Sault Ste. Marie has confirmed that from 2027, recommendations under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot will be awarded through a points based system. That is a meaningful change to how candidates are selected in one of Ontario’s most watched rural pathways.
Here is the part that matters most, and the part some commentary online is getting wrong: the grid has not been published. It is not on the Welcome to Sault Ste. Marie website, it has not been released by the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation, and nobody outside the community committee has seen it. Anyone claiming to know the 2027 scoring should be treated with caution.
What we can do is explain why a points system is appearing now, set out what RCIP already requires at the federal level, and look closely at how this same community scored candidates under its previous program. That last part is the most useful planning tool available right now.
Why a points system is appearing now
The short answer is demand. The community opened its employer portal from 17 to 23 August 2026, and confirmed that the August intake was the last intake for 2026. In a September update, the community said it had received another influx of applications and that it would take several months to work through them. The 2026 allocation of recommendations is spent.
When the number of candidates runs well ahead of the recommendations IRCC grants a community, that community needs a defensible method for deciding who goes first. A scoring grid is the standard answer. It replaces a queue, or a committee’s discretion, with a published set of criteria.
For applicants, this is not necessarily bad news. A points system is more transparent than a first come first served portal that closes in six days. It also means preparation has value in a way it did not before.
What RCIP requires before any community grid applies
The community recommendation sits on top of federal eligibility, not instead of it. You have to clear the federal bar first. To apply for permanent residence under the pilot, IRCC requires that you:
- have a valid job offer from a designated employer in the community
- have at least one year, or 1,560 hours, of related work experience in the past three years
- prove your language ability with an approved test
- hold a Canadian educational credential or the foreign equivalent
- show enough settlement funds to support yourself and your family
The work experience must be paid, cannot be self employed, and must cover most of the main duties in the NOC description. Volunteer work and unpaid internships do not count.
Language minimums depend on the TEER of your job offer
| NOC TEER of the job offer | Minimum language level |
|---|---|
| TEER 0 or 1 | CLB 6 |
| TEER 2 or 3 | CLB 5 |
| TEER 4 or 5 | CLB 4 |
Accepted tests are CELPIP General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core for English, and TEF Canada or TCF Canada for French.
Your experience has to sit in a similar TEER to your offer
| Job offer TEER | Work experience TEER accepted |
|---|---|
| 0 or 1 | 0, 1, 2 or 3 |
| 2 | 1, 2, 3 or 4 |
| 3 or 4 | 2, 3 or 4 |
| 5 | The same five digit NOC code |
Two exceptions are worth knowing. Experience as a registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse under NOC 31301 can support a job offer in NOC 33102 or NOC 44101. And graduates of an eligible credential from a publicly funded post secondary institution in the community may be exempt from the work experience requirement altogether, subject to conditions.
What the community controls
RCIP is employer led. Only a designated employer located inside the Sault Ste. Marie boundary can submit a recommendation application, and applicants cannot apply to the community directly. Beyond that, the community sets priority sectors and manages caps.
For 2026, the priority sectors were health, education and law and social community and government services, business and finance, trades and transport and equipment operators, manufacturing and utilities, and sales and services. The community removed the natural and applied sciences sector and added sales and services effective 1 July 2026, with permission from IRCC.
Three practical limits sit alongside that list. IRCC caps individual occupations within the sales and services sector, and the community cannot exceed those caps or its overall allocation. Employers are limited to two applications for sales and services occupations not already listed on the community website. And eligibility does not extend to fast food establishments, restaurant based businesses or security companies, regardless of how strong a candidate looks on paper.
The community has also said it takes about six weeks to process a complete recommendation application once its office receives it.
The old RNIP grid, and why it is the best reference available
Before RCIP, Sault Ste. Marie ran the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, and it published a detailed scoring grid. That grid is retired and no longer in use. It is not the 2027 RCIP grid and it should not be treated as one. But it is the clearest evidence of how this specific community thinks about ranking candidates, which is exactly the question applicants are asking now.
Under the old grid, candidates needed a total of 70 points to be considered for a recommendation.
