Ontario Immigration Nominee Program (OINP)

Ontario Immigration Nominee Program (OINP) is a practical framework to recruit international talents (foreign workers, international students, business owners or entrepreneurs from outside of Canada) to apply for permanent residence in Ontario. The program falls under the province’s economic immigration program, which works in partnership with the Government of Canada through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The OINP recognizes and nominates people for permanent residence who have the skills and experience the Ontario economy needs, and the Government of Canada makes the final decision to approve applications for permanent residence.

There are three ways one may qualify for a nomination:

Employer job offer category: for workers who already have a permanent job offer from an Ontario employer
Human capital category: for workers who have valuable work experience, education, language skills, and a profile in Canada’s Express Entry system; or for graduate students
Business category: for entrepreneurs looking to start a new or buy an existing business in Ontario

Employer job offer category:

The employer job offer category has three streams:

Foreign Worker stream (skilled workers)
International Student stream (recent graduates in Ontario)
In-Demand Skills stream (intermediate skilled workers in specific sectors, such as agriculture, construction, trucking and personal support workers)

Human capital category:

This category encompasses two sub-categories:

International graduate streams

To qualify under the Masters’ Graduate or PhD Graduate streams, one must have a graduate degree from an eligible Ontario university and apply within two years of getting your degree. It is either Masters’ Graduate stream or PhD Graduate stream.

Ontario’s Express Entry streams.

To qualify under Ontario’s Express Entry streams, one must have received a notification of interest from Ontario and have an up-to-date profile with her/his most current work experience, language tests and education in the federal government’s Express Entry system.

French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream (French-Speaking skilled workers with the required work experience, education and language proficiency in French and English)

Human Capital Priorities stream (skilled workers with the required work experience, education and language proficiency in French or English)

Skilled Trades stream (workers with work experience in Ontario in an eligible trade occupation)

Business category:

The business category has one stream (Entrepreneur stream). One must be an entrepreneur from outside of Canada who is looking to implement a new business idea or buy and grow an existing business in Ontario.

References:

Ontario. (2020, October 15). Retrieved from Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP): https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-immigrant-nominee-program-oinp