OINP Phase 1 Redesign: A Technical Review of the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream

By Andrew Carvajal, Canadian Immigration Lawyer

On June 26, 2026, Ontario made a major change to the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), officially eliminating its former eight nomination streams (which had been on pause since May 31), and introducing a single new stream: the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream.

This represents the first of a two-phase redesign that had been announced in December 2025 and which seeks to streamline and make more flexible the pathways to permanent residence for individuals with arranged employment in Ontario. The change was made by amending Ontario Regulation 422/17 (General), made under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015.

But one key point remains. Just because the eligibility to access OINP’s employer-driven programs has been made more flexible, it does not guarantee that more applicants will have access to a coveted invitation to apply for a nomination under OINP. If anything, when general eligibility requirements are lowered, the competition for heavily coveted spots becomes fiercer.

How Ontario will score its new Expression of Interest will remain a key question, as well as how they will organize their draws under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream. Will there be general draws or will they continue the tendency of mostly inviting certain in-demand occupations and in selected regions, often excluding the Greater Toronto Area?

This is why this announcement, while bringing some clarity towards what Ontario has planned, makes us cautiously optimistic about the real chances for most applicants in Ontario to be given an opportunity to apply for permanent residence.

Ontario has also signalled a second phase of changes, launching three additional streams covering: priority healthcare, entrepreneurs and exceptional talent. The date of this Phase 2 launch is still unknown.

The Ontario Workforce Priority Stream

The Ontario Workforce Priority Stream will become OINP’s new and exclusive stream for applicants with offers of employment in the province. This stream, covering job offers across every TEER level (0 through 5), will replace the former employer driven stream for Foreign Workers, International Students and In-Demand Skills.

However, a significant level of flexibility has been built into this stream to account for:

• Different employer requirements depending on the location of employment

• Different work experience requirements depending on whether the applicant has been employed already in the subject position, is a recent Ontario graduate, or is licensed to practise in a regulated occupation

• Different language requirements for certain occupations

• Different wage requirements for recent Ontario graduates

• A distinct route for self-employed physicians

A summary of the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream is found in the table below and explained further in this section.

Employer requirements

As has been the case in the past, OINP employer-driven streams depend on the employer, not just the candidate, meeting eligibility criteria.

Except for applications under the self-employed physicians pathway, the employer supporting an application under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream must meet the following requirements:

• Have been operating the business for at least 3 years

• Maintain a place of business in Ontario

• Meet minimum revenue requirements depending on the location of the business

  • Greater Toronto Area (GTA): $1,000,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year

  • Major CMA (Ottawa, Waterloo, Hamilton, Niagara, Essex, Wellington, Greater Sudbury, Frontenac, Brant, Peterborough, Hastings, Thunder Bay): $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year

  • Outside GTA and major CMAs: $250,000 in each of the past two most recently completed fiscal years

• Meet the minimum employee requirements of full-time Canadian citizens and/or permanent residents employed at the location of the job offer

  • GTA: 5

  • Outside GTA: 3

• Not have any outstanding orders against them under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act

• If the director determines it is necessary, the employer must have made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to fill the position with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident prior to offering the position to the applicant

• Neither the applicant or their family members can hold or have held equity in the employer’s business, either directly or indirectly, unless it was obtained as part of their remuneration and the total amount of equity held is less than 10% of the business

Job offer requirements

For the job offer to be eligible under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, it must be:

• Full-time (30+ hour per week)

• Of an indeterminate duration

• Urgently necessary to the employer's business

• Remunerated at the prevailing median wage according to the Job Bank

  • Exception for recent Ontario graduate (only under the TEER 0-3 category) where remuneration at the low wage level is sufficient

  • Also, the wage must be at least equal to the wage the employer currently pays the applicant in the subject position (if applicable)

• For anticipated work that must occur primarily in Ontario, unless the position is under NOC 73300 (Transport truck drivers) or 73301 (Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators)

If Ontario or federal law requires a licence or other authorization to engage in the activity required by the job offer, the applicant must have obtained the licence or other authorization

Category 1: TEER 0-3

This pathway is for skilled workers with a full-time, permanent job offer in Ontario in any TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupations. Minimum eligibility requirements can vary for recent Ontario graduate and certain positions.