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Job offer in a priority NOC group | +55 |
| Age on the day the application was received: 18 to 36, 37 to 47, 48 and over | +6, +3, +2 |
| Work experience in a priority NOC group, from two years up to six years or more | +2 to +10 |
| Bonus: one year of continuous full time work in Sault Ste. Marie in the last five years | +8 |
| Post secondary study in Sault Ste. Marie: two years or more, or one year | +6 or +3 |
| Immediate family member who is a PR or citizen and has lived in the Sault at least a year | +10 |
| Extended family, a friend, or an established community organisation contact, same residency test | +5 |
| Already resident: owns and lives in a property in the Sault, or rents and lives in one | +8 or +4 |
| Visited for at least five nights in the last three years and met at least two employers in your sector | +8 |
| Genuine knowledge of and interest in a local recreational, cultural or lifestyle activity | +5 |
| Spouse has a job offer in a priority NOC group, or two years of relevant experience | +10 or +5 |
| Spouse language above CLB 5 in all four abilities, test less than two years old | +5 |
Read that table as a statement of priorities rather than a formula. The job offer carried 55 of the 70 points needed to pass, which tells you the program was always employer driven. Almost everything else rewarded existing connection to the city: family here, time lived here, study here, a documented visit, even demonstrable interest in local life. The community was buying retention, not credentials.
One more detail from that era is instructive. The community stopped accepting applications from the food sector in July 2022, reopening it quarterly with a maximum of five. Caps and sector management are not new in the Sault.
What the 2027 grid will almost certainly score
This section is an informed expectation, not a statement of fact. RCIP is an economic immigration program, and economic programs score a consistent set of factors. On the strength of the federal rules, the previous community grid and how comparable pilots are built, we would expect points for:
- Language. RCIP already sets a federal CLB floor by TEER. A grid typically rewards exceeding that floor rather than merely meeting it.
- The job offer and its TEER level. The engine of an employer led program, and historically the heaviest factor here.
- Wage. Communities are measured on whether newcomers stay. A wage that supports a household in the Sault is evidence of that.
- Ties to the community. Family, residence, study, documented visits and genuine local references.
- Education. Credentials generally, and study at a local institution in particular, which the old grid scored on its own.
What we cannot tell you is the weighting or the pass mark. Those are the numbers that decide outcomes, and they are precisely what has not been released.
What to do in the next twelve months
The useful insight from the old grid is that its heaviest factors were slow ones. You cannot manufacture a year of residence, a long standing local friendship or a documented visit in the weeks before an intake opens. So work on those first.
- Secure or strengthen the job offer. Nothing else on any grid matters without a designated employer willing to submit for you. Confirm your prospective employer is designated and located inside the boundary.
- Retake the language test. It is the fastest improvement entirely within your control, and every economic grid rewards a higher band.
- Visit, and document it properly. Keep hotel receipts and the names and contact details of employers you meet. The old grid required exactly that evidence.
- Build real relationships before you need a reference. A letter from someone who has known you for a year reads very differently from one written last week, and the community has asked for the nature and length of the relationship.
- Prepare your spouse’s file too. Their job offer, work experience and language test were worth up to fifteen points between them under the old grid.
- Confirm your sector is eligible. If your offer is with a fast food outlet, a restaurant based business or a security company, no score will rescue it.
A word of caution
Periods of uncertainty attract bad advice. In the weeks ahead you will see confident posts describing the 2027 Sault Ste. Marie points grid in detail. Unless and until the community publishes it, those are guesses presented as knowledge, and acting on them can cost you money and time.
Check the Welcome to Sault Ste. Marie website directly, and work with a licensed representative who will tell you plainly when something is unknown.
How we can help
Our office is in Sault Ste. Marie. We know the employers here, we have watched this pilot through every change it has been through, and we will give you an honest read on where you stand rather than a comfortable one.
If you want to understand how you would score once the grid is published, and what to build in the meantime, start with our free assessment or book a consultation.
Mary Unogwu Ogenyi-Igoche, RCIC-IRB R731653, is regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. The 2027 Sault Ste. Marie RCIP points grid has not been published. Figures from the former RNIP community grid are included as illustration only and are no longer in force. Federal requirements are current as at the date of publication. This article is general information, not legal advice.
