This paper is directed towards policy makers, researchers and community practitioners located and with an interest in the Rural West. Our concern is how best to ensure that immigration can contribute to growing communities and rural prosperity in the West. This can only be addressed with consideration of the multi-level needs and motivations of all parties involved in immigration processes. We therefore argue in this paper for a more comprehensive understanding of the process of immigration to rural Canada, beginning with a “bottom-up” approach that focuses on the impediments and difficulties faced at the individual (immigrant) and community level and the need to link communities to national and provincial policy mechanisms.