Ontario launches three new pathways to permanent residence

Ontario has launched the first set of pathways to permanent residence as part of its overhaul of its provincial immigration program.

According to an announcement published on its webpage, on June 26, 2026, Ontario dropped regulatory amendments detailing how foreign nationals can qualify for provincial nomination for permanent residence under the newly launched Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, which includes three pathways:

• TEER 0–3 pathway – for workers in higher-skilled occupations.
• TEER 4–5 pathway – for workers in lower-skilled occupations.
• Self-employed physicians – for registered physicians eligible to bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

The streams have come into effect immediately, but to be considered, foreign nationals must wait until the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) re-launches its Expression of Interest (EOI) system.

The OINP wrote that the new EOI system “is anticipated to open later in the summer.”

The province is expected to launch three additional streams—priority healthcare, entrepreneurs, and exceptional talent, as part of its second phase—for which no anticipated launch date has been announced, as of the time of writing.

Foreign nationals who have already applied for provincial nomination under the old pathways will continue to have their applications processed by the OINP under the requirements that were in place at the time their applications were received.

TEER 0–3 pathway requirements

This pathway is for foreign nationals who have job offers in occupations that typically require at least some level of post-secondary education or training.

To qualify for this pathway, a foreign national must meet the following requirements:

• Job offer: Have a full-time, permanent job offer with an eligible Ontario employer in a TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation.
• Language or Ontario graduate:
  • Meet the minimum language proficiency requirement in all four language abilities, in English or in French, associated with their occupation – either Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 6 or CLB 5; or
  • Be a recent Ontario graduate.*

A foreign national must also meet one of the following requirements:

• Licensing: Be licensed to work in a regulated profession in Ontario; or
• Education and Work Experience: Meet the minimum requirements for both postsecondary education and work experience.
  • Education: Have a post-secondary degree or diploma, from a program requiring at least one year study on a full-time basis, or meet either the Nurse aid exemption** or skilled trades exemption.***
  • Work experience: meet either the occupational minimum or the job offer minimum:****
    • Occupational work experience minimum: Have the equivalent of at least two years cumulative full-time work experience (toward which they can count part-time work experience) within the past five years in the same occupation as their job offer, or in a related occupation under a specified exemption.*****
    • Job offer work experience minimum: Meet the minimum consecutive work experience requirement within the past 12 months in the same job, with the same employer as their qualifying Ontario job offer, while residing in Ontario:
      • Six months consecutive full-time work experience; or
      • Three months consecutive full-time work experience, for recent graduates from Ontario post-secondary institutions.

The postsecondary credential can be either from a Canadian institution, or can be an equivalent foreign degree supported by a valid Educational Credential Assessment (ECA).

Full-time work experience is defined as at least 30 hours per week in a single role.

Part-time work experience, which can be counted only toward the occupational minimum, can contribute to the cumulative total length of required full-time equivalent work experience at a rate of

• one-for-one, for periods during which the candidate worked in multiple positions concurrently for at least 30 hours per week; or
• two-for-one, for periods during which the candidate worked in a single position for at least 15 hours per week.

To count as a recent Ontario graduate, a foreign national must have obtained from an eligible Ontario post-secondary institution, within the past three years, a

• degree or diploma from a program of at least two-years (full-time) in length;
• an Ontario college graduate certificate;
• a master’s degree; or
• a PhD.

For a job offer for NOC 33102 (Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates), a foreign national can meet the educational requirement with an Ontario college certificate from a program requiring at least one year of full-time study.

The educational requirement can be satisfied with only a secondary school diploma or equivalent, if the job offer is for a NOC falling onto one of the following categories:

• Major Group 72 – Technical trades and transportation offices and controllers (excluding occupations under Sub-Major Group 726).
• Major Group 73 – General trades.
• Major Group 82 – Supervisors in natural resources, agriculture and related production.
• Major Group 83 – Occupations in natural resources and related production.
• Major Group 93 – Central control and process operators and aircraft assembly assemblers and inspectors (excluding aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors under Sub-Major Group 932).
• Minor Group 6320 – Cooks, Butchers, Bakers.
• Unit Group 62200 – Chefs.

