Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) 2026: Workforce Priority, Employer-Driven Pathways and Scoring
Ontario now nominates through a single stream, Ontario Workforce Priority, that starts with an Ontario employer’s job offer. Here is who can apply, how the process and its deadlines work, how the 130-point Expression of Interest grid scores you, and how an Express Entry nomination fits.
Since June 2026 the OINP has one open stream, Ontario Workforce Priority. Your employer must first submit a job offer in the Employer Portal; you then register an Expression of Interest within 30 days, are scored out of 130 points, and, if invited, you and your employer each file an application within 14 and 17 days. Self-employed physicians are the only group who can apply without a job offer.
Start here
- OINP Workforce Priority calculator Score a specific job offer against the official 130-point grid and check your pathway’s requirements.
- The full scoring grid Every scoring line, the employer-portal mechanics and worked examples.
- Old system vs. new Which streams closed and what the change means for each type of applicant.
- Latest Ontario invitation rounds OINP rounds on the live draw tracker.
- NOC code finder Find the TEER of the job in your offer, since your requirements are set by it.
- Professional file review An RCIC checks the file before the job offer and EOI are submitted.
- Open stream
- Ontario Workforce Priority (the only one)
- Starting point
- Employer’s job offer (except self-employed physicians)
- EOI deadline
- 30 days after the job offer is submitted
- Max EOI score
- 130 points across four blocks
- Express Entry
- Nomination adds 600 CRS pts (TEER 0–3)
Compare Other Programs
Other routes in this category that may fit your situation
Who Is This For?
- A full-time, permanent job offer from a registered Ontario employer in a TEER 0–5 occupation
- TEER 0–3: CLB 6 (CLB 5 for listed skilled trades), a post-secondary credential of at least one year, and 6 months consecutive in the offered position or 2 years in the same NOC
- TEER 4–5: CLB 4, a secondary diploma and 9 months full-time in the offered position within 2 years
- Recent Ontario graduates have lighter requirements (3 months’ experience, no language test)
- Self-employed physicians with an OHIP billing number and a CPSO certificate need no job offer
- You intend to live and work in Ontario after you receive permanent residence
How It Works
- 1
Employer submits a job offer
They register in the Employer Portal and submit the job offer; you receive a job offer ID.
- 2
Register your EOI
Within 30 calendar days, register an Expression of Interest with that ID and be scored on the 130-point grid.
- 3
Invitation to apply
Your employer files within 14 days and you file within 17 days of the invitation, in that order.
- 4
Nomination
If approved, you receive a nomination; if you chose Express Entry, you gain 600 CRS points.
- 5
Apply to IRCC for PR
Within 6 months. IRCC makes the final decision.
Reviewed by Ramin Asadi · RCIC · CICC #R407111 Verify
Figures on this page were last verified against their official sources on 1 October 2026.
The OINP in 2026: one stream, run through employers
Ontario nominates people for permanent residence through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). Since June 2026 the OINP has one open stream: the Ontario Workforce Priority stream. Ontario’s own programme page says all other streams are now closed. The stream is built around a qualifying Ontario job offer, with one exception: self-employed physicians, who can apply without one.
A nomination is not permanent residence. If Ontario nominates you, you then apply to IRCC, which makes the final decision. Ontario’s role is to decide who is nominated; IRCC’s is to decide who becomes a permanent resident.
What changed from the old OINP
The earlier OINP ran many streams side by side, including the Employer Job Offer streams, Human Capital Priorities, the Masters and PhD Graduate streams and an Entrepreneur stream. Several of those, such as the graduate streams and Human Capital Priorities, did not require a job offer. They are closed, and nothing in the new stream replaces the job-offer-free route for anyone but self-employed physicians.
- Your employer must start the process. They register in the Employer Portal and submit a job offer before you can register an Expression of Interest (EOI).
- You are scored on a points grid at the EOI stage, and an invitation to apply is what lets you file a full application.
- Both you and your employer have separate, short deadlines once an invitation is issued.
- If you were relying on a graduate stream or a job-offer-free route, the practical question is now whether you can get a qualifying Ontario employer behind you.
