Last Updated on January 26, 2022

Ontario immigration has maxed out the number of people the federal government allows it to nominate for immigration to the central Canadian province.

By then the province had issued 9,000 nominations to successful applicants across all streams under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) for 2021. The federal government makes the final decision to approve applications.

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In mid-May, the Canadian government announced it would allow Ontario to nominate 8,350 people under the OINP and another 250 nominations specifically for Temporary Foreign Workers in intermediate-skilled occupations listed as Skill Level C under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system.

When the province hit that target early, the federal government then allowed it to nominate another 400 candidates.

New Applications Fall Under 2022 Allocation

New applications, and applications already submitted to the OINP, continue to be accepted and considered under the program’s 2022 nomination allocation.

Applicants can check the status of their applications at any time through the OINP e-Filing portal.

This year, Ontario kicked off 2022 with three Expression of Interest draws offering up a total of 1,084 invitations through its Employer Job Offer streams for Foreign Workers, International Students and In-Demand Skills.

Looking ahead, provincial Immigration Minister Monte McNaughton said Ontario intends to double the number of skilled immigrants coming to the province to resolve its acute labour shortages.

“On Jan. 11, our government invited 1,084 newcomers to call Ontario home,” tweeted the immigration minister. 

“Last year, we invited 9,000 skilled immigrants for permanent residency, reaching our yearly limit. In 2022, we want to double this to tackle our province’s labour shortage.”

Summary of Ontario ITAs and NOIs for 2021

In its first draw of the year, Ontario, through its Foreign Worker stream, invited 264 candidates with a minimum score of 38 points on the OINP points grid.

For the International Student stream, a general draw saw 762 invitations issued, with a minimum score of 59. 

And, under the In-Demand Skills stream, a targeted draw saw 58 invitations issued to candidates scoring 11 points and above with skills and experience in the following health, manufacturing and agricultural occupations:

Health and Agricultural

• NOC 3413 – nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates.
• NOC 4412 – home support workers and related occupations, excluding housekeepers.
• NOC 8431 – general farm workers.
• NOC 8432 – nursery and greenhouse workers.
• NOC 8611 – harvesting labourers.
• NOC 9462 – industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers.

Manufacturing (outside GTA only)

• NOC 9411 – machine operators, mineral and metal processing
• NOC 9416 – metalworking and forging machine operators
• NOC 9417 – machining tool operators
• NOC 9418 – other metal products machine operators
• NOC 9421 – chemical plant machine operators
• NOC 9422 – plastics processing machine operators
• NOC 9437 – woodworking machine operators
• NOC 9446 – industrial sewing machine operators
• NOC 9461 – process control and machine operators, food, beverage and associated products processing
• NOC 9523 – electronics assemblers, fabricators, inspectors and testers
• NOC 9526 – mechanical assemblers and inspectors
• NOC 9536 – industrial painters, coaters and metal finishing process operators
• NOC 9537 – other products assemblers, finishers and inspectors

To qualify for each draw, candidates needed to have created profiles between Apr.28, 2021 and Jan. 11, 2022.

There are five streams under which candidates can apply directly for Ontario nomination: Employer Job Offer (all three streams) and International Student (masters and PhD grads).