PROVINCIAL NOMINATION

How the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

works
This program is for workers who:

 have the skills, education and work experience to contribute

to the economy of a specific province or territory
 want to live in that province, and
 want to become permanent residents of Canada

Each province and territory Footnote*  has its own “streams”

(immigration programs that target certain groups) and
requirements. For example, in a program stream, provinces and
territories may target:

 students
 business people
 skilled workers
 semi-skilled workers

Understand the application options

How you will apply depends on which Provincial Nominee
Program stream you’re applying to. You might need to apply
using the paper-based process, or by the online process through
Express Entry.
As part of the process, you will have to pass a medical exam and
get a police check (certificate). Everyone must have these checks,
no matter where they plan to live in Canada.
Paper-based process
In the paper-based process:

 You apply to the province or territory for nomination under a

non-Express Entry stream.
 You need to meet the eligibility requirements of the province
that nominates you.
 Once you have been nominated, you submit a paper
application for permanent residence to Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
 You have to pass a medical exam and get a police
check (certificate). Everyone must have these checks, no
matter where you plan to live in Canada.
 Application processing times are longer than through
Express Entry.

How to apply through the paper-based process

Express Entry process

In the online Express Entry process, there are 2 ways to apply:

 You contact the province or territory and apply for a

nomination under an Express Entry stream.
 If the province or territory agrees to nominate you, you
create an Express Entry profile (or update your profile if you
already have one) and show you have been nominated.
OR

 You create an Express Entry profile and show the provinces

and territories you’re interested in.
  If a province or territory sends you a “notification of interest”
to your account, you contact them directly.
 You apply to their Express Entry stream:
o If you’re nominated, the province will offer it to you

through your account, and you accept it electronically.

In both cases:

 You must meet the eligibility requirements of the province or

territory. And,
 You must submit an Express Entry profile and show that you
meet the minimum criteria for Express Entry, including
being eligible for one of the immigration programs it covers.
 If you are invited to apply, you submit an electronic
application to IRCC.

How to apply through Express Entry

Choose a province or territory

To be nominated by a province or territory, Footnote*  you must follow
the instructions on their website and contact them directly:

 Alberta
 British Columbia
 Manitoba
 New Brunswick
 Newfoundland and Labrador
 Northwest Territories
 Nova Scotia
 Ontario
 Prince Edward Island
 Saskatchewan
  Yukon

The criteria by province and territory vary and can change without
notice.

Footnote
Footnote *
The province of Quebec does not have a provincial
nominee program. See their immigration website to
learn more about their programs.
Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
(OINP)
Learn how foreign workers, international students, business owners or
entrepreneurs from outside of Canada can apply for permanent residence in
Ontario, or how Ontario businesses can recruit international talent.

Overview
The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) is the province’s economic
immigration program. It works in partnership with the Government of Canada
through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Foreign workers, international students and others with the right skills, experience
and education apply to the OINP for a nomination.

The OINP recognizes and nominates people for permanent residence who have the
skills and experience the Ontario economy needs, and the Government of Canada
makes the final decision to approve applications for permanent residence.

For other ways to immigrate to Ontario, visit the Government of Canada’s website.

What you need to know

The OINP has nine streams you may qualify for.

If you have a job offer in Ontario

 
The following streams operate through the OINP’s Expression of Interest System.
To qualify, you must register an expression of interest and receive an invitation to
apply.

Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream

Apply for the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream if you are a skilled foreign
worker with a job offer in Ontario.

Employer Job Offer: International Student stream

Apply for the Employer Job Offer: International Student stream if you are a recent
graduate with a job offer in Ontario.

Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills stream

Apply for the Employer Job Offer: In Demand Skills stream if you are a foreign
worker in an in-demand occupation with a job offer in Ontario.

If you have a Masters or PhD degree from an Ontario university

The following streams operate through the OINP’s Expression of Interest System.

To qualify, you must register an expression of interest and receive an invitation to
apply.

