Ontario Immigrant Nominee

Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP)

Learn how foreign workers, international students, business owners or entrepreneurs from outside of Canada can apply for permanent residence in Ontario, or how Ontario businesses can recruit international talent. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) is currently accepting applications under the following streams:

• Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills Stream
• PhD Graduate Stream
• French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream*
• Human Capital Priorities Stream*
• Skilled Trades Stream*
• Entrepreneur Stream

The following OINP streams are closed to applications at this time:

• Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker Stream
• Employer Job Offer: International Student Stream
• Masters Graduate Stream

* To apply under Ontario’s Express Entry streams, you must have a profile in the federal government’s Express Entry system and receive a Notification of Interest from Ontario.

Overview

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) allows foreign workers, international students and others with the right skills, experience and education to apply for a nomination for permanent residence in Ontario.

The program is:

• Operated by the Ontario government in partnership with the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
• Designed to help Ontario meet its labour market and economic development needs

What you need to know

The OINP is made up of three categories and each category is divided into several streams:

• Employer job offer
• Human capital
• Business

Employer job offer category

The employer job offer category has three streams. You must have a full-time and permanent job offer from an Ontario employer to qualify.

Employer Job Offer:

• Foreign Worker Stream
• International Student Stream
• In-Demand Skills Stream

Human capital category

The human capital category has two sub-categories, the international graduate streams and Ontario’s Express Entry streams.

International graduates

To qualify under the Masters Graduate or PhD Graduate streams, you must have a graduate degree from an eligible Ontario university and apply within two years of getting your degree:

• Masters Graduate Stream
• PhD Graduate Stream

Ontario’s Express Entry

To qualify under Ontario’s Express Entry streams, you must have a profile in the federal government’s Express Entry system and receive a Notification of Interest from Ontario.

Ontario’s Express Entry:

• French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream
• Human Capital Priorities Stream
• Skilled Trades Stream

Business category

The business category has one stream:

• Entrepreneur stream: You must be an entrepreneur from outside of Canada looking to start a new business or buy an existing business in Ontario

Application process

There are three main steps to follow when applying for permanent residence:

• Make sure you qualify
• Apply to be nominated by the Ontario government
• Apply to the Government of Canada for permanent residence

1. Make sure you qualify

Once you’ve selected the stream you would like to apply under, make sure you meet all the mandatory requirements for that stream.

2. Apply to be nominated by the Ontario government

Once you’ve chosen your stream, you must apply online, through the OINP e-Filing Portal. It takes between two to three hours to complete the application.

The application cost for:

• The employer job offer and human capital streams is either $1,500 or $2,000
• The business streams is $3,500 per business partner or key staff applicant
• We only accept Visa, Visa Debit, MasterCard and MasterCard Debit.
• Application processing times vary, read Application Processing Times and Nominations Issued for more information.

3. Apply to the Government of Canada for permanent residence

If your application is successful and you are nominated by the Ontario government, the next step is to apply for permanent residence through IRCC.

The Government of Canada makes the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.

Support for businesses

The Business Immigration Services team takes an active role in helping employers find talent solutions with immigration. We are here to help businesses navigate the immigration system to:

• Fill labour shortages
• Retain international students
• Get skilled workers faster
• As a Designated Referral Partner under Canada’s Global Skills Strategy, OINP Business Services can help innovative companies that are scaling-up or significantly investing in Ontario to get expedited work permit and LMIA processing – and personalized service – for highly skilled talent needs.