Ontario is expected to issue more than 8,350 nominations this year.
Every year, each Canadian province gets to issue a certain amount of provincial nominations that support permanent residency applications. Ontario has just released its allocation for 2021.
The federal government is allowing Ontario to issue 8,350 nominations, plus an additional 250 specifically for temporary foreign workers working in occupations with a National occupation classification (NOC) skill level C. These jobs generally require a high school education or specific job training.
To compare, Ontario nominated 8,054 principal applicants in 2020, despite closed borders and other COVID-related service disruptions. In 2019, Ontario nominated 7,391. That was also the year Ontario’s Immigration Minister, Vic Fedeli, lobbied the federal government for an allocation of 13,300 nominations by 2022.
Already 2021 is proving to be a groundbreaking year for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). This year the OINP launched an Expression of Interest (EOI) system for programs under its Employer Job Offer Category. This means that immigration candidates can register at any time for the chance to receive a provincial nomination through its Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) that do not invite candidates from the Express Entry system.
Ontario is the most popular destination for new immigrants. As such, there are a number of immigration programs tailored to people who want to make Ontario their new home.
PNPs were designed to allow provinces to support the particular needs of the economy in their region. As such, many PNP immigrants succeed in Ontario’s labour market, oftentimes getting jobs in their first year of landing.
PNP candidates do well in part because many of them have prior Canadian experience.
The best immigration program for you will depend on your situation. For some Ontario PNPs, you can apply without ever having set foot in Canada is as follows:
• Human capital priorities stream
• Master graduate stream
• Employment job offer Category
• Ontario express entry stream
• French speaking language stream
A provincial nomination is not a guarantee of permanent residence. It can, however, support your application. Only the federal government can make final decisions on immigration applications.
