OINP Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream

Overview

The Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream is an immigration stream under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

It gives foreign workers with a job offer in a skilled occupation at Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A or B of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) the opportunity to apply for a nomination from the OINP to permanently live and work in Ontario. To determine whether you are eligible to apply to this stream, please carefully review the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream requirements.

This stream is open to foreign workers in and outside of Canada.

This stream is now operated under an expression of interest system. You can only apply if you first register an expression of interest and are issued an invitation to apply.

Before you apply

1. Make sure you meet the mandatory requirements

This stream has a number of mandatory requirements you must meet in order to be eligible for nomination. These include:

• job offer requirements – what your job offer must include
• applicant requirements – what you need to have before you apply
• employer requirements – what your employer needs to have before you apply

You should only register an expression of interest if you and your employer meet these requirements on the date you register.

The information that you provide in your expression of interest will be used to determine if you are issued an invitation to apply.

You will be required to attest that:

• you have the qualifications set out in your expression of interest
• you meet all relevant eligibility criteria

A signed copy of the Attestation Form will be required if you are invited to apply.

If it is determined that any information provided in your expression of interest registration and attestation is not accurate, is incorrect, or misleading, your application may be denied and you may be subject to penalties or prosecution.

2. Understand the steps to apply

1. Create a profile in the OINP e-Filing Portal.
2. Register an expression of interest for the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream
3. If you are selected from the candidate pool and receive an invitation to apply to the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream, you may submit an application online through the OINP e-Filing Portal by taking the following steps:
   • you must submit your application within 14 calendar days of receiving an invitation to apply
   • the application fee is either $1,500 or $2,000, depending on the location of your job offer, payable by Visa, Visa Debit, Mastercard and Mastercard Debit
   • it takes at least three hours to complete the application. You do not have to complete the application in one session. You can save your work and return to it later
   • you can complete the application yourself or have a representative complete it on your behalf

3. Have your supporting documents ready

You also need to make sure you have all necessary supporting documents, in English or French, scanned and ready to upload when you apply. If you do not, your application will be returned as incomplete and your application fee will be refunded.

Avoid your application being returned as incomplete by uploading all the required documents. The top three reasons applications are returned as incomplete under this stream are:

• missing signatures from the employer and applicant on the job offer
• missing Employer Form
• missing recent pay slips for applicants already working in the position

Please carefully check your financial documents and black out any credit card numbers and/or social insurance numbers so they are not visible.

Incomplete applications will be returned.

Job offer requirements

To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream, you must have a job offer in Ontario from an employer that meets the following requirements.

Please refer to section 4 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 and the Employer Guide for more details on each requirement.

1. Full-time and permanent

The job offer must be for a full-time and permanent position.

Full-time means the job must be a minimum of 1,560 hours a year and a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per week.

Permanent means the job must have no end date (also known as an indeterminate duration). Job offers that are seasonal and/or contract based are ineligible.

Note that your job offer will not qualify if it affects the employment of a person involved in a labour dispute.

2. Eligible occupation

The job offered must be in a skilled occupation at Skill Type 0 or Skill Levels A or B of the National Occupational Classification (NOC).

3. Median wage level

The pay of the job offered must meet or be higher than the median wage level, for that occupation, in the specific region of Ontario where you will be working. To find the median wage, go to the Job Bank website. Enter the occupation title and NOC code of the job offer into the occupation search. Then enter the location where you will be working into the filter search. Refer to the median wage level listed on the chart.

If the wage of the employment region where the applicant will work or report to work is not available on the wage report, the Ontario wage should be used.

If you are already working in the position, the wage of the job offer must be equal to or greater than the wage level that the employer currently pays you in that position, in addition to meeting or exceeding the median wage level.

These wage requirements do not apply if you have a collective agreement (a written contract between the employer and a union), in your workplace, that determines your wages.

If you are paid an annual salary, your hourly wage can be calculated as follows:

• deduct any bonuses or other discretionary benefits from the annual salary
• divide the remaining amount by the number of weeks of work per year (this will generally be 52 weeks)
• divide this amount by the number of hours of work per week
• the remaining amount is the hourly wage

The program does not consider remuneration by piece work, bonuses, commissions, vacation pay or non-financial compensation as comprising part of your hourly base wage to be included in the calculation of work experience.

4. Position is urgently necessary to employer’s business

The position offered must be urgently necessary to your employer’s business. This means that the job offer must align with your employer’s existing business activities and the position must be urgently needed to maintain or grow ongoing business activity.

5. Work based in Ontario

The work you do while in the position of the job offer must occur primarily in Ontario.

Applicant requirements

After you receive an invitation to apply, you may apply to the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream. You must meet all the requirements in the categories below in order for your application to be approved.

Please refer to section 5 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 for more details on each requirement.

1. Expression of interest and invitation to apply

• You must have received an invitation to apply and applied within the deadline identified.
• You must demonstrate that you had the qualifications that you claimed you had in the expression of interest that you registered with the OINP and attested to.

