Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP)

Canada’s most populous province is home to nearly 40 percent of Canadians. Canada’s capital city, Ottawa is located in Ontario. Toronto, Canada’s largest city is also here. In short, Ontario is more or less the heart and soul of Canada. It plays an important part in Canada’s economic, social, and political life.

Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) as Ontario’s Provincial Nominee Program is called welcomes prospective immigrants with the skills and experience required by the province. Suitable applicants may receive a provincial nomination from Ontario, based on which they can apply for Canadian permanent residence with the Government of Canada.

The OINP accepts applications under the following immigration categories:

• Human Capital Category
• Employer Job Offer Category
• Business Category

Human Capital Category

The OINP Human Capital Category comprises five streams divided into two categories:

• Ontario's Express Entry streams
• International Graduates streams

Ontario's Express Entry Streams

The OINP's Express Entry is open for applicants with active Express Entry profile who have received an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination.

Ontario Express Entry: Human Capital Priorities Stream

People with required education, skilled work experience, language ability, and other characteristics to successfully establish themselves and integrate into Ontario’s labour market and communities are nominated through OINP. Of recent, OINP is utilised to conduct occasional tech draws for Express Entry candidates with work experience in six tech-sector occupations.

Ontario Express Entry: French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream

French is an asset in Canada and this stream allows Ontario to nominate French-Speaking skilled Express Entry candidates. These candidates are mostly people with good English abilities and possess good education, skilled work experience, etc that would help them integrate into Ontario’s labour market and communities.

Ontario Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream:

This stream is for people who have ongoing or recent work experience in the trade within the province.

Documents required for OINP Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream 2020?

• Notification of Interest (NOI) from Ontario
• Identity documents
• Status documents in Canada
• Education documents
• Language test results
• Documents to support employment in the province (if applicable)
• Proof of funds
• Other optional documents (if applicable)

International Graduates Stream

International Graduate stream is essentially for recently graduated International Students with a master’s or doctoral degree from an eligible Ontario university.

1. Masters Graduate Stream: This includes International students who have graduated with a master’s degree from an eligible educational institution within the province of Ontario. Having a job offer is not mandatory to apply under this stream.
2. D. Graduate Stream: International students who have graduated from a Ph.D. program from an eligible Ontario’s educational stream are eligible to apply under this stream.

Employer Job-Offer Category

Under this category, employers of Ontario can nominate immigrants and/or international students who have a valid job offer in the province.

1. International Students Stream: International students with a valid job-offer
2. In-Demand Stream: Immigrants with work experience in in-demand occupations or have a job-offer to settle and work in the province permanently.

Eligibility Table Ontario PNP – Employer Job-offer category

Business Category – Entrepreneur Stream

Entrepreneurship is welcome. The Entrepreneur stream is open for international business persons with experience, who want to , buy/ start, own and run their own business in the province of Ontario. If accepted, they are issued a temporary work permit support letter – that is based on a performance agreement –to establish a business in the province. If the candidate meets all the conditions of the signed performance agreement, then they are nominated for Canada permanent resident visa.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

• Must have a minimum of 3 years of senior management or business ownership experience in the past 5 years.
• Be ready to make a $500,000 CAD minimum investment in the Province of Ontario.
• If the business is to be located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) then a minimum investment of $1,500,000 CAD is required unless the business is in the digital media or information and communications technology (ICT) sectors.
• If the entrepreneur has a business partner who would also like to qualify under this OINP stream, then that person too must make minimum investment of either $500,000 CAD or $1 million CAD as required.
• Each prospective candidate must have an $800,000 CAD minimum net worth.
• Must create at least two permanent, full-time employment positions for Canadian permanent residents or citizens.

The entrepreneur (and business partner) will have 24 months to satisfy minimum program requirements in order to receive a Canada PR nomination from the Province of Ontario.

Steps to have a successful OINP application

• Check Eligibility for the different streams
• Apply Online through the OINP e-Filing point which takes around 2 to 3 hours

After a successful application assessment by the provincial government, the candidate is given a provincial nomination certificate. The next step is to apply for a Canada PR Visa to the Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

For more information and expert guidance, contact us today.