Ontario, one of the most densely populated provinces in Canada, is set to select 6,900 candidates for permanent residence through the annual immigrant nominee program.
Through the Provincial Nominee Program, nine Canadian provinces and two territories are granted the powers to select a specific number of immigrants for permanent residence to help fulfill specific labor market needs.
The 2018 selection process saw 6,600 immigrants granted permanent residence with another 250 nominations bringing the total number of nominations for 2018 to 6,850. This was the largest number of immigrants allowed permanent Canadian residence through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).
The strong demand for OINP forced the province of Ontario to request for an additional 1,000 nomination slots for 2019 which could bring the total number of nominations to 7,600. Although this wasn’t the case, the allocation boost for 2019 will come as good news to prospective immigrants looking forward to becoming permanent Canada residents.
There is also renewed hope that more allocations will be approved for 2020. This year, the Canadian federal government targets at least 61,000 new permanent residents which is a significant increase from 2018’s goal of 55,000.
Ontario’s 2019 nomination consist of a primary allocation of approximately 6,650 nominations plus an additional 250 allocations for TFWs- intermediate-skilled temporary foreign workers, who will be part of the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada initiative that was announced on March 12.
The primary allocation of the 6,650 slots will be given out following the usual procedures through OINP’s different immigration routes including the famous Express Entry-linked HCPS (Human Capital Priorities Stream).