2. Work experience or licence or other authorization

You must meet one of the following requirements depending on the position of the job offer:

• If your job offer is for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must hold a valid licence or authorization from the appropriate regulatory body in Ontario at the time of application submission.
• If your job offer is not for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must demonstrate work experience in the same occupation as the NOC code of your job offer.

To meet the work experience requirement, you must have at least two years of cumulative paid full-time work experience (or the equivalent in paid part-time work) in the same occupation (same National Occupational Classification code) as your job offer.

You must have gained this work experience within the five years prior to the date you submit your application, not the date you received the invitation to apply. If your work experience was gained in Canada, you must have been legally living and working in Canada.

Cumulative means the work you’ve done must add up to two years – it does not have to be two years of continuous work.

Full-time work experience means working in a job with at least 30 hours of paid work in a week that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work over a two-year period.

Part-time equivalent work experience means:

• working in one job for at least 15 hours of paid work in a week that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work over a four-year period
• working in more than one job for at least 30 hours of paid work in a week, for two years, that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work in that two-year period

If you are using periods of self-employment, you will need to provide employment documentation that is independently verifiable through third parties. This can include client reference letters indicating your duties and periods of work, as well as evidence of ongoing payments to you personally, for the services provided (for example, invoices). Please also note that your hours of self-employed work must be quantifiable to ensure that you accumulated at least 3,120 hours over two years of employment. Reference letters from yourself, your business partners and/or a family member are not accepted by the program.

3. Valid licence or other authorization (if applicable)

If your job offer is for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must hold a valid licence or authorization from the appropriate regulatory body in Ontario when you apply.

For more information on licences and authorizations in Ontario, please visit the Ontario’s Jobs and Employment website or the Ontario College of Trades website.

4. Intention to live in Ontario

You must intend to live in Ontario after you’ve been granted permanent residence. We determine this by examining your ties to Ontario, which can include doing things like:

• working or having worked in Ontario
• getting job offers, applying to or interviewing for jobs
• studying
• volunteering
• leasing or owning property
• visiting
• having professional networks and affiliations, family ties and personal relationships

5. Legal status in Canada (if applicable)

If you are applying from within Canada, you must have legal status (a visitor record, study permit, or work permit) at the time you apply and should maintain that status until the time of nomination.

You may apply if you are in ‘implied status’ at the time of your OINP application submission. ‘Implied status’ means that you submitted an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to renew/extend your temporary status document (a visitor record, work permit, study permit) before its expiry date. You can remain in Canada and continue to work or study under the same conditions as your existing permit until a decision is made on your pending IRCC application.

Employer requirements

Please refer to section 4 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 and the Employer Guide for more details on each requirement.

1. General requirements

To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream, your employer must:

• have been in active business for at least three years prior to submitting your application
• have business premises in Ontario where you will work
• have no outstanding orders made against them under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act
• demonstrate that enough effort was made to recruit a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident prior to offering the position to you (this only applies if you are currently living outside Canada or working outside of Ontario)

2. Revenue requirements

Your employer’s business must meet the relevant revenue requirements for the most recently completed fiscal year (the year used for tax or accounting purposes):

• a minimum of $1,000,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) or
• a minimum of $500,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area

Meaning of report to work

In cases where the applicant will work at more than one location, the location where the applicant will report to work means either:

• the location where the applicant’s immediate supervisor or manager works, or
• the location of the administrative office where the applicant will receive work assignments

3. Full-time employee requirements

Your employer’s business must have at the time of application submission one of the following:

• at least five full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions)
• at least three full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area

Meaning of full-time employee

A full-time employee is an employee who has worked a minimum of 30 hours per week.

4. Employer Form

Your employer must make an application for approval of an employment position by filling out and signing an Employer Form.

Your employer then must give you the form so you can scan and upload it with your application.

Supporting documents

You must provide supporting documents to validate the information in your application and to prove you meet the eligibility criteria.

All supporting documents must be scanned and uploaded in your online application.

A PDF copy of the Attestation Form must be printed, signed personally in ink by the applicant, and uploaded to the “Other” tab under Supporting Documents. The Attestation Form should be signed on the same date that you submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) to the OINP.

Refer to the document checklist for the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream for a list of mandatory documents.

If a supporting document is not in English or French, you must provide a copy of the document and a translation of the document. Please read, Document translation and notarization for more information.

Cost to apply

The application fee covers the cost of processing your application and is:

• $1,500 if the job offer is outside of the Greater Toronto Area
• $2,000 if the job offer is within the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions)

We only accept Visa, Visa Debit, Mastercard and Mastercard Debit.

Refunds

We will only refund the fee if we find that your application is incomplete or you withdraw your application before we start processing it.

We will not refund the fee if your application is unsuccessful.

You can check the status of your application through your account in the OINP e-Filing Portal.

Use a representative to apply

Authorizing a paid representative to assist you can be helpful but is not necessary. If you choose to use a representative, please follow the steps on how to appoint one. This will ensure you retain access to, and control of, your online application and allow you to change or end your authorization if need be.

Representatives are not allowed to appoint themselves. This means that you must appoint your representative to act on your behalf using your own OINP profile in the e-Filing system. You must create your profile using your personal email address and phone number. Representatives are not to use any other email address for your profile or create one themselves for the purpose of a registration with the OINP.

