Ontario launched the first phase of its provincial immigration overhaul on June 26, 2026, introducing the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream with three new pathways to provincial nomination for permanent residence. The pathways are now in effect, but candidates must wait for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program to reopen its Expression of Interest system before they can be considered.
Three new Ontario pathways
The new Ontario Workforce Priority Stream includes:
- TEER 0–3 pathway for workers in higher-skilled occupations;
- TEER 4–5 pathway for workers in lower-skilled occupations;
- Self-employed physicians pathway for registered physicians eligible to bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
The OINP said the new Expression of Interest system is expected to open later in summer 2026.
Foreign nationals who already applied under the previous Ontario pathways will continue to have their applications processed under the rules that were in place when their applications were received.
Ontario is also expected to launch three additional streams in a second phase, but no launch date has been announced. These are expected to include:
- Priority Healthcare Stream for healthcare workers who are licensed or on the route toward licensing, with no job offer required;
- Entrepreneur Stream for owner-operators of businesses in Ontario;
- Exceptional Talent Stream for foreign nationals with exceptional achievements in science and technology, arts, literature and culture, or academia.
TEER 0–3 pathway
The TEER 0–3 pathway is for foreign nationals with job offers in occupations that typically require post-secondary education or training.
Applicants must have a full-time, permanent job offer from an eligible Ontario employer in a TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation.
They must also meet the required English or French language level for their occupation, either CLB 6 or CLB 5 in all four abilities.
In addition, the applicant must meet either the licensing requirement or the education and work experience requirements.
For licensing, the applicant must be licensed to work in a regulated profession in Ontario, if applicable.
For education and work experience, the applicant must have a post-secondary degree or diploma from a program requiring at least one year of full-time study, or meet the nurse aide exemption. The credential can be from a Canadian institution or an equivalent foreign credential supported by a valid Educational Credential Assessment.
For a job offer under NOC 33102, Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, the education requirement can be met with an Ontario college certificate from a program requiring at least one year of full-time study.
The applicant must also meet one of the work experience options:
- At least two years of cumulative work experience within the past five years in the same occupation as the job offer, or in a related occupation under specified exemptions; or
- The minimum consecutive work experience requirement within the past 12 months in the same job, with the same employer as the qualifying Ontario job offer, while residing in Ontario.
For the job offer work experience option, the requirement is:
- Six months of consecutive work experience; or
- Three months of consecutive work experience for recent graduates from Ontario post-secondary institutions.
To count as a recent graduate, the applicant must have obtained one of the following from an eligible Ontario post-secondary institution within the past three years:
- A degree or diploma from a program of at least two years of full-time study;
- An Ontario college graduate certificate;
- A master’s degree;
- A PhD.
The applicant must also hold the appropriate licence or authorization if any job duties require licensing or authorization under Ontario or federal law.
Specified work experience exemptions include:
- For NOC 33101, Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants, work experience under NOC 31120, Pharmacists, can qualify.
- For NOC 33102, Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, work experience under NOC 32101, Licensed Practical Nurses, or NOC 31301, Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, can qualify.
- For NOC Sub-Major Group 223, Technical occupations related to engineering, work experience under NOC Sub-Major Group 213, Professional occupations in engineering, can qualify.
Alternate criteria may apply for certain specific occupations under provincial regulations.
TEER 4–5 pathway
The TEER 4–5 pathway is for foreign nationals with job offers in occupations that typically require secondary school education and/or several weeks of on-the-job training.
Applicants must meet the following requirements:
- A full-time, permanent job offer from an eligible Ontario employer in a TEER 4 or 5 occupation;
- Wages at or above the occupation’s median wage;
- At least nine months of cumulative work experience within the past two years in the same job, with the same employer as the qualifying Ontario job offer;
- A secondary school diploma or equivalent;
- At least CLB 4 in English or French in all four abilities.
Self-employed physicians pathway
The Self-employed physicians pathway is for physicians in Ontario who meet licensing and billing requirements.
Applicants must:
- Be licensed and in good standing as a physician in Ontario;
- Hold a valid certificate of registration as an independent, academic, or provisional practitioner;
- Be eligible to bill through OHIP.
Licensing requirements are established by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and OHIP billing requirements are published by Ontario.
Employer and job offer requirements
For a job offer to support an application, the employer must qualify as an eligible Ontario employer.
