Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) 2026 Redesign: Ontario Workforce Priority Stream

Written and reviewed by Omer Khalil, RCIC (R710149), a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant and member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Last RCIC review: July 5, 2026. Current Ontario source check: September 7, 2026.

Licensed RCIC guidance on the redesigned Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program and the new Ontario Workforce Priority stream, for applicants and Ontario employers.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) is Ontario’s provincial economic immigration program. Under the redesigned framework, Ontario has published the Ontario Workforce Priority categories for eligible workers with qualifying job offers and self-employed physicians, while applications already submitted under former streams continue under the rules that applied when they were filed. A provincial nomination does not, by itself, grant permanent residence. Where an applicant is nominated through the Express Entry system and accepts the nomination in their IRCC profile, the nomination adds 600 CRS points; federal eligibility and the invitation and permanent-residence processes still remain separate. If you are already in the pool, a licensed RCIC at our Mississauga or Scarborough office can review the provincial and federal halves of that file together. Last reviewed: September 2026, against the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program page and the 2026 OINP Updates page on ontario.ca.

On June 25, 2026, Ontario made significant changes to the program and later published the eligibility criteria for the new Ontario Workforce Priority stream. On August 4, 2026, Ontario announced that the Expression of Interest (EOI) portal for the Ontario Workforce Priority stream had opened. For job-offer pathways, the current process is employer-first: the employer submits the job offer in the Employer Portal, the candidate receives a job-offer ID, and the candidate then registers an EOI in the e-Filing Portal within 30 calendar days of the job-offer submission. This page explains the redesign, the new stream and its pathways, the eight former streams that closed, what the transition means for earlier applicants, and the current EOI process.

Important note: Ontario describes this as Phase 1 of a broader redesign. The Ontario Workforce Priority stream is the first new stream under the redesigned program, and further updates may follow. This page should not be read as saying the redesign is complete. Always confirm current rules on the official Government of Ontario OINP pages before acting.

1. What Is the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP)?

The OINP is Ontario’s stream of Canada’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). It lets the province select economic immigrants who match Ontario’s labour-market priorities and nominate them for Canadian permanent residence. Under the current published Workforce Priority framework, new candidates are workers with qualifying Ontario job offers or eligible self-employed physicians. Recent Ontario graduates can benefit from specific rules within the job-offer pathway where they meet Ontario’s definition, but the former stand-alone graduate streams are closed to new intake.

Ontario nominates; IRCC makes the final permanent-residence decision, including medical, security and admissibility checks.

2. The 2026 OINP Redesign: What Changed

On June 25, 2026, amendments to Ontario Regulation 422/17 came into force, and Ontario published a program update on June 26, 2026. As part of a two-phase redesign, Ontario removed its eight former OINP streams and introduced a new stream: the Ontario Workforce Priority stream. Ontario has described the redesign as streamlining the former eight streams, with the Ontario Workforce Priority stream as the first new stream and further streams expected later.

Alongside the new stream, Ontario introduced higher language and education benchmarks, more flexible business-revenue thresholds for employers in rural communities, and stronger program-integrity measures — including reducing the response time for a Notice of Intent to issue an Administrative Monetary Penalty or Ban order from 60 to 30 days, and allowing such notices to be delivered by email, mail, or in person.

3. Is the OINP Open Right Now?

As of Ontario’s August 4, 2026 program update, the Ontario Workforce Priority EOI portal is open to expressions of interest. Every other stream is closed. The official OINP page on ontario.ca (updated 14 July 2026, checked 7 September 2026) says that the new Ontario Workforce Priority stream has now launched and all other streams are now closed, so the former eight streams take no new EOIs and issue no invitations. Applications already submitted under the former framework continue to be assessed under the rules that applied when they were filed.

