On July 6, Ontario re-opened and expanded one of its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) Streams
Ontario Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills Program reopened. The aim of this stream is to help solve labor shortages in specific on-demand jobs such as work in agriculture, construction, trucking, or personal support. Workers both within and outside Canada may apply for this stream.
An immigration candidate must have a legitimate job offer and meet certain eligibility requirements to get a provincial nomination under the system.
Eligibility
Candidates are expected to receive a full-time and permanent work offer (i.e. a minimum of 1,560 hours a year with no end date). The position must be inside or outside the GTA, in a qualifying profession.
The work must come under one of the following skill level C or D codes for National Occupation Classification:
- Nurse aides (NOC 3413)
- Home support workers and related occupations (NOC 4412)
- Residential and commercial installers and servicers (NOC 7441)
- Transport truck drivers (NOC 7511)
- Heavy equipment operators (except crane- NOC 7521)
- Construction trades helpers and laborers (NOC 7611)
- General farm workers (NOC 8431)
- Nursery and greenhouse workers (NOC 8432)
- Harvesting laborers (NOC 8611)
- Industrial butchers and meat cutters (NOC 9462)
Expanded Occupations:
A job offer under the following NOC codes (also level C or D) will be valid for this stream as of July 6, provided that the work is located outside the GTA:
- Machine operators, mineral and metal processing (NOC 9411)
- Metalworking and forging machine operators (NOC 9416)
- Machining tool operators (NOC 9417)
- Other metal products machine operators (NOC 9418)
- Chemical plant machine operators (NOC 9421)
- Plastics processing machine operators (NOC 9422)
- Woodworking machine operators (NOC 9437)
- Industrial sewing machine operators (NOC 9446)
- Process control and machine operators, (NOC 9461)
- Electronics assemblers, fabricators, inspectors and testers (NOC 9523)
- Mechanical assemblers and inspectors (NOC 9526)
- Industrial painters (NOC 9536)
- Other products assemblers, finishers and inspectors (NOC 9537)
Other Requirements:
There are various obligations on the employers. For example, they must show the person they are recruiting through this stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) is appropriate for their company and they must pay them for the occupation at or above the median salary level.
Immigration applicants must have a cumulative paid full-time work experience of at least 9 months in the occupation for which they have received a job offer. They must also have the equivalent of a Canadian secondary school (high school) or higher education, and a minimum standard of English or French at a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 4 or higher in each competency (reading , writing , listening, and speaking).
Among other conditions, an immigration applicant shows that they have a valid license to work in a profession that requires an Ontario license or other authorisation.
About Ontario Provincial Nominee Program (OINP)
Ontario runs Canada's largest PNP, as it has the largest population and economy in the world. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) provided a PNP quota of 7,350 primary applicants for Ontario in 2020. Ontario may also appoint 250 temporary international workers in intermediate professional occupations (NOC C roles).
The OINP remained active throughout 2020 including during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). So far this year, it has conducted12 professional staff, and entrepreneur draws.