Masters Graduate stream

Apply for the Masters Graduate stream if you have a masters degree from an
Ontario university.
PhD Graduate stream

Apply for the PhD Graduate stream if you have a PhD degree from an Ontario
university.

If you have the skills and experience that Ontario employers need

The following streams operate through the federal government’s Express Entry
System. To qualify, you must have an Express Entry profile and receive a
notification of interest from Ontario.

Human Capital Priorities stream

Apply for the Human Capital Priorities stream if you have the required skilled work
experience, education and language abilities

Skilled Trades stream

Apply for the Skilled Trades stream if you are a foreign worker with Ontario work
experience in an eligible skilled trade.

French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream

Apply for the French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream if you are a French-speaking

foreign worker with strong English language abilities.

If you are a foreign entrepreneur with a great business idea

 

Apply to the Entrepreneur stream as your opportunity to come to Ontario to

establish a new business or buy and grow an existing business in the province. This
stream operates through an Expression of Interest system. To qualify, you must
register an expression of interest and receive an invitation to apply.

Support for businesses

The Business Immigration Services team takes an active role in helping employers
find talent solutions with immigration. We are here to help businesses navigate the
immigration system to:

 fill labour shortages

 retain international students
 get skilled workers faster

As a designated referral partner under Canada’s Global Skills

Strategy, OINP business services can help innovative companies that are scaling-up
or significantly investing in Ontario. We offer personalized service that can help
businesses get an expedited work permit and labour market impact assessment
(LMIA) processing for your highly skilled talent needs.

We provide info-sessions, in-person or teleconference meetings, and dedicated

staff for your assistance.

Contact us today at business.immigration@ontario.ca

Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital

Priorities stream
Learn how to apply for a nomination for permanent residence in Ontario if you
have the required skilled work experience, education and language abilities

On this pageSkip this page navigation

1. Overview
 2. Steps to apply
3. Stream requirements
4. Contact us

Overview
Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream is an immigration stream
under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

It gives foreign workers with the required skilled work experience, language abilities
and education the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.

You must have a valid profile in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s
(IRCC’s) Express Entry system and receive a Notification of Interest from Ontario
before you can apply online to be nominated by the Ontario government for
permanent residence.

If you are nominated, your next step is to apply to the federal government
through IRCC. They make the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.

Steps to apply
To qualify under Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream, you must
meet all the requirements below. Please review the steps to apply for all of
Ontario’s Express Entry streams. You do not need a job offer to apply.

 Steps to apply for Express

Entry streams
 Review document checklist

Stream requirements
Please refer to section 10 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 for more details on each
requirement.

1. Work experience
You must decide which of the following two federal programs you would like to be
assessed against:

 Federal Skilled Workers Program

 Canadian Experience Class

Federal Skilled Worker Program

Under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, you must have:

 at least one year of continuous paid full-time work experience (or the equivalent in
paid part- time work) in Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A or B of the National Occupational
Classification (NOC)

Your work experience must have been:

 obtained within the last five years from the date of submitting your application to
the OINP
 in the same primary occupation as you identified in your Express Entry profile

You may have gained your work experience in Canada or overseas.

Continuous means:

 no breaks in employment over a one year period

Please note: Work experience may consist of back-to-back jobs with the same or
different employer(s) (with no gap in between), but at least one year must be in the
same NOC occupation as your primary NOC declared in your Express Entry profile.

If you are using periods of self-employment, you will need to provide employment
documentation that is independently verifiable through third parties. This can
include client reference letters indicating your duties and periods of work, as well as
evidence of ongoing payments to you personally, for the services provided (for
example, invoices). Please also note that your hours of self-employed work must be
quantifiable to ensure that you accumulated at least 1,560 hours over one year of
employment. Reference letters from yourself, your business partners and/or a
family member are not accepted by the program.

