Welcome to the Guberman // Appleby Immigration Update. We hope you find the information provided relevant to your immigration needs. Our objective is to highlight recent updates in immigration that are of interest to our readers. If you have questions about how these changes affect your eligibility, we invite you to contact our Canadian immigration lawyers for tailored guidance.
Today’s topic:
June 3, 2025 – Ontario Immigration Nomination Program (OINP) invites 3,719 applicants to apply in the Employer Job Offer Stream.
On June 3, 2025, OINP issued invitations to apply to those with job offers in Eastern Ontario, Northern Ontario, the REDI program, and healthcare occupations and targeted occupations.
In total, the OINP sent out 3,719 invitations to apply.
After recent announcements by IRCC pertaining to reducing provincial nominee program admission by 50%, provinces are honing their nomination programs to only admit candidates that fit the province’s targeted needs. Ontario had its provincial nomination allocation for 2025 slashed from 21,500 to 10,750. Despite being in June this is only Ontario’s second draw this year, focusing on inviting applicants in targeted occupations and regions. This makes it clear that in many cases simply meeting the minimum criteria for OINP streams will not be sufficient to be invited.
Applicants in the expression of interest pool for employer job offer streams should be aware that if they are not in a priority occupation, and do not have a job offer in a region outside the GTA then they will likely not receive an invitation to apply. Additionally, nearly triple the number of targeted invitations were issued for Northern Ontario in comparison to Eastern Ontario, highlighting that the government may be prioritizing employer job offer candidates in Northern Ontario that hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- Employer Job Offer streams: candidates in Eastern Ontario invited
Ontario issued 334 targeted invitations to apply to candidates in the expression of interest pool for the International Student stream with a job offer in Eastern Ontario. Candidates must have been residing in Canada currently and hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. It is worth noting that there were no offers for applicants in the other Employer Job Offer streams in Eastern Ontario.
Eastern Ontario includes the following Census Divisions: Ottawa, Leeds and Grenville, Lanark, Frontenac (Kingston), Peterborough, Hastings, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Renfrew, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, Prescott and Russell, Lennox and Addington, Prince Edward.
- Employer Job Offer streams: candidates in Northern Ontario invited
Similarly, Ontario issued 973 targeted invitations to apply to candidates in the expression of interest pool who may qualify for the Foreign Worker, International Student, or In-Demand Skills streams with a job offer in Northern Ontario who currently reside in Canada and have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
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 and Kenora.
- Employer Job Offer streams: Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) candidates invited
843 targeted invitations to apply were issued to candidates in the expression of interest pool who may qualify for the Foreign Worker, International Student, or In-Demand Skills streams who may qualify through the Regional Economic Development Immigration (REDI) pilot who are residing in Canada currently.
The REDI pilot is a one-year initiative to target skilled labour that is not available locally to help fill labour market needs of employers in four pilot communities across Ontario:
- Lanark County
- Leeds and Grenville
- Sarnia-Lambton
- Thunder Bay
Employers hoping to bring US skilled workers through REDI may benefit from insights in our recent article: What Canadian Employers Need to Know When Hiring American, which explores work permit options.
- Employer Job Offer Streams: Candidates in Healthcare Occupations Invited
Ontario also issued 1,564 invitations to apply to potential candidates in the expression of interest pool who may qualify for the Employer Job Offer: International Student or In-Demand Skills streams who work in priority health occupations and who are residing in Canada currently.
For those in the International Student Stream. they were only invited if they fell into one of the listed NOC codes and had a score of 68 or above. The included NOCs were:
- NOC 31101 – Specialists in surgery
- NOC 31102 – General practitioners and family physicians
- NOC 31300 – Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
- NOC 31301 – Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
- NOC 31302 – Nurse practitioners
- NOC 31303 – Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
- NOC 32101 – Licensed practical nurses
- NOC 33102 – Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
- NOC 44101 – Home support workers, housekeepers and related occupations
Under the In-Demand Skills stream applicants were only invited if they had a score of 34 and above and a job offer under NOC 44101 – Home support workers, housekeepers and related occupations.
- Employer Job Offer Foreign Worker stream: targeted occupation invited
Finally, Ontario issued 5 invitations to apply to candidates who may qualify under the Foreign Worker Stream who had a score of 45 and above as well as a Job Offer in NOC code 41321 – Career development practitioners and career counsellors (except education).
To learn how recent policy changes are affecting eligibility for economic immigration pathways, check out our blog update on IRCC’s removal of job offer points from Express Entry, which outlines how the playing field is shifting in favour of human capital over employment ties.
// CONTACT US
We welcome you to contact us directly to discuss the above. Please contact one of our Toronto immigration lawyers, by reaching out to our general line 416 548 7100 or via email info@gaimmlaw.com. Our immigration lawyers are always available to discuss any of your specific Canadian or US immigration queries either virtually or in person. We look forward to hearing from you.