The employer must:
- Maintain a place of business in Ontario;
- Have operated the business for at least three years;
- Meet minimum gross annual revenue requirements based on location;
- Meet minimum full-time employee headcount requirements for Canadian citizens or permanent residents at the job offer location;
- Have no outstanding orders under major Ontario labour regulations.
Minimum gross annual revenue requirements are:
- Greater Toronto Area: $1,000,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year;
- Major CMA: $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year;
- Outside the GTA and major CMAs: $250,000 in each of the past two most recently completed fiscal years.
Major CMAs listed in the source article are Ottawa, Waterloo, Hamilton, Niagara, Essex, Wellington, Greater Sudbury, Frontenac, Brant, Peterborough, Hastings, and Thunder Bay.
Minimum headcount requirements are:
- GTA: five full-time Canadian citizen or permanent resident employees;
- Outside GTA: three full-time Canadian citizen or permanent resident employees.
The job offer must:
- Be full-time;
- Be of indeterminate duration, not a limited-term contract;
- Be urgently necessary for the employer’s business;
- Be mainly for work performed in Ontario, unless the truck driver or transportation operator exemption applies;
- Pay at least what the employer is currently paying the candidate if the candidate is already working for that employer;
- Meet the applicable wage level requirement.
For most job offers, the wage must be equal to or greater than the median wage for the occupation in the region of the job offer.
For recent Ontario graduates under the TEER 0–3 pathway, the wage must meet or exceed the low-wage level for the occupation in the region.
The wage requirement is assessed using federal Job Bank data on the date of application. If regional Job Bank data is unavailable, the OINP may use the most recent historical regional data, and then present-day national data for the occupation if needed.
The OINP director may require the employer to have made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to fill the position with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident before offering it to the applicant.
The applicant and their family members must not hold, or have held, direct or indirect equity in the employer’s business. An exception applies where equity was received as employee compensation and the applicant and family members together hold less than 10% of the total equity.
OINP approval must also not be likely to affect the settlement of a labour dispute or the employment of a person involved in a labour dispute.
Transport occupation exemption
For the transport occupation exemption, the job offer must be in NOC 73300 or NOC 73301.
The employer must also have:
- A valid CVOR certificate;
- A safety rating of Excellent or Satisfactory under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
New Expression of Interest process
To be considered under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, a foreign national must create a new Expression of Interest in Ontario’s online system after the EOI system reopens.
For candidates with job offers, the employer must start a new EOI for the worker by submitting a new job offer and a new application for approval of an employment position through the Employer Portal once it reopens.
Employers with existing Employer Portal registrations will not need to re-register.
After the EOI system reopens, eligible candidates must be selected from the pool and invited by the OINP to submit a complete application for provincial nomination.
Ontario’s immigration overhaul
The June 26 launch is the first phase of Ontario’s provincial immigration overhaul.
Ontario retired all previous permanent residence pathways on May 30, 2026, before launching replacements. The overhaul was conducted through regulatory changes and had first been announced in December 2025.
How PNP permanent residence works
To obtain permanent residence through a Provincial Nominee Program, a foreign national must intend to reside in a province or territory outside Quebec.
For the OINP, the process generally involves:
- Meeting the requirements of at least one OINP permanent residence pathway.
- Working with the employer, where applicable, to submit an eligible EOI profile in the OINP system.
- Being selected by Ontario and invited to apply for provincial nomination.
- Submitting a provincial nomination application to the OINP.
- Receiving a nomination from Ontario if approved.
- Applying to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for permanent residence under the provincial nominee class.
- Receiving confirmation of permanent residence if approved.
- Completing the landing process in Canada to receive PR.
The federal application process depends on whether the stream is an enhanced PNP stream integrated with Express Entry or a base PNP stream. The landing process also differs depending on whether the applicant is already in Canada or arriving from outside Canada when permanent residence is finalized.
TEER levels
Canada’s National Occupational Classification system ranks occupations by Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities.
- TEER 0: management positions;
- TEER 1: occupations that typically require a university degree;
- TEER 2: supervisory occupations, or occupations that typically require a college diploma or two-year apprenticeship;
- TEER 3: occupations that typically require a college diploma, an apprenticeship of less than two years, or at least six months of on-the-job training;
- TEER 4: occupations that typically require at least a secondary school diploma or several weeks of on-the-job training;
- TEER 5: occupations that typically require only short-term work demonstration.
Source article: www.cicnews.com