For job-offer pathways, the employer first submits the job offer in the Employer Portal. The candidate then receives a job-offer ID and has 30 calendar days from the date the job offer was submitted to register the EOI in the e-Filing Portal. If the candidate is invited to apply, the employer must submit the application for approval of the employment position within 14 calendar days of the invitation, and the applicant must submit the nomination application and fee within 17 calendar days. The applicant cannot submit the nomination application until the employer has submitted its application.

4. The New Ontario Workforce Priority Stream

The Ontario Workforce Priority stream focuses on candidates with arranged employment in Ontario, plus a dedicated pathway for self-employed physicians. It is designed to streamline permanent-residence pathways for people with a genuine Ontario job offer and to help employers retain proven talent in hard-to-fill roles, while raising the calibre of nominees through elevated language and education requirements.

The stream contains multiple pathways — it is not a single one-size-fits-all route. The main pathways cover job offers across all National Occupational Classification (NOC) TEER categories, split into a TEER 0–3 pathway and a TEER 4–5 pathway, plus the self-employed physician pathway. The requirements below are the minimums highlighted by Ontario; the regulation and future program guidance govern.

5. Pathways and Minimum Requirements

Minimum requirements summarized from Ontario’s current Workforce Priority guidance and Ontario Regulation 422/17, checked August 16, 2026. Occupation-specific, licensing and recent-graduate rules can change how the general requirements apply, and the regulation prevails where there is a conflict.

6. TEER 0–3 Pathway Explained

This pathway targets internationally trained skilled workers with a full-time, permanent job offer in Ontario in a TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation. To meet the minimum work-experience requirement, an applicant must show one of the following: six months of consecutive experience in the last 12 months in the job-offer position with the job-offer employer; three months of consecutive experience in the last 12 months for recent Ontario graduates; or two years of cumulative experience in the last five years in the NOC occupation. Applicants who are licensed in their profession may be exempt from this experience requirement.

For most TEER 0–3 applicants who are not recent Ontario graduates, the minimum language requirement is CLB 6 in all four abilities. Ontario applies CLB 5 to the specified skilled-trades occupations, while qualifying recent Ontario graduates are exempt from the language-test requirement. Education is generally a qualifying post-secondary credential, with a secondary-school credential rule for the specified skilled-trades group and licensing exceptions where the regulation provides. These are minimum rules only; occupation-specific and licensing requirements still apply.

7. TEER 4–5 Pathway Explained

This pathway is open to workers with a full-time, permanent Ontario job offer in any TEER 4 or 5 occupation. The minimum work experience is nine months of cumulative experience in the last two years in the offered position with the job-offer employer. The minimum language requirement is CLB 4, and the minimum education is a Canadian secondary-school diploma or equivalent. As with the higher-skilled pathway, individual occupations may have additional criteria set by the regulation.

8. Self-Employed Physicians Pathway

Recognizing Ontario’s need for doctors, the Workforce Priority stream includes a pathway for self-employed physicians that does not require a job offer. To qualify, a physician must be a member in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, hold a valid certificate of registration in an eligible class (independent, academic, or provisional), and be eligible to bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

9. Employer Requirements and Rural Communities

Because most Workforce Priority pathways are employer-driven, the Ontario employer plays a central role: the offer must be full-time and permanent, and the employer must meet Ontario’s business and revenue requirements. To improve access for employers outside major centres, Ontario applies lower gross annual revenue thresholds for employers located in rural communities — defined for this purpose as a community in a census division with a population of less than 150,000. Under the current EOI process for job-offer pathways, the employer submits the job offer in the Employer Portal before the candidate registers an EOI using the resulting job-offer ID.

10. The Eight Closed OINP Streams

As part of the redesign, the following eight streams are closed to new EOIs and invitations under the former framework:

1. Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker
2. Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills
3. Employer Job Offer: International Student
4. Master’s Graduate
5. PhD Graduate
6. Express Entry – Human Capital Priorities
7. Express Entry – French-speaking Skilled Worker
8. Express Entry – Skilled Trades

If you were preparing an application under any of these streams, you will now need to review whether you fit the new Ontario Workforce Priority stream instead. Note that Ontario has signalled that additional streams may be introduced in later phases of the redesign.

