Each Canadian Province administers its own Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). These programs allow provinces to nominate a number of permanent residence applicants each year, bound for the particular province, based on criteria set by the province. Most provinces have some version of an ‘economic’ class program, as well as a business program. Each PNP has quotas as to how many people can qualify each year, and how many people can qualify in each particular type of program administered. (Ontario’s overall allotment is currently 5500 per year.)
Ontario has a number of specific economic class programs. These include,
- The Human Capital Priorities program
- Note that candidates do not proactively apply under this category. Rather, the Ontario PNP nominates people based on its own criteria, from the federal Express Entry pool
- The Employer Pre-screen program
- The International Student – Masters Graduate stream,
- The International Student, – PhD Graduate stream,
- The French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream, and
- The Corporate stream
- This is for companies investing in Ontario
Ontario used up its 2016 allocation for the Human Capital Priorities program in February. As such, Ontario has not been sending, and will continue not to send, expressions of interest for this program until further notice (probably in 2017).
Effective May 9, at 5pm EDT, Ontario has now paused intake on other streams, due to the high volume of applications. The programs affected are:
- The Employer Pre-screen program
- The International Student – Masters Graduate stream, and
- The International Student, – PhD Graduate stream.
Applications received for these streams will be returned to applicants, and no further applications will be permitted until such time as the Ontario PNP program permits.
However, some applications will continue to be received. The Ontario PNP advises that it will continue to accept applications from Foreign Worker and International Student with a Job Offer applicants as Employer Pre-screen applications are assessed. Only those Foreign Worker and International Student with a Job Offer applicants whose job offer has been approved through the Employer Pre-screen application process may continue to apply to the Ontario PNP.
Also, The Ontario PNP continues to accept and process applications for the French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream, and the Corporate stream.
The information in this article is for general purposes only, and not intended as legal advice for any particular situation.