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.
Today’s topic:
- The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program’s launch of a new Employer Portal July 2nd, 2025.
On June 12, 2025, Ontario announced that it would be launching a new employer portal for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program’s (OINP) employer job offer streams. In preparation for this change all expressions of interest under the Employer Job Offer Streams were automatically withdrawn on June 21, 2025, and 22, 2025 and the online system for all streams was unavailable from June 27, 2025, to June 29, 2025.
The OINP
The Ontario Immigration Nominee Program is an umbrella program under which the province offers different pathways for permanent residence to those who wish to live and settle in Ontario. Currently, the OINP is broken into three main categories of pathways. First is the Employer Job Offer category which requires foreign nationals to have a job offer from an Ontario employer to be eligible. There are three streams under this category including the Foreign Worker, International Student, and In-Demand Skills streams. The second category includes the Masters and PHD streams which are open to students who graduate from Ontario universities with a Masters or PHD. Finally, there is the Express Entry linked category which has three streams and requires applicants to be eligible for the federal Express Entry system.
All Employer Job Offer streams follow a similar application process. Firstly, an applicant must ensure that they are eligible for the stream. Then they must submit an expression of interest (EOI) to the OINP which includes information about the applicant and how they are eligible for the stream. These EOIs are not applications and will only remain valid for 12 months. Applicants are then scored based on their EOIs and a variety of factors including work experience, education, and language ability. Only those that meet a point threshold set by the OINP are intermittently invited to apply. Once an applicant receives an invitation to apply (ITA), they can submit an application to their applicable stream. If this application is approved, an applicant is provided with a nomination certificate, and they can then apply for permanent residence and a work permit with IRCC.
Launch of New OINP Employer Portal
Ontario announced on June 12, 2025, that it would be launching a new employer portal for the OINP Employer Job Offer Streams. While this new portal will only be used by applicants in the Employer Job Offer streams, its implementation resulted in the OINP’s online system being unavailable for all streams from June 27, 2025, until June 29, 2025. Additionally, any EOIs that were in the system on June 21, 2025, were automatically withdrawn and will need to be resubmitted after July 2, 2025, if applicants are still interested in pursuing a provincial nomination. The new portal is active as of July 2, 2025 and is open for registration.
Features of the New Employment Portal
The primary feature of the new employment portal is that it shifts the application process from being applicant-led to instead being employer-led. In the prior system, an employer would only complete paper forms to prove the employment offer was valid. In the new system, the employer will submit all relevant information directly to the portal. The portal will also provide the following new features:
- Integration with My Ontario for one-window service delivery
- Online submission and management of applications
- Direct communication between employers and the program
- Secure document uploads
- Auto-population of application fields to reduce duplication
- Ability to add employer contacts and authorized representatives
- Simplified tracking of applications
Other than these features, the process to receive a nomination will remain the same. After an employer submits a job offer on the new portal applicants will submit an EOI and will only be able to apply for a nomination if they receive an invitation to apply.
Applicants should be aware that in May 2025 the federal government cut the OINP’s allocation in half from 21,500 to 10,750 placements. This means that the program is currently highly competitive and only high scoring applicants or those in priority occupations or areas will likely be successful.
// 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.
