Ontario nominated 6,850 applicants for Canadian permanent residence in 2018

Ontario issued 6,850 nominations for Canadian permanent residence in 2018 with nearly half going to candidates in the federal Express Entry system, a new report by the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program shows.  

Known as the OINP, the program allows Ontario to nominate a set number of economic immigration candidates each year for Canadian permanent residence.

The OINP is the largest component of the federal Provincial Nominee Program, which works with participating provinces and territories to spread the economic benefits of immigration more evenly across Canada.

The report published February 22 states that the 6,850 nominations that Ontario was allotted in 2018 will translate into 13,571 new immigrants to the province with the addition of accompanying spouses and dependents.

Express Entry nominations

Nearly 50 per cent of the nominations issued in 2018 went to candidates in the Government of Canada’s Express Entry system, which manages the pool of candidates for three of the country’s main federal economic immigration categories.

The OINP has three immigration streams that are aligned with the Express Entry system — Human Capital Priorities, French-Speaking Skilled Worker and Skilled Trades.

The streams allow the OINP to search the Express Entry pool for eligible candidates who meet their eligibility criteria and invite them to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence.

The Human Capital Priorities Stream was the most active of the three, issuing 2,190 nominations in 2018 — the most of any OINP immigration pathway.

Another 648 nominations were issued through the Skilled Trades Stream and 387 were issued through the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream.

In order to be considered for any of Ontario’s Express Entry streams, eligible candidates must first submit an Express Entry profile.

‘High number’ of tech nominations

Ontario said around a quarter of nominations went to candidates citing work experience or a job offer in technology-related occupations.

These occupations included software engineers and designers, computer programmers, interactive media developers, IT systems analysts and technology consultants, the OINP report states.

India-born nominees lead the way

Ontario’s 2018 nominees hailed from 147 countries.

Candidates born in India received more nominations than candidates born in any other country. A total of 2,651 of the 6,850 nominations issued by Ontario went to immigration candidates who were born in India, or nearly 39 per cent of total nominations.

Candidates born in China received 1,424 nominations, or nearly 21 per cent of total nominations.

Top 10 Countries of Birth