Ontario has opened the much-awaited Expression of Interest (EOI) system for two of its provincial immigration programs.
The Ontario immigration nominee program (OINP) has opened two interesting streams in the employer job offer category. The streams are named:
- Employer job offer foreign worker stream
- Employer job offer international students stream.
How does these streams benefit future Ontario immigration aspirants:
If you want to apply for immigration through one of these streams and you are an eligible candidate, you can send an expression of interest at anytime. Earlier whenever the province opened its online portal, only then the aspirants could apply.
After you register, your profile will be entered into a selection pool, and given a score based on your answers. Ontario will then invite candidates to apply for a provincial nomination depending on their score and eligibility.
There is one point to notice that EOI registration does not guarantee that you will receive an invitation to apply.
The applicant or their representative are notified if they have been invited.
Once you submit your expression of interest, the EOI registration is valid for up to 12 months or until you receive an invitation. After 12 months, your EOI will be deleted automatically, similar to the express entry pool.
There is no fee to register, but if you are invited to apply you will have to submit fee along with your application.
Again, the point to be noted is that receiving an invitation does not mean you get the provincial nomination.
How to register an Expression of Interest?
* First of all, one needs to create his/her profile in OINP e-Filing Portal.
** Read the eligibility requirements for your stream.
After that you can register an expression of interest for one or more streams.
The information you provide must be accurate and you need to have documentary evidence for everything.
Applicants can update their profile at any time to keep the information up to date.
Scoring the profiles:
The EOI profiles will be ranked based on your answers. Points are awarded to each and every factor based on the skill level of applicant’s job offer and Canadian work experience. The points are allocated based on National occupation classification. (NOC)
The OINP scoring system is different depending for different streams.
Other than skill level and work experience, it also takes into account your wage, education, official language ability, and the region in which you study or work. The province also allocates 10 points at its discretion depending on labour market needs.
Ontario government webpage lists various scoring factors as follows:
1. Job offer: NOC skill level: (Not applied to Masters Graduate or PhD Graduate streams.)
- NOC Skill Level A – 10 points
- NOC Skill Level B – 8 points
- NOC Skill Level C – 0 points
- NOC Skill Level D – 0 points
2. Job offer: NOC type
- NOC Type 0,1,2,3,9 – 10 points
- NOC Type 4,5,6,7,8 – 5 points
3. Job offer: wage (Not applied to Masters Graduate or PhD Graduate streams.)
- $40 per hour or higher – 10 points
- $20 to $39.99 per hour – 5 points
- Less than $20 per hour – 0 points
4. Canadian work experience: length (Cumulative)
- 12 Months or more – 4 points
- Less than 12 months – 0 points
5. Canadian work experience: NOC Skill Level
- NOC Skill Level A – 3 points
- NOC Skill Level B – 0 points
- NOC Skill Level C – 0 points
- NOC Skill Level D – 0 points
6. Canadian work experience: earnings history
- $40k or more earnings in a year – 3 points
- Less than $40k earnings in a year – 0 points
7. Highest level of education
- PhD – 10 points
- Masters – 8 points
- Bachelors or equivalent – 6 points
- College diploma or trade certificate – 5 points
- Less than college or trade certificate – 0 points
8. Field of study (Not applied to Foreign Worker or In-Demand Skills streams)
- Engineering – 10 points
- Health care – 10 points
- Math and Computer Science – 9 points
- Business and Administration – 7 points
- Trades – 7 points
- Social, Legal, and Education – 6 points
- Arts and Humanities – 5 points
9. Canadian education experience (Not applied to Foreign Worker or In-Demand Skills streams.)
- More than one Canadian credential – 10 points
- One Canadian credential – 5 points
10. Official language ability (Not applied to Foreign Worker or In-Demand Skills streams.)
- CLB 9 or higher – 10 points
- CLB 8 – 6 points
- CLB 7 – 4 points
- CLB 6 or lower – 0 points
11. Knowledge of official languages (Not applied to Foreign Worker or In-Demand Skills streams.)
- 2 Official Languages – 10 points
- 1 Official Language – 5 points
12. Location of job Offer (Not applied to Masters or PhD streams.)
- Outside GTA – 10 points
- Inside GTA – 6 points
13. location of institute of study (Not applied to Masters or PhD streams.)
- Outside GTA – 10 points
- Inside GTA – 6 points
14. Strategic priorities (To address immediate labour market needs in the province or a region of the province.)
- As determined by OINP on the expression of interest system invitation to apply webpage – 10 points.
- Depending on individual scores applicants will be sent ITAs. (Invitation to apply).
If you receive an invitation to apply
If you are invited to apply, your application must be submitted within 14 calendar days from the date you receive the invitation.
To apply:
- click the submit an application button below
- log into your ONe-key account as a returning user
- from your My Applications page, click on the file number link to begin your application
After you apply to the OINP:
After you or your designated individual submits your application, you will get an email to confirm that OINP has received it.
** After you are nominated, your next step is to apply to the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence. IRCC makes the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.
Reason for introduction of this stream:
Ontario needed a new immigrant selection system for its PNPs that operate outside the most popular express entry system. Earlier there was a first-come-first-served model. In order to apply for a stream in OINP, candidates would wait for a registration to open, then rush to register, leading to lots of chaos. They were competing with every other non-Express Entry candidate who wanted to immigrate to Ontario.
Since Ontario is the most popular destination for new Canadian immigrants, that was a lot of people. Candidates had only a short window of time to register. They would have multiple browsers open to try and get their profile in. The servers got overwhelmed and there were technical difficulties. Some people also said the system was unfair to those with slow internet connections.
In the fall of 2020, Ontario started working on the EOI system to “manage intake and the high demand for the program, avoiding uncertainty associated with stream openings and the current ‘first-come-first-served’ model.
The outcome is new expression of interest based oinp program. Candidates can now start to apply for Ontario PNPs through the new selection process.
The other OINP streams that remain closed for now and will open under the OINP in near future under Expression of Interest system are:
- Employer Job Offer: In Demand Skills stream
- Masters Graduate stream
- PhD Graduate stream