Immigration Canada

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OINP Foreign Worker Stream 101
OINP Foreign Worker Stream 101 2000 1500 88admin

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) is an economic immigration program for the province of Ontario. Under this program, Ontario nominates candidates with the right education, work experience, language skills, as well as entrepreneur capabilities, aligned with the province’s economic needs. Nominations are issued to international students, foreign workers, entrepreneurs, and other applicants in the Express Entry pool. On receiving a nomination, applicants can apply to the federal government for their permanent residence applications.

To secure a nomination under the OINP, an applicant should to be qualified under one of the following streams:

  1. Employer job offer
  2. Human capital priorities
  3. Entrepreneur

Employer Job Offer:

The employer job offer category is further divided into three streams:

  1. Foreign worker: workers with job offers in NOC 0, A, or B positions
  2. International student: fresh graduates from universities in Ontario
  3. In-demand skills: intermediate skilled workers

The first step towards securing an OINP nomination is to submit an expression of interest by creating a profile on the OINP e-filing portal. The applicant also needs to fulfill job offer, employer, and other eligibility requirements to secure a nomination certificate from the province of Ontario. Another deciding factor for an OINP nomination is an application’s intention to live and work in the province of Ontario. This is evaluated by the OINP based on several factors, including study and work history, tourism, and familial ties to the province of Ontario.

The Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream is not aligned with the Express Entry program. This stream, therefore, does not qualify for the six-month processing deadline. Usually, most PNPs have a processing time of about a year or more, and due to the current pandemic, these deadlines cannot be considered absolute. However, as having a valid job offer is the most important prerequisite for this stream, there is no eligibility of funds that needs to be proved by the client.

Eligibility Requirements

The Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream has four main categories of eligibility requirements. Let us evaluate each eligibility criterion.

1. Job offer requirements

An applicant needs to have a valid job offer, which fulfills the following conditions:

Type: Full-time (min 30 hours/week; 1,560 hours/year), permanent (no contract validity), and non-seasonal job

Skill level: NOC skill type – O, A, or B

Pay scale: Salary at or above the median wage level for the occupation in the specific region of Ontario

Urgency: Position offered must align with the employer’s immediate business needs

Based in Ontario: Must be primarily based in Ontario

1. Employer requirements
An applicant needs to secure a job offer from an employer that can meet the following requirements:

General:

  1. Must be running an active business in the last three years
  2. Must have business premises in Ontario, where the applicant will be appointed
  3. Must demonstrate that sufficient efforts were made to recruit a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, prior to offering the position to the applicant
  4. Must have no orders outstanding against them under the Occupational Health and Safety Act or the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000

Revenue:

For the most recent fiscal year, the employer must:

  1. Have an annual gross income of at least 1,000,000 CAD and five full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, if the applicant will work or report to work inside the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)
  2. Have an annual gross income of at least 500,000 CAD and three full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, if the applicant will work or report to work outside the G

2. Applicant requirements

An applicant needs to satisfy the following conditions to get his application approved:

Work experience: An applicant needs to have at least two years of full-time valid work experience in the same NOC code as stated in the valid job offer attached with the application. An applicant also needs to procure a license or other mandatory authorization if the applicant works in a profession that is regulated or licensed.

Intention to reside in Ontario: An applicant needs to declare their intention to live, work, and settle in the province of Ontario, after their permanent residence application is approved.

Maintain legal status: An applicant should be on legal status – study permit, work permit, visitor visa record – while applying for the nomination and should maintain that status until the nomination is approved. An applicant on ‘implied status’ is also eligible to submit his OINP application.

​Invitation to apply: An applicant must submit their paper application within the deadline, after being nominated by the OINP.

Application Fees

The application fee, which includes the processing fee is:

  • $1,500 if the job offer is outside of the GTA
  • $2,000 if the job offer is within the GTA

The accepted methods of payments are Visa or MasterCard debit or credit.

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Spousal open work permits
Spousal open work permits 2000 1333 88admin

Spouses or common-law partners of principal applicants who intend to live and work in Canada need to apply for their own work permit. The work permit may be employer-restricted or open work permit. Employer-restricted work permits usually require a labour market impact assessment (LMIA). An open work permit enables an employee to work for any employer in any job. Spouses are eligible to apply for an open work permit if they meet the eligibility requirements and as long as their principal applicants retain foreign worker or student status.

Types of spousal open work permits:

Spouses or common-law partners in the following categories, are eligible to apply for an open work permit:

  1. Full-time students, eligible for a post-graduate work permit
  2. Skilled workers, with a job in the NOC O, A, or B category
  3. Bridging open work permit (BOWP) holders
  4. Open work permit holders
  5. Atlantic Immigration Pilot work permit holders
  6. Provincial nominee work permit holders
  7. Intra-company transferees to Canada under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and investors, intra-corporate transferees, and professionals and technicians under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

Spouses of full-time students

Spouses or common-law partners of full-time students in Canada who are eligible to apply for a post-graduate work permit, may apply for an open work permit. However, the spouses themselves should not be engaged in full-time studies. Open work permits in such cases is issued for the duration of the validity of the full-time student’s study permit. 