Education. Most applicants require a one-year post-secondary degree or diploma (Canadian or equivalent). Applicants with a job offer under NOC 33102 (Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates) and who have obtained an Ontario college certificate from an eligible Canadian institution that requires at least one year of full-time study, can also qualify.

The education requirement can be satisfied with only a secondary school diploma (Canadian or equivalent), if the job offer is for a NOC in one of the following trade categories:

• Major Group 72 – Technical trades and transportation officers and controllers (excluding occupations under Sub-Major Group 726)

• Major Group 73 – General trades

• Major Group 82 – Supervisors in natural resources, agriculture and related production

• Major Group 83 – Occupations in natural resources and related production

• Major Group 93 – Central control and process operators and aircraft assembly assemblers and inspectors (excluding aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors under Sub-Major Group 932)

• Minor Group 6320 – Cooks, Butchers, Bakers

• Unit Group 62200 – Chefs

Applicants who are licensed to practise in a regulated occupation are also exempt from proving minimum education requirements.

Language. CLB 6 in English or French, across all four abilities (reading, writing, listening, speaking), is the general language requirement. However, a CLB 5 applies to those whose job offer is for a NOC in one of the trade categories listed above.

In addition, recent Ontario graduates are not required to prove language requirements. To qualify as a recent Ontario graduate, an applicant must have obtained an Ontario post-secondary credential from an eligible Ontario institution in the last three years that is a:

• Two-year full-time degree or diploma;

• Ontario college graduate certificate;

• Master's degree; or

• PhD.

Work experience. One of the following four options must be met to meet the qualifying work experience

• Six months of consecutive work experience within the last 12 months, in the job-offer position, with the job-offer employer; or

• For recent Ontario graduates: three months of consecutive work experience within the last 12 months, in the job-offer position, with the job-offer employer; or

• An exemption from the work-experience requirement entirely, for applicants who are licensed to practise in a regulated occupation; or

• Two years of cumulative work experience within the last five years (anywhere in the world), in the same NOC occupation as the job offer. Some specific job offers are exempt from the experience being in the same NOC and include:

  • Experience in a NOC occupation in Sub-Major Group 213 (Professional occupations in engineering), if the applicant has obtained a job offer for an employment position in a NOC occupation in Sub-Major Group 223 (Technical occupations related to engineering)

  • Experience in NOC 31120 (Pharmacists), if the applicant has obtained a job offer for an employment position in NOC occupation 33103 (Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants)

  • Experience in NOC 32101 (Licensed Practical Nurses) or 31301 (Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses), if the applicant has obtained a job offer for an employment position in NOC occupation 33102 (Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates)

Category 2: TEER 4-5

This pathway is open to workers with a full-time, permanent job offer in Ontario in any TEER 4 or TEER 5 occupation, a much broader scope than the “In-Demand Skills” stream that it replaces. Minimum eligibility requirements include the following:

• Language: CLB 4 in English or French, across all four abilities

• Education: a Canadian secondary school diploma, or equivalent

• Work experience: nine months of cumulative work experience within the last two years, in the job-offer position, with the job-offer employer

  
  

Unlike the TEER 0–3 pathway, there is no option here based on experience gained outside Ontario or with a different employer. The work experience must be with the employer supporting the nomination.

Category 3: Self-employed Physicians

This is the only pathway of the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream that does not require a job offer. To qualify, an applicant must meet all of the following:

• Be or will be a self-employed physician;

• Be a member in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO);

• Hold a valid certificate of registration with the CPSO in an eligible class: independent, academic, or provisional; and

• Be eligible to bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

CPSO registration requirements and OHIP billing-number eligibility are governed by the CPSO and by Ontario’s existing OHIP billing rules, respectively, not by O. Reg. 422/17 itself.