Canadian Experience Class

Under the Canadian Experience Class, you must have:

  at least one year of cumulative paid full-time work experience (or the equivalent in
paid part-time work) in Canada in Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A or B of the NOC

Your work experience must have been:

 obtained within the last three years from the date of submitting your application to
the OINP
 in one or more of the occupations that you identified in your Express Entry profile
 in Canada while maintaining legal status in Canada

Cumulative means:

 the work you’ve done must add up to one year – it does not have to be one year of
continuous work

Please note: Paid work experience gained while studying full-time at a post-

secondary institution (for example, on a co-op work term) and self-employment are
not eligible under the CEC.

Under both programs:

 your work experience must have been obtained over a period of at least one year –
work experience totaling 1,560 hours obtained in less than one year period does not
qualify
 full-time work experience means working in a job with at least 30 hours of paid work
in a week that amounts to at least 1,560 hours of paid work in one year
 part-time equivalent work experience means:
o working in one job for at least 15 hours per week, for two years that amounts
to at least 1,560 hours in that two-year period, or
o working in more than one job for at least 30 hours per week, for one year,
that amounts to at least 1,560 hours of paid work in that one year period
 if your work experience was obtained in Ontario in an occupation that requires a
licence or other authorization, only work experience acquired after becoming
qualified to practice that occupation in Ontario will qualify
 volunteer work and unpaid internships do not count as work experience

Vacation periods, regular sick leave and other standard paid leave entitlements as
provided for in collective agreements, workplace legislation and/or individual
employer policies are not considered interruptions to full-time employment.
Extended leaves are considered interruptions to full-time employment and are not
to be included in the calculation of work experience.
2. Education

You must have a Canadian bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degree or its equivalent in

another country.

If you completed your studies outside of Canada, you need to get an Educational
Credential Assessment report that proves your education is equivalent to a
Canadian degree.

Completing a three-year program at a university, college, or other institute is not

the same as having a bachelor’s degree. Your Educational Credential Assessment
must state that you have the equivalent of at least a Canadian bachelor’s degree to
qualify.

The assessment must be done by one of the following organizations, designated

by IRCC.

 Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies

 International Credential Assessment Service of Canada
 International Credential Evaluation Service
 International Qualifications Assessment Service
 Medical Council of Canada (professional body for doctors)
 Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (professional body for pharmacists)
 World Education Services

Each organization charges a different fee and has different processing times. Please
check the website of each ECA organization to choose the one that is best for you.

You must give us a copy of the ECA report when you submit your application. The
report cannot be more than five years old at the time you submit your application.

We must be able to confirm your ECA results with the organization that completed

it. This means you must authorize the organization to share the results with us (the
Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program).

To authorize us to see your ECA results from:

 Comparative Education Service, submit an online request form

 Medical Council of Canada, order a copy of your report and indicate the Ontario
Immigrant Nominee Program as the recipient of the report
  World Education Services, order a copy of your Educational Credential Assessment
report online and indicate the “Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program” as the
recipient of the report

Note: For the other organizations, no additional steps are required.

Please contact the ECA organization directly if you have any specific questions

about the process for getting an Educational Credential Assessment or how to
authorize and share your ECA results with us.

You must authorize the organization to share the results of your assessment
specifically with the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). Authorizing the
organization to share the results of your assessment with IRCC is not sufficient for
the purposes of your application to the OINP.

If you do not provide a copy of your ECA report and/or if you do not authorize an

organization listed above to share the results of your assessment with the OINP,
your application will be returned and your application fee refunded.

3. Language

You must be able to understand, read, write and speak either English or French at
a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7 or higher.

To prove that you have the mandatory language skills, you must take an approved
English or French language test before you submit your application to this stream.

The test must not have been taken more than two years from the date you submit
your application.

For English tests, we accept:

 International English Language Testing (IELTS) — we only accept the General

Training test
 Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) — we only accept
the General test

For French tests, we accept:

 Test d’évaluation de français pour le Canada (TEF)

 Test de connaissance du français pour le Canada (TCF Canada)
Learn more about the English and French language tests

4. Settlement funds

You must have enough money to support yourself and your dependent family
members when you settle in Canada.