Spouses of Skilled Workers

Spouses or common-law partners of foreign skilled workers may apply for an open work permit if the principal foreign worker:

  • Is issued a work permit valid for a period of six months or longer
  • Is employed in a NOC 0, A or B, job position
  • Physically resides or plans to physically reside in Canada while working

Spouses of BOWP Holders

For a spouse or common-law partner to be eligible to apply for an open work permit, the principal foreign worker should have a BOWP with a validity of six months of longer. Spouses or common-law partners are issued an open work permit, based on the category of the BOWP. Thus, spouses or common-law partners in the following categories must meet set conditions, as stated below:

  • Federal skilled workers – BOWP holder must have a job offer in a NOC O, A, or B position
  • Federal skilled trades class – BOWP holder must be performing a NOC B level job
  • Caregiver applicants – BOWP holder must be employed in a NOC O, A, or B job position

Spouses of Open Work Permit Holders

Spouses of open work permit holders must fulfill the following conditions to be issued an open work permit:

  • Principal foreign worker must be employed in a NOC O, A, or B position
  • Principal foreign worker must attach a letter of employment from their current employer
  • Principal foreign worker must attach last three paystubs of their current job

Spouses of Atlantic Immigration Pilot Work Permit holders

Spouses or common-law partners of an Atlantic Immigration Pilot program are eligible to apply for open work permits if they are employed in a NOC O, A, or B job. They may be issued an open work permit for the duration of the principal worker’s work permit, for a maximum of one year.

Spouses of provincial nominee work permit holders:

Spouses or common-law partners of provincial nominee class applicants are eligible to receive open work permits for the duration of the work permit held by the principal applicant.

Spouses of intra-company transferees or investors

Spouses of intra-company transferees under the CETA and investors and professionals under the CPTPP categories qualify for an open work permit of the same duration as their principal worker’s work permit.

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Francophone immigration target outside Quebec has yet to be reached as 2023 deadline approaches
Francophone immigration target outside Quebec has yet to be reached as 2023 deadline approaches 2000 1184 88admin

Commissioner of Official Languages Raymond Théberge released a study today on the 4.4% target for immigration to Francophone minority communities outside Quebec. Data in the study shows that even if the target had been consistently met since the original 2008 target deadline, it would not have been enough to maintain the demographic weight of the French-speaking population outside Quebec, much less contribute to its growth.

The original objective of this target was to at least maintain the demographic weight of the French-speaking population outside Quebec (based on the 2001 Census) at 4.4%. The original target deadline was set for 2008, but this was pushed back to 2023. As the new target deadline approaches, it is uncertain whether it will be met.

In order to meet the 4.4% target between 2008 and 2020, Canada would have needed to admit over 75,000 additional French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec. That’s about the size of a medium Canadian city like North Bay, Ontario, or Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Had the target been met since 2008, it could have helped reduce the decline in the demographic weight of this population between the 2001 and 2016 censuses.

Canada’s Francophone minority communities are keen to attract, welcome and support newcomers. The government has obligations under the Official Languages Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to support these communities by ensuring that immigration levels and composition benefit and enrich their diversity, development and vitality.

“I am concerned about the impact of immigration shortfalls on Francophone minority communities across Canada. It is time to do more and do better. We need a new, clear objective and a higher Francophone immigration target to help ensure a healthy future for these communities.”

Raymond Théberge, Commissioner of Official Languages

Quick facts

  • This target was set at 4.4% of total immigration in 2003 as part of the Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities, developed jointly between the federal government and these communities.
  • In Canada outside Quebec, the Francophone minority population, defined according both to mother tongue and to first official language spoken, was 4.4% of the population in 2001 and 3.8% of the population in 2016.
  • Based on administrative data provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, in 2019, before the pandemic, French-speaking permanent residents admitted to Canada outside Quebec represented:
  • 2.1% of all permanent residents outside Quebec, according to the 2006 reference definition and measure of this group. This definition and measure has been used for the longest period of time for monitoring and reporting on the 4.4% Francophone immigration target.
  • 2.7% of all permanent residents outside Quebec, according to the more inclusive 2016 definition and measure of this group. This data is available only from 2019 onward

 

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Upgrade from visitor visa to work permit in Canada
Upgrade from visitor visa to work permit in Canada 2000 1333 88admin

On August 24, 2021, a temporary public policy was announced by the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), to aid visitors with a valid status to apply for an employer-restricted work permit. When launched, the policy targeted visitors who landed in Canada before August 24 to apply for a work permit, However, gradually, the eligibility criteria were broadened to include all visitors, irrespective of their arrival in Canada. The policy has now been extended till February 8, 2022, to combat the acute labour shortage, which has risen manifold due to the ongoing pandemic.

The pandemic has dealt a severe blow to economies worldwide, and Canada is no different. With the current pandemic, Canada’s labor market scarcity has skyrocketed, hitting a record high of 912,600 in the third quarter of 2021, according to the latest Statistics Canada survey. With labor shortages a galore, the country is stringently focused on rejuvenating the economy. This policy marks an important step in the country’s efforts to fill the labor void with in-Canada applicants. Albeit temporary, it comes as a respite to the employers as well as visitors alike. Foreign nationals in Canada stranded due to the pandemic and confronted with status challenges have also been able to set foot in the labor market.

Prior to this temporary policy, a valid temporary resident visa holder, eligible to apply for a work permit, had to leave the country and return only after the issuance of the work permit. If you are one amongst the many visitors, aspiring to work and live in Canada, here is a quick reference guide:

Valid status:
Ensure that you have a valid temporary resident visa or maintained status, while submitting your application for a work permit

Employer-specific work permit:
Submit a completed, employer-restricted work permit application

Stay in Canada:
You will need to ensure that you have a valid status while you continue to live in Canada.

Respect the deadline:
It is imperative that you find an employer and apply on or before February 28, 2022. According to the current deadline, applications submitted after February 28, 2022, will not be considered. The policy also enables foreign nationals with a valid work permit in Canada to apply for interim work authorization. The foreign national should be on a valid status and maintain that status and continue to work for the employer stated on their work permit application.

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