January

January 5, 2026

January 5, 2026

Changes to eligibility for self-employed physicians under the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has made changes to the classes of certificates of registration from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) that physicians can hold if applying as self-employed to the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream.

These changes aim to broaden eligibility for foreign national internationally educated physicians and are in alignment with changes to regulations made under the Medicine Act,1991, which came into effect on January 1, 2026.

Physicians under National Occupational Classification codes 31100, 31101 and 31102 who are members in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and hold a provisional certificate of registration, are now eligible to apply as self-employed to the OINP for a certificate of nomination provided they have an Ontario Health Insurance Plan OHIP billing number.

The amendments also remove the postgraduate license from the list of eligible licenses since postgraduate license-holders are unable to meet the requirement of having an OHIP billing number. Postgraduate education license-holders may be eligible under the OINP’s Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream if they have a job offer with an Ontario employer.

The amendments came into effect on January 1, 2026.

These changes are reflected on the program requirements webpage. For more information, please visit:

The updated regulations can be found on Ontario’s e-Laws Website: