Ontario PNP invites Express Entry candidates in 10 targeted occupations

Ontario invited 754 Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination on March 2.

Invited candidates had profiles in the Express Entry system with Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores between 463 and 467.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) invited candidates who may be eligible for the Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream (HCP). This Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) gives foreign workers the opportunity to launch their careers in Ontario, and make Canada's most populous province their new home.

In this draw, the OINP invited Express Entry candidates to apply for the provincial nomination if they had work experience in one of the following 10 occupations:

Banking, credit and other investment managers (NOC 0122);
Advertising, marketing and public relations managers (NOC 0124);
Other business services managers (NOC 0125);
Corporate sales managers (NOC 0601);
Financial auditors and accountants (NOC 1111);
Financial and investment analysts (NOC 1112);
Human resources professionals (NOC 1121);
Professional occupations in business management consulting (NOC 1122);
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses (NOC 3012); and
Business development officers and marketing researchers and consultants (NOC 4163).

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These targeted occupations were identical to Ontario's previous HCP draw on February 2.

Invited Express Entry candidates need to have at least one year of work experience in one of these occupations in order to receive the provincial nomination. If they are nominated under this, or any other Express Entry-linked PNP, they will be bumped to the front of the line to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence.

In 2020, Ontario invited 6,716 Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination through the HCP stream. This was the largest proportion of all the Express-Entry linked PNP nominations that Ontario issued last year.

How provincial nominations help Express Entry candidates get ITAs

Express Entry candidates who receive a nomination from a PNP automatically get an additional 600 CRS points toward their overall score. This effectively guarantees that they will receive an ITA in a subsequent Express Entry draw.

During the pandemic, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been holding PNP-only draws, where candidates needed a PNP in order to be invited.

In 2020, Canada also held PNP-only draws as well as all-program draws towards the later half of the year, where all candidates were invited who had a score above the CRS cutoff.

Canada's Express Entry system

Express Entry is not an immigration program, but an application management system for three Federal High Skilled immigration programs: Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Express Entry candidates may be eligible for one or more of these programs.

Once in the Express Entry pool of candidates, IRCC awards points to candidates based on their human capital factors such as age, work experience, education, language ability in English or French, and other factors. The highest scoring candidates are then invited to apply in an Express Entry draw.

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