Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) Update

With the near collapse of the Express Entry system in September, 2021, a lot of interest was expressed in the various Provincial Nominee Programs.

In 2021, Ontario, which has a population of 15 million people, was allocated 9,000 spots by the federal government to use for its Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). These 9,000 spots were allocated between nine different programs. Most of the spots were allocated to the Ontario Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream (3,513). In this program, the province monitors applicants' Profiles in the Express Entry pool. If an applicant has an interest in settling in Ontario and has a skill that Ontario considers to be in demand, the applicant will be invited to apply for a nomination certificate. There is no guarantee that the nomination certificate will be granted, and there is no guarantee that the person will be accepted for permanent residence after the nomination certificate is granted. Not all 9,000 people who are given a chance to apply under the OINP will become permanent residents. Of the 9,000 nominations distributed by the OINP in 2021, another 1,400 were extended to people who graduated with a PhD or Masters degree in Ontario. One nomination was granted to someone under the entrepreneur stream.

For 2022, Ontario has been allocated 9,750 nominations.