BREAKING: Ontario opens intake for new permanent residence pathway
Ontario has opened the door to its new pathway to permanent residence.
As of August 4, 2026, eligible foreign nationals can be considered for provincial nomination by the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) through the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream (OWPS).
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The province announced the opening of the OWPS in a post on the program updates page of the OINP website.
To be considered, generally an eligible foreign national must create an Expression of Interest (EOI) in Ontario’s e-Filing Portal, linked to a qualifying job offer created by an eligible Ontario employer in the OINP’s Employer Portal.
The OWPS has three pathways: one for higher-skilled workers, one for lower-skilled workers, and one for self-employed physicians registered to practice in Ontario and eligible to bill Ontario's public health insurance program, OHIP.
Self-employed physicians must initiate the process of being considered by the OINP by submitting a webform, as the first step to creating and registering an EOI.
Ontario launched the OWPS on June 26, 2026, but it was not possible for any foreign nationals to be considered for provincial nomination under the OWPS before the opening of the online portal.
Of the eligible foreign nationals in the pool with active EOIs, the OINP will periodically select its desired candidates to respond with full applications for provincial nomination.
Once submitted, an EOI remains valid for up to 12 months. If a candidate does not receive an invitation to apply within 12 months, they must re-register a new EOI to remain under consideration.
Once a candidate receives an invitation from the OINP, they have 17 calendar days to respond with a complete application.
For job offer candidates, their employer must also respond by applying for approval of the employment position within 14 calendar days of the issuance of the invitation, as a prerequisite to the candidate's application to the OINP.
Candidates are ranked by the OINP under a points-based scoring system, which the province published on July 20, 2026.
Successful OWPS candidates under the high-skilled stream or self-employed physicians stream may be able to obtain faster processing of their permanent residence applications, as they have the option of applying to the federal government as provincial nominees through Express Entry, by means of the Enhanced Provincial Nominee Program.
The province had sunset all its previous pathways on May 30, 2026, without having put in place any replacements.
The OWPS is the first to launch of Ontario's new provincial immigration pathways, as part of the first phase of the province's planned overhaul of the OINP.
As part of the second phase, Ontario plans to launch three additional provincial immigration streams: a priority healthcare worker stream, an entrepreneur stream, and an exceptional talent stream.
The exceptional talent stream will focus on foreign nationals having significant achievements in domains such as academia, innovation, science and technology, and the arts.
As of the time of writing, the province has not published full details on eligibility for the three upcoming streams, nor has the province announced a launch date for the second phase.
The overhaul of the OINP and the four new streams were initially proposed by the province in December 2025.
Foreign nationals who have already applied to the OINP for provincial nomination under the now-defunct streams will have their applications assessed under the criteria that were in place at the time they applied.
This is a breaking news article. CIC News will update the article as more details emerge.
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