Following British Columbia, Ontario is the second province to launch a provincial nominee program through the federal government's new Express Entry. This program will allow Ontario to actively participate in immigration selection based on provincial needs and priorities and will result in lower processing time for eligible foreign workers.
The federal program
Ontario's newest provincial nomination program provides a
faster pathway to those seeking to immigrate to Canada under the
federal Express Entry program. Launched in January 2015, Express
Entry is a new application management system introduced by
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to manage permanent
resident applications for skilled migration to Canada.
Under this system, applicants are required to complete an Express
Entry profile with information about their skills, work experience,
language ability, education and other details. Applicants are
ranked against others in the pool using a point-based system and
those with the highest scores are invited to apply for permanent
residence. Express Entry applications are expected to be processed
in six months or less.
The provincial program
Seeking to facilitate the immigration of skilled workers into
the province, Ontario has created two new Express Entry streams
under its provincial nominee program.
The Human Capital Priorities Stream is intended
for workers who have the required education, skilled work
experience, language ability, and other characteristics to help
them successfully establish and integrate into Ontario's labour
market. Applicants to this stream must have a language level of
Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 or above in either English or
French, and must achieve and maintain a minimum of 400 points in
the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System.
The French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream targets
French-speaking skilled workers who also have strong English
language abilities. Candidates must have a minimum CLB level of 7
in French and CLB 6 in English, in addition to the required work
experience, education and settlement funds.
Program requirements
To qualify for Ontario's Express Entry provincial nominee
program, applicants must first meet the eligibility criteria for
the CIC's Express Entry program. Express Entry candidates who
have indicated their interest in residing in Ontario will be
considered for the Human Capital Priorities or French-Speaking
Skilled Streams. The government of Ontario will automatically
search for candidates in the Express Entry pool who meet the
minimum requirements under these streams. Applicants may not apply
directly to Ontario's Human Capital Priorities Stream or the
French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream.
Applicants who meet the requirements will receive a Notification of
Interest from Ontario through their MyCIC accounts. Upon receipt of
the Notification of Interest, applicants will be able to apply to
one of Ontario's provincial nomination Express Entry
streams.
Applicants who are nominated by Ontario will receive an additional
600 points in Express Entry, which will considerably improve their
chances of being selected and invited to apply for permanent
residence. Each year the federal government determines the number
of nominations Ontario can issue. In 2015, that number is 5,200. Of
these, 2,700 nominations must be used under Ontario's Express
Entry.
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