February 2017

The Ontario government has finally released information regarding its provincial nomination programs. 6,000 nominations are available for the 2017 year.  This is a 500 increase from 2016.

This week, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) will open applications for its three highest-volume streams - the International Masters Graduate Stream, the International PhD Graduate Stream, and the Ontario Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream.

These programs will now be online. (Paper applications will no longer be submitted).  These streams will pause and reopen periodically, so as to prevent a backlog of applications developing. 

A new restriction has been put in place for the international student streams. Eligible applicants must now have graduated from a publicly funded Ontario university. 

However, for the International Masters Graduate Stream, eligible applicants will now be able to apply if they are residing outside Ontario.

For the Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream, when this stream reopens, the OINP will begin searching the federal government’s Express Entry pool for qualified applicants and issue Notifications of Interest.

Further information will be released tomorrow at this link:

http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNPNEW.html

Other resources:

News release:

https://news.ontario.ca/mci/en/2017/2/ontario-continuing-to-welcome-newcomers-with-expanded-and-modernized-immigration-program.html

Fact sheet:

https://news.ontario.ca/mci/en/2017/2/modernizing-immigration-to-support-ontarios-economy.html