OINP Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream

Overview

The Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream gives foreign workers with a job offer in a skilled occupation the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.

Your job offer must be in a skilled occupation at TEER (Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities) category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC). This stream is open to foreign workers in and outside of Canada.

You must first register in the OINP’s Expression of Interest System and receive an invitation to apply before you can apply online to be nominated by the Ontario government for permanent residence.

If you are nominated, your next step is to apply to the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). They make the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.

Steps to apply

Register an expression of interest

Before you can apply to this stream you must:

• register an expression of interest
• receive an invitation to apply.

• Register an expression of interest
• Review document checklist

If you received an invitation to apply

If you are using a representative, or you are a representative, the submission process is different. Learn more about how to appoint a representative or register as one.

Follow these steps to apply:

• Click the “Submit an application” button below.
• Log into your ONe-key account as a returning user.
• From your My Applications page, click on the file number link to begin your application.

Please note your application file number is different than your EOI file number.

Job offer requirements

To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream, you must have a job offer in Ontario from an employer that meets the following requirements.

Please refer to section 4 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 and the Employer Guide for more details on each requirement.

Physicians and other self-employed professionals

Self-employed professionals, including physicians, are not eligible under OINP Employer Job Offer streams. This includes physicians who receive payment under a fee-for-service model such as OHIP or through other contractual service arrangements where there is no legal employer-employee relationship.

Self-employed professionals, may qualify under the OINP's Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream through the Federal Skilled Workers Program. To apply under the Human Capital Priorities stream:

1. Create a valid profile in IRCC’s Express Entry Pool.
2. Receive a notification of interest from the OINP.

Applicants must meet all Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream eligibility criteria.

1. Full-time and permanent

The job offer must be for a full-time and permanent position.

Full-time means the job must be a minimum of 1,560 hours a year and a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per week.

Permanent means the job must have no end date (also known as an indeterminate duration). Job offers that are seasonal and/or contract based are ineligible.

Note that your job offer will not qualify if it affects the employment of a person involved in a labour dispute.

2. Eligible occupation

The job offered must be in a skilled occupation at TEER category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC).

3. Median wage level

The pay of the job offered must meet or be higher than the median wage level, for that occupation, in the specific region of Ontario where you will be working. To find the median wage, go to the Job Bank website. Enter the occupation title and NOC code of the job offer into the occupation search. Then enter the location where you will be working into the filter search. Refer to the median wage level listed on the chart.

If the wage of the employment region where the applicant will work or report to work is not available on the wage report, the Ontario wage should be used.

If you are already working in the position, the wage of the job offer must be equal to or greater than the wage level that the employer currently pays you in that position, in addition to meeting or exceeding the median wage level.

These wage requirements do not apply if you have a collective agreement (a written contract between the employer and a union), in your workplace, that determines your wages.

If you are paid an annual salary, your hourly wage can be calculated as follows:

• deduct any bonuses or other discretionary benefits from the annual salary
• divide the remaining amount by the number of weeks of work per year (this will generally be 52 weeks)
• divide this amount by the number of hours of work per week
• the remaining amount is the hourly wage

The program does not consider remuneration by piece work, bonuses, commissions, vacation pay or non-financial compensation as comprising part of your hourly base wage to be included in the calculation of work experience.

4. Position is urgently necessary to employer’s business

The position offered must be urgently necessary to your employer’s business. This means that the job offer must align with your employer’s existing business activities and the position must be urgently needed to maintain or grow ongoing business activity.

5. Work based in Ontario

The work you do while in the position of the job offer must occur primarily in Ontario.

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.

Please refer to section 5 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 for more details on each requirement.

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

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 Skilled Trades Ontario 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

Please refer to section 4 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 and the Employer Guide for more details on each requirement.

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)

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.

4. Employer Form

Your employer must make an application for approval of an employment position by filling out and signing an Employer Form.

Your employer then must give you the form so you can scan and upload it with your application.

Scoring factors

Once you register an expression of interest under this stream you will be assigned points based on the following factors.

If you are invited to apply, you will be required to submit specific documents to support each scoring factor for which you received points. Scoring factors are not the same as stream criteria. You must meet all criteria for this stream and provide the mandatory documents with your application. Refer to the document checklist for the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream.

Employment / labour market factors

Language

Regionalization

For Regionalization scoring factors, the regions are defined as follows:

• Northern Ontario, includes the following Census Divisions:
  • Muskoka
  • Haliburton
  • Nipissing
  • Parry Sound
  • Manitoulin
  • Sudbury
  • Greater Sudbury/Grand Sudbury
  • Timiskaming
  • Cochrane
  • Algoma
  • Thunder Bay
  • Rainy River
  • Kenora
• Other areas outside of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), except Northern Ontario, includes all Ontario regions except those listed as part of Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area and Northern Ontario
• Greater Toronto Area (except Toronto), includes the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel and York
• Toronto, includes the City of Toronto

If you are nominated under this stream

If your application is successful, you will receive the following by email:

• a nomination approval letter
• a work permit support letter (if applicable)
• a nomination certificate

Once you have the necessary documentation, you must apply to IRCC for a work permit (if applicable) and permanent residence. Please note, a nomination from the OINP under this stream is subject to the following conditions and/or restrictions

1. You must continue to demonstrate on a reasonable basis an intention to reside in Ontario.
2. You must be employed in the approved employment position as of the date of your nomination, if you are already working for the employer.
3. You must apply for a work permit within six months and begin working in the approved employment position within ten months from the date of your nomination, if you are not already working for the employer.
4. If you have not begun working in the approved employment position within ten (10) months from the date of your nomination you must inform the OINP immediately in writing at ontarionominee@ontario.ca.
5. You must continue to be employed in the approved employment position during the nomination period (i.e. until you receive permanent residence). This means that your terms of employment must remain consistent throughout the nomination period. This includes your:
   • employer
   • position title and duties
   • wage
   • hours of work
   • work location
6. You must notify the OINP immediately in writing if there is a change in the nature of your employment, including any of the above terms of employment by contacting the OINP at ontarionominee@ontario.ca.

Contact us

Ask us a question via webform or by phone from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at:

• Tel: 416-327-0374
• Toll-free: 1-866-214-6820 (toll-free within North America only)
• TTY: 416-325-0866
• Toll-free TTY: 1-866-853-2137