New partner communities and OINP stream redesign

A new round of the Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) initiative is underway. Partner communities will be selected in the coming weeks.

We are also redesigning the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). As part of this transition, existing OINP streams will be replaced with new streams. Find more details on the program updates page.

Overview of the 2025 REDI pilot

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) launched the Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) pilot, an initiative that started on January 2, 2025. It offered a pathway to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers with a job offer who wanted to live and work in a partner community.

The 2025 pilot used the OINP to target skilled labour that was not available locally to help fill labour market needs of employers. The pilot was implemented in the following four communities:

  • Lanark County
  • Leeds and Grenville
  • Sarnia-Lambton
  • Thunder Bay

Building on the success of the 2025 pilot, the 2026 REDI initiative will support a new group of participating communities. Communities for this next phase are currently being evaluated.

About the pilot

The Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) pilot is a regionalization initiative from the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

For 2025, 200 nomination spaces were allocated to each of the four partner communities. These nominations were specifically  reserved for applicants with job offers in one of the four pilot communities.

REDI pilot objectives

The goal of this initiative is to attract more highly skilled foreign talent to Ontario regional communities to fill local labour market gaps and help spread the benefits of economic immigration across the province. Through this initiative, we:

  • promote the OINP to encourage program uptake in pilot communities
  • collaborate with regional partners to educate employers on how best to leverage the OINP to fill local labour shortages
  • provide a pathway to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers with a job offer who want to live and work in a pilot community

Participating communities receive dedicated support from the OINP, including information sessions for employers. Employers have access to business service support to help them leverage the program.

Partnering communities for 2025

Geographic boundaries: Census Division as defined by Statistics Canada.

You can find more information about the communities by visiting their websites.

How the communities were chosen

In the summer of 2024, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development invited communities from across Ontario to express their interest in participating in the pilot.

The partnering communities were chosen based on their need for economic immigration including:

  • representation of the geographic and cultural diversity of Ontario
  • demonstrated specific labour challenges
  • capacity and willingness to support the REDI pilot
  • ability and readiness to help newcomers get settled
  • interest from community stakeholders

The OINP worked with local partners in each community to successfully implement the pilot, and worked collaboratively with local stakeholders to spread awareness of the OINP and increase program uptake, including:

  • municipal governments
  • businesses
  • economic development organizations
  • chambers of commerce
  • settlement organizations
  • universities and colleges

Contact us

If you are an employer or a stakeholder in one of the partnering communities, you can contact the OINP at immigration.ontario@ontario.ca to find out more about the program, or to schedule an employer consultation.

For potential applicants, if you have general questions about the OINP, you can:

If you have questions about your application for a visa or temporary permit or your application for permanent residence, please contact Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada through their website or by telephone at  1-888-242-2100  (in Canada only).