11. If You Already Applied or Were Invited

How the change affects you depends on where you were in the process. Applications that were already submitted after an invitation to apply under a former stream will continue to be assessed against the eligibility requirements that were in effect when the application was submitted. EOIs and registered job offers under the former streams that had not resulted in an invitation were withdrawn during the transition. If you received such a transition notice, it does not by itself mean you are ineligible. Review the current Ontario Workforce Priority criteria and, where eligible, follow the current employer-first process to register a new EOI rather than relying on an earlier withdrawn profile or job offer.

12. How to Prepare and Register an EOI

Job-offer candidates should first confirm the NOC and TEER classification, the full-time permanent Ontario job offer and employer requirements, current language and education evidence, and work-experience proof. Under the current employer-first process, the employer submits the job offer through the Employer Portal, the candidate receives a job-offer ID, and the candidate then has 30 calendar days from the job-offer submission date to register the EOI in the e-Filing Portal. Registration places the candidate in the applicable selection pool; an invitation to apply is a separate step.

13. OINP, Express Entry, and the PNP

The OINP is one part of Canada’s wider Provincial Nominee Program, and it interacts closely with federal Express Entry. Under the redesigned program, eligible Ontario Workforce Priority applicants in the TEER 0–3 or self-employed physician pathways may choose the Express Entry nomination route where they also meet the federal Express Entry criteria. An accepted Express Entry-linked provincial nomination adds 600 CRS points, but federal eligibility, invitation rounds and the final permanent-residence decision remain separate. Candidates should consider provincial and federal requirements together. For background, see our overviews of Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Programs, and the Canadian Experience Class; entrepreneurs and employers can also review our business immigration pages.

14. OINP Application and Transition Risks to Review

Provincial applications are evidence-heavy, and material errors can affect the outcome. Risks to review include: a job offer or NOC/TEER classification that does not match the applicant’s actual duties; language or education documents that fall short of the new minimum benchmarks; work-experience letters that do not clearly demonstrate the required duration in the offered role; and missing employer eligibility or revenue documentation. During the current transition, applicants should also watch for withdrawal notices for EOIs that had not received an invitation. A licensed pre-submission review can identify inconsistencies and missing evidence before filing, but it cannot guarantee an invitation, nomination, approval or processing timeline.

15. How MAK Canadian Immigration Services Helps

MAK Canadian Immigration Services provides immigration consulting services through Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). For the OINP, we can review your fit against the published Ontario Workforce Priority criteria, job offer and NOC/TEER classification, language and education evidence, employer eligibility and the current EOI and invitation process. No consultant can guarantee an invitation or nomination, but a review can identify inconsistencies, missing evidence and questions to address before filing.

16. Official Sources

Current Ontario sources checked September 7, 2026: 2026 OINP program updates, including Ontario’s August 4 notice that the Ontario Workforce Priority EOI portal is open, OINP program home, Ontario Workforce Priority stream, OINP application process, OINP e-Filing Portal guidance, and Ontario Regulation 422/17. The Act and regulations prevail where they conflict with summary guidance.

17. Frequently Asked Questions

Related: Express Entry overview | Provincial Nominee Programs | Canadian Experience Class | Business Immigration | OINP Entrepreneur Stream: current status

Disclaimer: This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules, fees, and processing practices change frequently; always confirm current requirements on the official Government of Ontario / Government of Canada websites, or consult a licensed immigration professional. No outcome or processing time can be guaranteed.

18. OINP Streams Covered in Detail

The pages below cover the 2026 transition and the former streams that Ontario closed. They are not current eligibility or application route pages.

• Ontario job-offer pathways after the 2026 redesign
  Review the current Ontario Workforce Priority structure and the closure of the former Employer Job Offer streams.
• Archived Ontario Express Entry human-capital streams
  Historical information about the Human Capital Priorities, French-Speaking Skilled Worker and Skilled Trades streams, all closed in 2026.

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