Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP)

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) supports employers by facilitating the immigration of managerial, professional and skilled foreign workers and international students required to meet their human resources needs. 

The province of Ontario operates the OINP in partnership with the federal immigration department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

OINP Streams

The OINP manages three immigration categories: Human Capital, Employer Job Offer and Business Immigration. Each category is further divided into several streams.

HUMAN CAPITAL CATEGORY

This category enables OINP to nominate candidates who have the skills, education and work experience to contribute to Ontario’s economy and labour market. It is comprised of three Express Entry streams and two international student streams:

EMPLOYER JOB OFFER CATEGORY

Interested individuals may apply under this category only if they have the support of an Ontario employer who has extended to them a full-time indeterminate job offer.

BUSINESS CATEGORY

The Ontario Business Immigration program has one immigration stream directed to applicants with a successful business background.

Ontario operates an Expression of Interest system to manage the intake of five streams: Employer Job Offer (all three streams) and International Student (Masters and PhD Graduates).

The province also operates three Express Entry streams targeting applicants who have the requisite qualifications, including education, experience, language proficiency and ability to successfully establish in Ontario and contribute to the province’s economic development.

The Entrepreneur Stream has a special status among Ontario’s programs, as it accepts only expressions of interest. Interested candidates cannot apply directly for nomination, they must wait to be selected and invited to apply. However, they do not require a valid Express Entry profile, so they do not need to meet the requirements of any federal program.

OINP Draws

The OINP issues periodic Invitations to Apply (ITAs) through its Expression of Interest system and Notifications of Interest (NOIs) to candidates in the Express Entry pool, allowing them to apply for nomination under one of the targeted streams. The details and methodology used are published after the draws are done.

Processing times

Processing times are divided into two periods: how long it takes for the province to issue the nomination and then how long it takes for the permanent resident visa to be processed and issued.

Ontario currently estimates their processing times between 60-90 days for most streams.

The Express Entry Skilled Trades applications are being processed within 30-60 days. The Business applications’ processing times depend on the complexity of each file.

At the federal level, IRCC currently processes provincial non-Express Entry nominee applications within 15-19 months. For the Express Entry streams, the general average of 6 months applies.

If you think you are eligible for any of BC PNP program, Contact Sentinel now.