Business Phone
051 8439995, 042 35911332
The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), which is one of the various Canadian Provincial Nominee Programs, has achieved the required number of provincial nomination allocation for the year 2017. The OINP has received applications under ten immigration streams of different kinds. So, it was literally a busy year for this provincial nominee program. After allotting 6,000 nominations during this year, the most populous province of Canada has announced on November 22 that OINP has reached its allotted limit.
The OINP has further stated that all the applications, which have been submitted within the due dates, will continue to proceed under regular processing mechanism. In addition, those candidates whose applications are successful, they will get a provincial nomination certificate during the first month of 2018.
Busy Year for International Graduate, Human Capital Priorities Streams
There is no doubt that the year 2017 happened to be an active year for the Human Capital Priorities (HCP), which is OINP’s popular Express Entry stream. It offers an opportunity for the Ontario immigration authorities to find the eligible potential applicants within federal Express Entry pool who are capable of integrating into Ontario’s labor market.
There were various occasions where HCP stream opened and closed in 2017 and the most recent example of this relates to November 2017. During May, the issuance of NOIs through the HCP stream took place on a weekly basis. In the month of June, the stream shortly removed the need to score at least 400 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for specific candidates having relevant work experience regarding the Communications and Information Technology Sector.
Moreover, the OINP’s Ph.D Graduate and International Masters streams remained open on various occasions. These streams offer international students having a Ph.D or Master’s degree from Ontario to work and live permanently in the province. In addition, the applicants having no job offer may also apply under this stream.
{Read more about: Ontario is Now Receiving Applications for Masters and PhD Graduate Streams}
New and improved streams
Besides the Human Capital Priorities Stream, the OINP launched a 3rd stream aligned with Express Entry for the skilled trades workers during 2017. Ontario also offers a French-Speaking Skilled Worker streams, which is also aligned with the Express Entry.
The latest Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream engages the Express Entry candidates having experience associated with the construction and agricultural sectors in Ontario. The province invites these skilled traders to apply with reference to the labor market needs. According to the OINP, more workers from other sectors will also be able to apply under this stream in near future.
The OINP has also updated the Entrepreneur Stream and modified Employer Job Offer Stream during the previous year. The Employer Job Offer Stream uses a streamlined approach while dealing with the applications of foreign workers and international students having a job offer from an employer in Ontario. This change requires less documentation from the employer and put more responsibilities on the shoulders of the nominees when preparing their applications.
A decrease in the minimum language level is one of the most prominent changes in the Entrepreneur Stream. Furthermore, additional points are awarded to such applicants if they are willing to purchase an existing business or launch their own business outside the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Future Allocations
Chances are there that Ontario will comparatively receive a larger allotment in 2018 under the multi-year immigration plan launched by the federal government. The target of Provincial Nominee Program allotment of Canada was 51,000 in 2017, which may exceed up to 55,000 during 2018.