communities should confirm which pilot’s requirements apply to a given job offer. Each community publishes and updates its own list of priority sectors and occupations, so a job offer only counts toward the FCIP if the occupation is currently on that community’s list.

Community Job Lists and Priorities

Below are the priority sectors and occupations published by each community. Apply only if your job offer matches a listed occupation in a sector that is currently open for that community. Communities re-issue these lists annually and can close a sector mid-year, so confirm with the community before lining up an offer.

Who Can Apply

To apply for permanent residence through the FCIP, you must:

• Have a valid job offer from a designated employer in one of the six communities.
• Have at least 1 year (1,560 hours) of related paid work experience in the past 3 years, unless you qualify for the graduate exemption below.
• Prove your French-language ability by taking an approved test.
• Hold a Canadian educational credential or an accepted foreign equivalent.
• Prove you have enough settlement funds, unless you’re already working in Canada on a valid work permit.
• Receive a community recommendation before you submit your permanent residence application.

Work Experience and the Graduate Exemption

Your qualifying work experience must be paid (not self-employment), must match the main duties of your National Occupational Classification (NOC) code, and must sit in a compatible Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category relative to your job offer: TEER 0 or 1 job offers accept experience from TEER 0–3; TEER 2 accepts TEER 1–4; TEER 3 or 4 accepts TEER 2–4; and a TEER 5 job offer needs experience in the identical 5-digit NOC code. A specific healthcare exception lets registered nurses (NOC 31301) count that experience toward a job offer as a nurse aide (NOC 33102) or a home support worker (NOC 44101).

You can skip the work-experience requirement if you’re an international graduate of a public post-secondary institution in the recommending community, provided your program was 2 years or longer (or a full-time master’s degree of 2 years or less), you finished within the last 18 months, and you lived in the community for the required period while studying. The exemption doesn’t apply if more than half the program was language instruction or distance learning, or if a scholarship requires you to return home after graduating.

French Language Requirement

Every FCIP applicant needs a minimum score of NCLC 5 in all four abilities – reading, writing, listening and speaking – on an approved French test: TEF Canada or TCF Canada. Unlike some other economic pathways, this NCLC 5 minimum applies regardless of the TEER level of your job offer. Test results must be less than 2 years old when you apply, and a copy must be included with your application.

Education and Credential Assessment

You need either a Canadian secondary or post-secondary credential from a public institution, or an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) completed within the last 5 years by a designated organization, such as CES (University of Toronto), ICAS, WES, IQAS or ICES. Some regulated occupations require a profession-specific assessment instead – for example, architects generally need one from the Canadian Architectural Certification Board, physicians from the Medical Council of Canada, and pharmacists from the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada, if provincial licensure is required.

Settlement Funds

You must show you can support yourself and any accompanying family members after arriving, unless you’re already working in Canada on a valid work permit. The minimum amount depends on family size and is updated annually; as of the most recent update, a single applicant needs $10,507, a couple needs $13,080, and a family of four needs $19,524, with $2,831 added for each additional family member beyond seven. Funds must be accessible both when you apply and again if a permanent resident visa is issued.

Job Offers and Designated Employers

Employers must first apply to their community’s economic development organization to become designated, confirming they operate in a priority sector and are trying to fill a job on that community’s approved occupation list. Once designated, an employer can recruit and issue a genuine, full-time, non-seasonal job offer to a French-speaking candidate. The employer then submits the candidate’s community recommendation application; the community checks that the offer is real and that the candidate meets all pilot requirements before issuing a recommendation.

How to Apply for a Community Recommendation and Permanent Residence

• Choose a participating community and confirm your occupation is on its current priority list.
• Secure a genuine job offer from an employer the community has designated.
• Gather your documents: French test results, proof of education or an ECA, work-experience letters, and proof of funds.
• Wait for the community to review your file and issue a recommendation.
• Apply online for permanent residence through the PR Portal, including your community recommendation and the required forms.
• Consider applying for an LMIA-exempt work permit so you can start working while your permanent residence application is processed.

Fees for 2026

The FCIP falls under IRCC’s shared “economic immigration” fee category, which also covers Express Entry, the Atlantic Immigration Program and other rural or Francophone pilots. As of the fee schedule in effect after the April 30, 2026 increase, a principal applicant pays a combined $1,590 (a $990 processing fee plus the $600 Right of Permanent Residence Fee); including a spouse or partner adds the same combined $1,590; and each dependent child adds $270. Separate fees apply for biometrics, the medical exam, police certificates, the French test and the educational credential assessment.

Application Caps and Priority Occupations

IRCC has not published a single national yearly cap on FCIP permanent residence applications, unlike the related Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot, which sets an annual study-permit intake limit. Instead, each of the six communities manages its own capacity by priority sector and occupation, and these limits change through the year. Kelowna, for example, publishes a fresh list of 25 priority occupations each year and caps its sales-and-service sector at 6 certificates annually with no more than 2 per NOC code — that sector is shown as closed for 2026 — while limiting each designated employer to 3 recommendations a year. Anyone considering the FCIP should confirm directly with their target community that its intake is open and that their occupation is currently on the priority list before lining up a job offer.

How the FCIP Differs from the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP)

The FCIP and the Rural Community Immigration Pilot share the same basic structure – a job offer from a designated employer, a community recommendation, matching work experience, an education credential, proof of funds, and the same federal fee schedule. The two pilots differ mainly in geography and language:

• The RCIP covers 14 rural communities across Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia; the FCIP covers 6 Francophone-minority communities, two of which (Sudbury and Timmins) also participate in the RCIP.
• The RCIP accepts English or French at a CLB level tied to the job’s TEER category (CLB 6 for TEER 0/1, CLB 5 for TEER 2/3, CLB 4 for TEER 4/5). The FCIP requires French specifically, at a flat NCLC 5 in all four abilities, no matter the job’s TEER level.

Both pilots sit within Canada’s broader roster of immigration pilot programs, alongside pathways such as the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot and the Home Care Worker pilots.

Frequently Asked Questions