The Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream is an immigration stream under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).
It gives foreign workers with a job offer in a skilled occupation at Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A or B of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) the opportunity to apply for a nomination from the OINP to permanently live and work in Ontario. To determine whether you are eligible to apply to this stream, please carefully review the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream requirements.
This stream is open to foreign workers in and outside of Canada.
This stream is now operated under an expression of interest system. You can only apply if you first register an expression of interest and are issued an invitation to apply.
Applicant requirements
After you receive an invitation to apply, you may apply to the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream. You must meet all the requirements in the categories below in order for your application to be approved.
1. Expression of interest and invitation to apply
You must have received an invitation to apply and applied within the deadline identified.
You must demonstrate that you had the qualifications that you claimed you had in the expression of interest that you registered with the OINP and attested to.
2. Work experience or licence or other authorization
You must meet one of the following requirements depending on the position of the job offer:
· If your job offer is for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must hold a valid licence or authorization from the appropriate regulatory body in Ontario at the time of application submission.
· If your job offer is not for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must demonstrate work experience in the same occupation as the NOC code of your job offer.
· To meet the work experience requirement, you must have at least two years of cumulative paid full-time work experience (or the equivalent in paid part-time work) in the same occupation (same National Occupational Classification code) as your job offer.
· You must have gained this work experience within the five years prior to the date you submit your application, not the date you received the invitation to apply. If your work experience was gained in Canada, you must have been legally living and working in Canada.
· Cumulative means the work you’ve done must add up to two years – it does not have to be two years of continuous work.
· Full-time work experience means working in a job with at least 30 hours of paid work in a week that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work over a two-year period.
Part-time equivalent work experience means:
· working in one job for at least 15 hours of paid work in a week that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work over a four-year period
· working in more than one job for at least 30 hours of paid work in a week, for two years, that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work in that two-year period
· Vacation periods, regular sick leave and other standard paid leave entitlements as provided for in collective agreements, workplace legislation and/or individual employer policies are not considered interruptions to full-time employment. Extended leaves are considered interruptions to full-time employment and are not to be included in the calculation of work experience.
· If you are using periods of self-employment, you will need to provide employment documentation that is independently verifiable through third parties. This can include client reference letters indicating your duties and periods of work, as well as evidence of ongoing payments to you personally, for the services provided (for example, invoices). Please also note that your hours of self-employed work must be quantifiable to ensure that you accumulated at least 3,120 hours over two years of employment. Reference letters from yourself, your business partners and/or a family member are not accepted by the program.
3. Valid licence or other authorization (if applicable)
If your job offer is for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must hold a valid licence or authorization from the appropriate regulatory body in Ontario when you apply.
For more information on licences and authorizations in Ontario, please visit the Ontario’s Jobs and Employment website or the Ontario College of Trades website.
4. Intention to live in Ontario
You must intend to live in Ontario after you’ve been granted permanent residence. We determine this by examining your ties to Ontario, which can include doing things like:
· working or having worked in Ontario
· getting job offers, applying to or interviewing for jobs
· studying
· volunteering
· leasing or owning property
· visiting
· having professional networks and affiliations, family ties and personal relationships
5. Legal status in Canada (if applicable)
If you are applying from within Canada, you must have legal status (a visitor record, study permit, or work permit) at the time you apply and should maintain that status until the time of nomination.
You may apply if you are in ‘implied status’ at the time of your OINP application submission. ‘Implied status’ means that you submitted an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to renew/extend your temporary status document (a visitor record, work permit, study permit) before its expiry date. You can remain in Canada and continue to work or study under the same conditions as your existing permit until a decision is made on your pending IRCC application.
Employer requirements
1. General requirements
To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream, your employer must:
· have been in active business for at least three years prior to submitting your application
· have business premises in Ontario where you will work
· have no outstanding orders made against them under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act
· demonstrate that enough effort was made to recruit a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident prior to offering the position to you (this only applies if you are currently living outside Canada or working outside of Ontario)
Employers must demonstrate that reasonable efforts were made to recruit a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident prior to offering the position to the applicant, unless:
· the applicant already has a valid work permit to work in Ontario, or
· the employer has a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for the position
The OINP is designed to assist employers in circumstances where their efforts to fill a position domestically were unsuccessful due to skills shortages. Employers are expected to conduct domestic recruitment efforts on their own, or with the assistance of recruitment agencies/specialists (for example, head hunters, human resource consulting firms) who have expertise in recruiting domestic talent.
Please note that the OINP does not consider domestic recruitment efforts carried out by an immigration representative to be reasonable. In such situations, a conflict of interest exists since the immigration representative stands to benefit financially should domestic recruitment efforts be determined to be unsuccessful. If an application indicates that domestic recruitment efforts were undertaken by an immigration representative, the application will be refused.
2. Revenue requirements
Your employer’s business must meet the relevant revenue requirements for the most recently completed fiscal year (the year used for tax or accounting purposes):
a minimum of $1,000,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) or
a minimum of $500,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area
Meaning of report to work
In cases where the applicant will work at more than one location, the location where the applicant will report to work means either:
· the location where the applicant’s immediate supervisor or manager works, or
· the location of the administrative office where the applicant will receive work assignments
3. Full-time employee requirements
Your employer’s business must have at the time of application submission one of the following:
· at least five full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions)
· at least three full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area
Meaning of full-time employee
A full-time employee is an employee who has worked a minimum of 30 hours per week.
Cost to apply
The application fee covers the cost of processing your application and is:
$1,500 if the job offer is outside of the Greater Toronto Area
$2,000 if the job offer is within the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions)
We only accept Visa, Visa Debit, Mastercard and Mastercard Debit.
Use a representative to apply
Authorizing a paid representative to assist you can be helpful but is not necessary. If you choose to use a representative, please follow the steps on how to appoint one. This will ensure you retain access to, and control of, your online application and allow you to change or end your authorization if need be.
Representatives are not allowed to appoint themselves. This means that you must appoint your representative to act on your behalf using your own OINP profile in the e-Filing system. You must create your profile using your personal email address and phone number. Representatives are not to use any other email address for your profile or create one themselves for the purpose of a registration with the OINP.