Who can apply: the pathways
Your requirements depend on the TEER category of the NOC occupation in your job offer. The TEER category is the second digit of the five-digit NOC code. You must meet every requirement for your pathway, not most of them.
| Pathway | Language | Education | Work experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job offer, TEER 0–3 (not a listed skilled trade) | CLB 6 in all four skills, unless you are a recent Ontario graduate | Post-secondary credential of at least one year of full-time study | 6 months consecutive full-time in the offered position within the last 12 months, or 2 years cumulative in the same NOC within the last 5 years |
| Job offer, TEER 0–3, listed skilled trade | CLB 5 in all four skills, unless you are a recent Ontario graduate | Canadian secondary school diploma or equivalent | Same as the row above |
| Job offer, TEER 4–5 | CLB 4 in all four skills | Canadian secondary school diploma or equivalent | 9 months cumulative full-time in the offered position within the last 2 years |
| Self-employed physician | No other applicant requirements apply | No other applicant requirements apply | OHIP billing number and CPSO certificate (independent, academic or provisional) in good standing |
Recent Ontario graduates and licensed occupations
A recent Ontario graduate is someone who graduated from an eligible Ontario institution within the last 3 years with a post-secondary degree or diploma that took at least 2 years full-time, an Ontario College Graduate Certificate, a Master’s or a PhD. For TEER 0–3 they need only 3 months of consecutive full-time experience in the offered position, and they do not need a language test. If your occupation requires a mandatory licence or authorization under Ontario or federal law, holding that licence can replace the work-experience requirement. Transport truck drivers (NOC 73300) and bus, subway and transit operators (NOC 73301) are the exception: they must still show 6 months of experience.
Tests and documents that trip people up
- Accepted English tests: IELTS General Training, CELPIP-General and PTE Core. Academic and One Skill Retake versions are not accepted. French: TEF Canada and TCF Canada.
- The test date must be within 2 years before you submit your application, and CLB is measured on your lowest of the four skills.
- If you studied outside Canada you need an Educational Credential Assessment less than five years old on the date you apply, from an IRCC-designated organization.
- If you apply from inside Canada you need legal status when you apply. Maintained status counts.
How an application moves: employer first, with short clocks
- Your employer registers and submits a job offer for your position in the OINP Employer Portal. You receive a job offer ID.
- You register an EOI using that ID within 30 calendar days of your employer submitting the job offer.
- If Ontario invites you, your employer must submit the application for approval of the employment position within 14 calendar days of the invitation.
- You must submit your own application and pay within 17 calendar days of the invitation, and you cannot submit until your employer has submitted theirs.
- If you are nominated, you have 6 months to apply to IRCC for permanent residence.
Applications submitted by self-appointed representatives are invalid and are withdrawn. If someone represents you, the appointment has to be done the way the OINP prescribes.
What your employer has to meet
The employer carries as much of this process as you do, and an application can fail on the employer’s side regardless of how strong yours is. Ontario’s stream page lists these employer requirements:
- In active business for at least 3 years before applying, with business premises in Ontario where you will work.
- No outstanding orders under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- Gross annual revenue and a minimum number of Canadian-citizen or permanent-resident full-time employees, both set by the location of the job.
- Reasonable efforts to recruit a Canadian citizen or permanent resident first. This applies if you are living outside Canada or working outside Ontario.
- A job offer that is full-time, permanent, urgently necessary to the business, unaffected by a labour dispute and meets the required wage level for the location.
- The Ontario Public Service is not currently accepted as an employer.
The revenue and staffing minimums differ by work location and change over time, so we do not restate them here. Your employer should read the current OINP employer guide before submitting a job offer, because a submitted job offer cannot simply be edited afterwards.
Source: ontario.ca — OINP employer guide
How the EOI is scored: up to 130 points
Once you register an EOI, Ontario assigns points across four blocks. Scoring factors are not the same as stream criteria: you must meet every criterion for your pathway, and you must also document each scoring factor you claimed if you are invited. Ontario’s stream page does not publish a minimum score or an invitation cut-off.
| Block | Maximum | What it rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Employment and labour market | 70 | TEER and occupational category, hourly wage (up to $40+), Ontario experience, Canadian earnings, legal status |
| Language | 25 | Lowest CLB across four skills (up to CLB 9+), plus points for one or two official languages |
| Education | 20 | Highest credential, plus Canadian credentials |
| Regionalization | 15 | Where the job is located in Ontario |
The location of the job is the one factor you can sometimes influence
Regionalization is scored from the work location your employer enters in the job offer. Northern Ontario earns 15 points; Eastern Ontario, Central Ontario outside the GTA and Southwestern Ontario earn 10; the GTA outside Toronto earns 5; the City of Toronto earns 0. The GTA outside Toronto means Durham, Halton, Peel and York regions. Where the work location is genuinely flexible, it is worth raising before the job offer is submitted. Where it is not, it is simply a fact of the job.
