Ontario PNP (OINP) in 2026: streams and draws

This guide is for skilled workers, nurses, graduates and families who want to make Ontario their permanent home and need to know how the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) chooses people today. Ontario rebuilt its program in 2026, so much of what was written about it before the summer no longer applies.

Who Ontario suits

In 2026 Ontario suits people who already have, or can realistically obtain, a full-time, permanent job offer from an Ontario employer. Since the redesign, almost every route into the OINP starts with an employer.

Your chances are better if you work in one of the fields Ontario now scores highly — healthcare, early childhood education, mining, agriculture and the skilled trades — or if you speak French. Where your job is also counts, because Ontario scores candidates by region as well as by occupation.

Ontario suits fewer people than before if you are abroad, have no Ontario job offer and were hoping Ontario would pick you from the Express Entry pool. Those streams are closed. For you, the realistic federal routes are on our Express Entry page.

How the OINP works in 2026

A provincial nomination is not permanent residence. It is Ontario's recommendation; you then apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which checks your medicals, security and admissibility and makes the final decision.

Across Canada there are two kinds of nomination. A base nomination is made outside Express Entry, and you then apply to IRCC directly. An enhanced nomination is made through Express Entry and adds 600 points to your CRS score. Until June 2026, Ontario ran three Express Entry streams that searched the federal pool. It no longer does: its one current stream selects through Ontario's own expression of interest (EOI) portal.

The steps are:

Register an EOI in the OINP portal for the pathway that fits your job offer.
Your profile is scored. Ontario's scoring is based on region and occupation, and it favours healthcare, early childhood education, mining, agriculture, trades and French speakers.
Draws. Ontario holds draws by stream and region and invites the highest-scoring profiles to apply. In 2026 it has held regional draws with different score cut-offs for different regions.
Apply to Ontario, then, once nominated, apply to IRCC for permanent residence.

Places are limited. Ontario issued 10,750 nominations in 2025 and reached its allocation on 17 December 2025. Nationally, the provinces and territories received 43,999 nomination spaces for 2026, and IRCC set aside 10,000 more for licensed doctors and for francophone immigration outside Quebec.

The stream open now: Ontario Workforce Priority

The Ontario Workforce Priority stream opened its EOI portal on 4 August 2026. It has three pathways. Details and the portal are on the 2026 OINP updates page.

TEER 0–3 pathway. For skilled workers in any TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 occupation with a full-time, permanent job offer in Ontario. You need CLB 6 (CLB 5 for certain occupations) and a post-secondary degree or diploma. You must show one of: six consecutive months in the last 12 in the job-offer position; two years of cumulative experience in the last five in the occupation; or, for recent Ontario graduates, three consecutive months in the last 12. Licensed professionals are exempt from the experience rule.

TEER 4–5 pathway. For workers in intermediate and labour occupations with a full-time, permanent job offer. You need CLB 4, a Canadian secondary school diploma or its equivalent, and nine months of cumulative experience with the employer in the last two years.

Self-employed physicians. Doctors who are members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, with valid registration in an eligible class, can be considered without a job offer.

Alongside the OINP, two federal pilots take people into Ontario communities. Under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay take part; under the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot, Sudbury, Timmins and the Superior East Region. Both need a job offer from an employer the community has designated and the community's recommendation. Each community sets its own sectors and intake dates — see IRCC's community list.

What changed in 2025–2026

2025: the cut. Provincial allocations across Canada were cut by about half for 2025. Ontario nominated 10,750 people that year.
25 March 2025: no job-offer points. A job offer no longer earns CRS points in Express Entry. In Ontario, a job offer now matters through the OINP, not through your CRS score.
26 June 2026: eight streams closed. Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker; Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills; Employer Job Offer: International Student; Master's Graduate; PhD Graduate; Express Entry Human Capital Priorities; Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker; and Express Entry Skilled Trades.
4 August 2026: one new stream. The Ontario Workforce Priority EOI portal opened, with higher language and education benchmarks than the old employer streams.
Phase 2 is announced but has no date. Ontario has called this the first of a two-phase redesign. Until Phase 2 is published, do not plan on a stream that does not yet exist. Ontario's official program pages currently list no entrepreneur stream.

Priority occupations and sectors

Ontario's EOI scoring favours healthcare, early childhood education, mining, agriculture and the skilled trades, and gives weight to French speakers and to jobs by region. You can browse occupations on this site at /occupations/.

Nurses. Since 1 April 2025 the College of Nurses of Ontario accepts education assessments from WES, ICAS, ICES or NNAS/TruMerit, not only NNAS. Nursing education from any jurisdiction can count if it meets the credential level (a baccalaureate for RNs, a diploma for RPNs). An NCLEX pass elsewhere satisfies the exam requirement but no longer the education requirement. You will also need a transition-to-practice assessment, the NCLEX-RN, the jurisprudence exam and language proof.

Teachers and early childhood educators. Teachers are certified by the Ontario College of Teachers. Since 1 February 2025 the Math Proficiency Test is mandatory, with at least 70% in each section; internationally educated teachers must pass it within two years of initial certification.

Express Entry still matters. Healthcare and social services, trades and French-language categories all held federal draws in 2026. A nurse or tradesperson may qualify federally without Ontario's help — see Express Entry.

Students and graduates

Ontario has closed its Master's Graduate, PhD Graduate and International Student job-offer streams. There is no longer a stream for graduates without a job offer.

Graduates now come in through the TEER 0–3 pathway, and the shorter experience rule helps them: recent Ontario graduates need three consecutive months in the last 12 in the job-offer position, instead of six.

Federally, one year of skilled work in Canada can make you eligible for the Canadian Experience Class, and a Canadian post-secondary credential adds 15 or 30 CRS points. Choose your programme and your first job with permanent residence in mind, not only the study permit.

Families and settling in

Your spouse or partner and dependent children are normally included in your permanent residence application once you are nominated.
Spousal open work permits are now limited to spouses of workers in TEER 0–1 or priority-sector jobs, and of master's and doctoral students. Check this before your spouse plans to work.
Ontario scores jobs by region and has held its draws region by region, and the federal pilots cover only named communities. Where the job is matters, so weigh where your family would be ready to live.
Nurses and teachers should start licensing early: the regulator's process, not the immigration form, is usually the slowest step.

Following Ontario draws on this site

We report OINP draws, stream notices and Phase 2 news as they are published under /category/pnp-news/. Topic pages collect the background on each subject at /topics/. For federal Express Entry rounds, including the provincial-nominee draws, follow IRCNews.

How Polinsys helps

Joy Stephen, RCIC (CICC licence R419719), gives you an honest written assessment before any fee: whether your job offer and occupation fit the Workforce Priority stream, which pathway applies, how your region and occupation are likely to be scored, and whether a federal route or another province suits you better. If you go ahead, we prepare your EOI and nomination application, check your employer's documents, and then prepare your permanent residence application to IRCC. We never promise a result; we tell you plainly where you stand. Ask your questions first at our free Friday Q&A: https://polinsys.com/webinar/.