Registrations and applications that were created by self-appointed representatives are invalid and will be withdrawn by the OINP. This means that if you did not create your ONe-key account or you did not authorize your representative correctly, your registration will be withdrawn, or your application will be returned and your application fee refunded.

The OINP does not manage ONe-key accounts and we cannot help you if you lose access to your account. To keep access to and control of your account, never share your ONe-key password with anyone, including your representative.

Submit an application

After you apply

Changes in personal information

You must notify us if there are any changes to the information provided in your application, including (but not limited to) changes in:

• contact information
• immigration status (expiration or change in work permit)
• family composition due to:
  • marriage or common-law relationship
  • birth of a child
  • change of custody of a child
  • divorce/separation
  • death

You can make changes to your telephone number, email address and country of residence by logging into the OINP e-Filing Portal and clicking on “My Profile” on your main page. After the change has been made, click “Save”.

For all other changes, or to correct a data entry error (for example, you misspelled your name):

1. complete and save a Change of Personal Information form
2. send the completed form by email as an attachment to ontarionominee@ontario.ca
3. use the subject line “Application Change Notice – [File number]”
4. if you are requesting a correction to your name or date of birth, please also include a copy of the personal details page of your passport to validate your request

Please note: We will not accept requests to completely change a name or date of birth.

If you are nominated

If your application is successful, you will receive a nomination approval letter, a work permit support letter and a nomination certificate by email.

Once we notify you, your next step is to apply for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) within six months.

You will need to include your nomination approval letter and nomination certificate.

Note: A nomination does not guarantee approval of your application for permanent residence with IRCC.

You may request an extension of your nomination certificate if you applied to IRCC but your application for permanent residence was returned due to being incomplete, or you were delayed in gathering supporting documents (for example, police criminal record check) for your application for permanent residence.

Only requests that comply with the above requirements will be granted.

You can request an extension by emailing the OINP at ontarionominee@ontario.ca with the following information:

• a letter of explanation describing the reason to extend your nomination certificate; and
• a copy of the incomplete letter from IRCC (if applicable).

Your work permit support letter may be used to apply for a work permit from IRCC while your application for permanent residence is being processed. Note that your employer will need to use IRCC’s Employer Portal and pay an employer compliance fee for you to apply for a work permit with your work permit support letter.

Your work permit support letter is valid for six months. You may request an extension if your work permit is expiring and your application for permanent residence is still in process.

You can request an extension by emailing the OINP at ontarionominee@ontario.ca with the following information:

• copies of your two (2) most recent pay slips.
• scanned copy of your work permit.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) will review your request and determine whether you continue to meet the conditions of your nomination. If the conditions are not met, your nomination may be cancelled.

Approval of the nomination

Your nomination is subject to the following conditions until you receive permanent residence:

1. you must continue to demonstrate on a reasonable basis an intention to reside in Ontario
2. you must be employed in the approved employment position as of the date of nomination if you are already working for your employer in the approved employment position, or if you are not, on the date that you obtain a work permit and begin working for your employer in the approved employment position
3. you must continue to be employed in the approved position of your job offer until you receive permanent residence. The following terms of the job offer must be maintained:
   • position title and duties
   • wage
   • hours of work and
   • work location

Changes in the position of the Job Offer:

Your employer may offer you a promotion. You will need to notify the OINP and submit a revised job offer signed by you and your employer, your current work permit and your two most recent pay slips. If necessary, the OINP will issue you an updated work permit support letter indicating the new position.

You must also notify the OINP if your employer withdraws the job offer, you decline the job offer or your employment is terminated either by you or your employer. The approval of the employment position and the nomination will be cancelled if you are no longer working for your employer.

If you are not nominated

If your application is unsuccessful, we will let you know by email. If you think we made an error in our decision that led to your application being refused, you may ask for an internal review.

To request an internal review:

1. download and complete the Notice of Request for Internal Review form. Ensure that you carefully read the instructions on the form
2. in a separate document, clearly identify an error or errors in the director’s decision or order that, if not made, would have resulted in the decision or order being decided differently (see subsection 10(1)(a) of Ontario Regulation 421/17 (General))
3. send the completed Notice of Request for Internal Review form and all supporting documents by email to internalreview-revisioninterne@ontario.ca. You must email us within 30 calendar days of receiving your notice of refusal.

Do not include any new information that you did not include in your original application, unless that information was not reasonably available to you at the time the decision or order was made.

New information that you did not include in your application because of an oversight will not be considered.

Internal review requests must be sent by email. We will not accept requests by mail, fax or in-person.

Contact us

Ask us a question by email at ontarionominee@ontario.ca or by phone from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at:

• Tel: 416-327-0374
• Toll-free: 1-866-214-6820 (toll-free within North America only)
• TTY: 416-325-0866
• Toll-free TTY: 1-866-853-2137

Technical problems

If you are experiencing technical issues with applying online, send us an email at ontarionominee@ontario.ca and include:

• your file number
• description of the problem
• screenshots
• your full name and contact information

We will review your email and respond to you as soon as possible.