Note that a family member includes your spouse, common law partner and
children under the age of 22, including their children.

You can meet this requirement through one or a combination of any of the
following:

 funds as demonstrated by the balance listed in bank statements, or statements of

accounts showing other investments such as non-locked in, fixed term deposits,
mutual funds, etc.
 annual earnings from ongoing employment in Ontario
 a job offer in Ontario

Learn more about the amount of money you must have available to apply (see How
much money you'll need).

Example: You have checked how much money you must have available and, based
on your family size, you must have $29,000 (CAD). You have a job offer in Ontario
with an annual wage of $25,000 and you have a balance of $5,000 in your savings
account for a total of $30,000. By using a combination of your job offer and bank
statement, you would meet the settlements fund requirement.

Note: If you provide bank statements that include a one-time large deposit, we may
ask you to provide additional documentation to support that your funds are free of
debt or liability.

5. Intention to live in Ontario

You must intend to live in Ontario after you’re granted permanent residence. We
determine this by examining your ties to Ontario, which can include things like:

 working or have worked in Ontario

 getting job offers or applying/ interviewing for jobs
 studying
 volunteering
 leasing or owning property
  visiting
 having professional networks and affiliations, family ties and personal relationships

6. Legal status in Canada (if applicable)

If you are applying from within Canada, you must have legal status (visitor record,
study permit, or work permit) at the time you apply and should maintain that status
until the time of nomination.

You may apply if you are in ‘implied status’ at the time of your OINP application
submission. ‘Implied status’ means that you submitted an application to
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to renew/extend your
temporary status document (a visitor record, work permit, study permit) before its
expiry date. You can remain in Canada and continue to work or study under the
same conditions as your existing permit until a decision is made on your
pending IRCC application.

7. Federal Skilled Worker Program

If you choose to be assessed against the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP),
you must score at least 67 points on the six selection factors (education, language
skills, work experience, age, arranged employment in Canada and adaptability).

Learn more about the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the six selection factors.
Manitoba Provincial Nominee

General MPNP Process and Policies

General MPNP Process:
 Expression of Interest (EOI) submission
 Letter of Advice to Apply (LAA) issuance
 see each MPNP stream for the criteria for LAA issuance
 MPNP application submission
 see each MPNP stream for the procedure for applying to MPNP
after receiving an LAA
 Procedural fairness
 Nomination and withdrawal of nomination
 Permanent Resident application

General MPNP Policies and Terms:

Although there are multiple streams for applying to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program,
several key program policies apply to all application streams:

 Settlement funds and LICO

 Eligible dependants
 Language proficiency
 Immigration representatives
 Commitment to settle in Manitoba
 Truthful and correct information
 Information change requests and information accuracy
 Change in contact information
 Document translation
 Important Program Terms

Additional Requirements:
 Additional Documents for Express Entry Applicants

Skilled Workers Overseas

Overview
The Skilled Workers Stream is locally driven and based on the needs of Manitoba employers.
We select internationally trained and experienced workers who have the skills needed in the local
labour market, and nominate them to receive Canadian permanent resident visas to settle and
work in Manitoba.

The Skilled Workers Overseas pathway nominates applicants who demonstrate an established
connection to Manitoba through:
 the support of family members or friends;
 through previous education or work experience in the province; or
 through an Invitation to Apply received directly from the MPNP as part of a
Strategic Recruitment Initiative.
Determine your eligibility.

Apply in 3 Steps
Immigration through the Skilled Workers Overseas pathway is a three-step process:
STEP 1
 Submit an Expression of Interest.
STEP 2
 The highest-scoring qualified candidates with a connection to Manitoba are invited
to submit an MPNP application.
STEP 3
 Following a thorough assessment, the MPNP nominates successful candidates to
make a separate application to the Government of Canada for permanent resident
visas for you and your family.

Note: Additional information is included in the General Program Processes and Policies section