A foreign national with a NOC in one of the above categories can also meet the minimum language requirement with CLB 5.

Job offers for NOC 73300 (Transport truck drivers) or NOC 73301 (Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators) can only satisfy the work experience requirement by means of the six months consecutive work experience job offer minimum.

Exemptions for occupational work experience minimum:

• Pharmacy assistants: For a job offer for NOC 33101, (Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants), work experience can qualify under NOC  31120 (Pharmacists).
• Nurse aids and orderlies: For a job offer for NOC 33102 (Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates), work experience can qualify under NOC 32101 (Licensed Practical Nurses) or NOC 31301 (Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses).
• Engineering technician occupations: For a job offer falling within NOC Sub-Major Group 223, (Technical occupations related to engineering), work experience can qualify under a NOC within Sub-Major Group 213 (Professional occupations in engineering).

The foreign national must have the appropriate license or authorization to perform the job, if any of the job’s activities require licensing or other authorization under either Ontario or federal law.

TEER 4–5 pathway requirements

This pathway is for foreign nationals with job offers in occupations that typically require only a secondary school education and/or several weeks of on-the-job training.

To qualify for this pathway, a foreign national must meet the following requirements:

• Job offer: Have a full-time, permanent job offer from an eligible Ontario employer in a TEER 4 or 5 occupation, paying at least the occupation’s median wage.
• Job offer work experience: Have at least nine months cumulative work experience within the past two years in the same job, with the same employer as their qualifying Ontario job offer.
• Education: Have a secondary school diploma, or equivalent.
• Language: Have at least CLB 4 in English or French in all four abilities.

Self-Employed Physicians pathway requirements

To qualify for this pathway, a foreign national must meet the following requirements:

• Be licensed and in good standing as a physician in Ontario, with a valid certificate of registration as an independent, academic, or provisional practitioner.
• Be eligible to bill through OHIP.

Licensing requirements are established by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and are available on its website.

Ontario publishes the requirements to bill through OHIP on its website.

Employer requirements

To qualify as an eligible employer, the employer must meet the following requirements:

• Maintain a place of business in Ontario.
• Have been operating their business for at least three years.
• Meet the minimum gross annual revenue requirement, according to the location of their business:
  • Greater Toronto Area (GTA): $1,000,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year.
  • Major CMA*: $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year.
  • Outside GTA and major CMAs: $250,000 in each of the past two most recently completed fiscal years.
• Meet the minimum headcount requirement of Canadian citizens and/or permanent residents employed full-time at the location of the job offer:
  • GTA: Five.
  • Outside GTA: Three.
• Not have any outstanding orders against them under major Ontario labour regulations.

Ottawa, Waterloo, Hamilton, Niagara, Essex, Wellington, Greater Sudbury, Frontenac, Brant, Peterborough, Hastings, Thunder Bay.

For the job offer to be eligible, it must

• Be full-time;
• Be of indeterminate duration (i.e., not be a limited-term contract);
• Be urgently necessary for the employer’s business;
• Be for work that will be performed predominately in Ontario, or meet the exemption for truck drivers or transportation operators;** and
• Pay at least what the employer is currently paying the candidate, if the candidate is currently working for the employer.
• Meet the wage level requirement:
  • Be equal to or greater than the median wage for the occupation in the region of the job offer; or
  • For recent Ontario graduates being considered under the TEER 0–3 pathway, meet or exceed the low-wage level for the occupation in the region of the job offer.

The wage level requirement is assessed on the basis of the data published by the federal government’s Job Bank, on the date the application is made.

In the event that Job Bank data is not available for the occupation and region at the time of application, the wage level requirement will be assessed first on the basis of the most recently available historical data for the region, and failing that, on the basis of the present-day nationwide data for the occupation.

