Ontario Pauses Intake on Employer-Supported Provincial Nominee Streams Due to Increased Demand

  • May 11, 2019
  • Clara Morrissey, associate at BARTLAW Canadian Immigration

On April 26 2019, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) announced it is pausing intake to the Employer Job Offer: International Student Stream and the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker Stream. The ONIP cited “a significant increase in applications in 2019” as the reason for the pause.[1]

The increased volume of applications under the OINP Employer Job Offer International Student Stream and the Employer Job Offer Foreign Worker Stream reflects the increased competitiveness of the federal Express Entry program. Less onerous recruitment requirements under OINP employer-based foreign worker stream also made this program an alternative to the Labour Market Impact Assessment process for Ontario employers. Finally, improvements made to the application process and processing times for these programs have also resulted in their increasing popularity.