What we Know About Phase 2 Changes

Ontario has announced that this is the first of a two-phase redesign. The province’s intentions for a second phase trace back to a regulatory proposal it posted for consultation in December 2025. That proposal described three further streams:

• A Priority Healthcare Stream, aimed at workers in regulated healthcare professions, without requiring a job offer

• A redesigned Entrepreneur Stream, for foreign nationals actively operating a new Ontario business, or who have purchased and now operate an existing one

• An Exceptional Talent Stream, intended to assess candidates with significant achievements in fields such as science, technology, academia, and the arts on a qualitative basis, rather than through a job offer or a standard points model

  
  

As of this writing, none of these three streams has been enacted, no implementing regulation exists for them, no launch date has been announced, and no eligibility criteria have been finalized.

The Expression of Interest Process

Once the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream’s Expression of Interest (EOI) system reopens, the path to a nomination follows the same general structure as Ontario’s prior streams:

1. Confirm eligibility under one of the three categories described above

2. Have the employer issue a job offer using the OINP Employer Portal (not applicable to Self-employed Physicians)

3. Register an Expression of Interest in the OINP online system

4. Wait to be selected by OINP from the EOI pool and receive an Invitation to Apply. Not everyone who registers an Expression of Interest will receive an invitation, in fact most people will not.

5. If invited, submit a complete application for a certificate of nomination

6. If nominated by the province, apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence as a provincial nominee. You can also apply for a work permit applicable to your type of nomination

Cautious Optimism: Qualifying for an OINP Program is Not the Same as Being Invited to Apply

Everything we have described above refers to the eligibility under the new Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, the criteria a candidate or employer must meet to be allowed into the EOI pool. We want to end with one important observation, qualifying for a program is not the same as being selected or invited to apply.

Read in isolation, several of the new criteria look more accessible than what they replace: the TEER 0–3 pathway offers multiple ways to meet the work-experience requirement, and the TEER 4–5 pathway is open to any TEER 4 or 5 occupation rather than a fixed, pre-defined list. On paper, more people are likely to be able to say that they meet the minimum requirements for the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream than could say the same of the narrower streams it replaces.

While this may be good news for some, meeting the eligibility criteria only gets a candidate into the Expression of Interest pool. It does not get them an invitation.

Ontario has not announced how candidates will be selected from that pool, how often draws will occur, or whether particular occupations or regions will be prioritized. Provincial nominee programs of this kind have consistently operated with far more eligible candidates than available nominations in any given year, and broadening who qualifies, without a corresponding increase in how many people are invited, does not by itself improve anyone’s odds.

If anything, our expectation is the opposite: as the eligibility floor becomes easier to clear, competition for the invitations themselves is likely to tighten, not ease. It is also worth noting that of the 14,119 nominations allocated to Ontario for 2026, about 13,278 have already been invited to apply this year under those spots. That means that about 6-10% of invitations of the allocated spots for 2026 remain for the rest of the year. As a result, we are not too hopeful of the opportunities for an invitation under the new Ontario Workforce Priority Stream in 2026.

We will see more movement in the new EOI pool next year, but only those with competitive scores who are in the regions and occupations prioritized by the province will be the “lucky” ones to benefit from these changes. 

Sources

• Government of Ontario, "2026 Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program Updates" — ontario.ca/page/2026-ontario-immigrant-nominee-program-updates

• Government of Ontario, news release, "Ontario Modernizing Immigration Program to Fill In-Demand Jobs" (June 26, 2026) — news.ontario.ca

• Ontario Regulation 422/17 (General), as amended by O. Reg. 204/26 (in force June 26, 2026)

• Ontario Regulation 421/17 (amendments in force May 30, 2026)

• OINP Invitations to Apply — ontario.ca/page/ontario-immigrant-nominee-program-oinp-invitations-apply

To schedule a consultation, please contact our Office Manager at msanchez@carvajal.ca