Express Entry nominations and the 600 CRS points
If your job offer is in a TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 occupation, you can indicate in your OINP application that you want to be nominated through Express Entry. Self-employed physicians have the same option. You must meet the minimum Express Entry eligibility criteria, and your Express Entry profile has to stay active. If you choose this option and are approved, Ontario enters the nomination into Express Entry and you have 30 calendar days to accept or refuse it. IRCC states that accepting adds 600 points and leads to an invitation to apply in the next round of invitations.
That 600 points is IRCC’s rule for any provincial nomination, not an Ontario-specific bonus, and it does not make an invitation a certainty. A nomination you do not link to Express Entry follows IRCC’s paper-based provincial-nominee route instead.
Self-employed physicians
Self-employed physicians are the one group who can apply without a job offer. You qualify if you have an OHIP billing number and hold a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario certificate of registration authorizing independent practice, academic practice, or a provisional certificate, in good standing. If you do, the other applicant requirements and all of the employer requirements do not apply. Holders of a postgraduate education licence are not eligible under this pathway, though they may apply with a job offer from an Ontario employer. Registering the EOI for this pathway is done by contacting the OINP rather than through the employer-first steps above, and the same 17-day application deadline applies once invited.
Who this works for, and who it no longer does
This stream is a good fit for someone who already works full-time in Ontario for an employer willing to register in the Employer Portal and support a nomination, because that is exactly the situation the experience requirements describe. It is a poor fit for someone hoping to be selected on credentials alone.
- International graduates without an employer: the Masters and PhD Graduate streams are closed, so the question is whether an Ontario employer will take you on. Recent Ontario graduates get a shorter experience requirement (3 months) and no language test once they have one.
- Workers in another province or abroad: your experience can count if it is in the same NOC occupation within 5 years, but you still need a qualifying Ontario job offer and an employer who meets the requirements.
- TEER 4–5 workers: the language and education bars are lower, but the experience must be in the offered position itself, 9 months within the last 2 years.
- Self-employed people who are not physicians: not eligible, because the stream requires a legal employer-employee relationship.
- Anyone who wants to live in Ontario but has no specific job: there is no longer an Ontario stream that selects you without an employer.
After nomination: conditions that follow you to PR
A nomination is tied to the approved job, and Ontario follows up after it is issued. If you already work for the employer in that position, you must stay in it until you are nominated and through the post-nomination period until IRCC grants or refuses your PR. If you are not yet working for the employer, the job offer takes effect on the day you get your work permit and start. Any change to duties, wage, hours or term must be reported to the OINP immediately. The OINP cannot change an approved employment position after nomination, and if the job ends and the approval is cancelled, you would need to submit a new EOI.
Calculate your CRS score right now
Our free tool uses official IRCC scoring tables — no sign-up required.
Latest Express Entry & PNP Draw Results
Minimum CRS scores and invitation counts from every draw — updated as soon as IRCC announces.
In Ontario? Check your OINP eligibility
Our free calculator scores your Expression of Interest for the Ontario Workforce Priority stream against the official scoring grid.
Why ITC iLand for This Program?
The OINP is one of the few programmes where the employer’s paperwork can sink a strong applicant, so the file has to be right on both sides before the 30-day clock starts. Our RCICs review the employer’s job offer, your pathway, your language and credential documents and your EOI claims before anything is submitted, because a submitted job offer cannot simply be edited afterwards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only self-employed physicians can. For every other applicant in the Workforce Priority stream, the employer must first submit a job offer in the Employer Portal. The earlier streams that did not require a job offer are closed.
The stream page does not publish a minimum score. Invitation rounds appear on our draw tracker as Ontario publishes them; check the tracker for the actual figures before relying on any number.
30 calendar days from when your employer submits the job offer in the Employer Portal. If you are invited, your employer has 14 days and you have 17 days from the date the invitation was issued.
No. If your occupation is TEER 0–3 you can choose nomination through Express Entry in your application, which adds 600 CRS points. Otherwise your nomination follows IRCC’s paper-based provincial-nominee route.
No. A nomination only lets you apply to IRCC, which makes the final decision. Neither a processing time nor an outcome can be guaranteed.
Ontario’s official pages do not publish a processing time for this stream and we do not estimate one. What can be said is your own deadlines: 14 and 17 days once an invitation is issued.
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