Ontario held a new draw on February 16, inviting 1,186 immigration candidates with work experience in the tech sector to apply for a provincial nomination.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) issued the invitations to Express Entry candidates with Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores between 453 and 467. The OINP issued invitations to candidates who may be eligible for a nomination under the Human Capital Priorities stream.

Invited candidates will need to demonstrate that they have eligible work experience in one of the targeted occupations, in order to get the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) nomination. These six occupations include the following:

• Computer and information systems managers (NOC 0213);
• Computer engineers (NOC 2147);
• Database analysts and data administrators (NOC 2172);
• Software engineers and designers (NOC 2173);
• Computer programmer and interactive media developers (NOC 2174); or
• Web designers and developers (NOC 2175).

Those who received an invitation now have 45 calendar days to submit their application for the PNP.

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Those who receive the nomination from Ontario will automatically get an additional 600 CRS points toward their overall score. This boost will effectively guarantee that the successful candidates will receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) in a subsequent Express Entry draw. This goes for anyone who gets a provincial nomination from any PNP.

This is Ontario’s first Tech Draw of the year. The previous Human Capital Priorities draw invited Express Entry candidates in targeted occupations, especially in finance, and health occupations, among others. Last year, Ontario invited 6,716 Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination through the Human Capital Priorities stream. This was the largest proportion of all the Express-Entry linked PNP nominations that Ontario issued in 2020.

How to get an invitation from Ontario as a tech worker

The first step is to create a profile in Canada’s Express Entry system.

Express Entry is an application management system for three federal economic-class immigration programs: Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class.

Express Entry candidates are ranked according to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) based on their education, work experience, age, and language proficiency in English or French.

The OINP Tech Draws pull from the Express Entry pool of candidates, inviting eligible tech workers to apply for a provincial nomination.

Applying for a provincial nomination is not the same as applying for Canadian immigration. If invited candidates successfully get the provincial nomination from Ontario, they can then use it to apply for permanent residence from the federal government.

Once they are approved by the federal government, these new permanent residents will get to settle into their careers in Ontario.

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