At the discretion of the director, the employer “must have made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to fill the position with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident prior to offering the position to the applicant,” according to the regulations.

The applicant and the applicant’s family members must not hold, or have held, directly or indirectly, equity in the employer’s business, with an exception provided only for cases in which the equity had been obtained as employee compensation and the total amount held by the applicant and their family falls below 10% of the total equity.

Transport occupations exemption

To meet the exemption for transport occupations,

• The job offer must be in NOC 73300 or 73301; and
• The employer must have a valid CVOR certificate; and
• The employer must have a safety rating of Excellent or Satisfactory under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.

The granting of the OINP’s approval “must not be likely to affect the settlement of any labour dispute or the employment of a person involved in a labour dispute,” according to the regulations.

Consideration under the new EOI system

To be considered for provincial nomination under the Ontario Workforce Priority stream, a foreign national must create a new EOI in the province’s online system after the EOI system re-opens.

To support an eligible foreign national with a job offer, the foreign national’s employer must initiate a new EOI for their worker, by submitting a new job offer and new application for an approval of an employment position within the Employer Portal, once the Employer Portal has re-opened.

Employers will not be required to re-register for the Employer Portal if they have an existing registration within the Employer Portal.

After the EOI system re-opens, an eligible candidate must be selected by the OINP from the EOI pool, and invited to submit a complete application for provincial nomination to the OINP.

Upon responding to an invitation from the OINP with a complete application, a candidate can expect the OINP to process their application.

First phase of provincial immigration overhaul

The launch of the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream and its three pathways on June 26, as published on the ONIP website, marks the first phase of implementing Ontario’s overhaul of its provincial immigration program.

Full details of the three pathways have been published online in the latest version of O. Reg. 422/17 General.

The province had retired all its previous permanent residence pathways on May 30, 2026, without having launched any replacements.

The revocation of the now-defunct pathways took place as part of a planned overhaul, conducted by means of changes to the province’s regulations, that had been first announced in December 2025.

The second phase, for which no anticipated launch date has been announced, is expected to include the following three streams:

• Priority Healthcare Stream: For workers in healthcare professions who are licensed or on the route toward licensing. Will not require a job offer.
• Entrepreneur Stream: For owner-operators of businesses in Ontario.
• Exceptional Talent Stream: For foreign nationals with exceptional achievements in areas such as
  • science and technology,
  • arts, literature, and culture; and
  • academia.

Getting permanent residence through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

To get permanent residence through a PNP, a foreign national must have an intent to reside in a province or territory outside Quebec, and must first receive a nomination from the province or territory they intend to settle in, and then apply to the federal government for permanent residence as a provincial nominee.

In the case of the OINP, the overall process would look like this:

1. Meet all the requirements of at least one OINP permanent residence pathway.
2. Work together with your employer to have submitted an eligible expression of interest (EOI) profile in the OINP online EOI system.
3. Be selected by the OINP and receive an invitation to apply to the OINP for provincial nomination.
4. Submit an application for provincial nomination to the OINP.
5. Upon success, receive a nomination from the OINP, becoming a provincial nominee.
6. Apply to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence under the provincial nominee class.
7. Upon success, receive a confirmation of permanent residence (COPR) from IRCC.
8. Complete the landing process in Canada to receive PR.

For step 6, the process will vary depending on whether you apply through an enhanced PNP stream, which is integrated with the federal government’s Express Entry system, or through the base PNP.

For step 8, the process will vary depending on whether you are already in Canada during the period of time in which the immigration officer is finalizing their decision on your application for permanent residence, or whether you will be arriving from outside Canada to land.

Occupation TEERs

The Canadian government categorizes occupations using the National Occupation Classification (NOC) system, which ranks the skill level of occupations based on their Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) level, with TEER 0 being the highest-skilled occupations, and TEER 5 the lowest-skilled occupations: