Where this stands
One stream now, where there were eight
Amending regulation 204-26 to Ontario Regulation 422/17 came into force on 25 June 2026 and removed all eight OINP streams. The replacement, the Ontario Workforce Priority stream, has three pathways. Expressions of Interest registered under the old streams that had not produced an invitation were withdrawn automatically, and the new Expression of Interest system opened on 4 August 2026.
Applications already submitted following an invitation under a former stream continue to be assessed against the rules that applied when they were submitted.
Ontario runs the largest provincial nominee programme in the country, so this is the most consequential provincial change of the year. It is also unfinished. The province has described what has happened as phase one of a two phase redesign, and phase two has not been announced.
Two things follow for anyone planning. Advice given before the summer of 2026 about Ontario is almost certainly describing streams that no longer exist. And a strategy built on the current rules should account for the fact that the province has already shown it will replace its entire programme with a single regulation.
The federal allocation matters as much as the criteria. Ontario's nomination allocation fell from 21,500 in 2024 to 10,750 in 2025, and the province used all of it by 17 December 2025. A programme's rules tell you whether you can apply. The allocation tells you how many people can succeed.
What closed, and when
If you were told you qualified for any of these, that advice is now historical. Two of them closed for reasons worth knowing about.
| Former stream | Closed | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Job Offer, Foreign Worker | 25 June 2026 | Covered TEER 0 to 3 only |
| Employer Job Offer, International Student | 25 June 2026 | For recent Canadian graduates with an Ontario offer |
| Employer Job Offer, In Demand Skills | 25 June 2026 | Selected specific TEER 4 and 5 occupations in each round rather than publishing a fixed list |
| PhD Graduate | 25 June 2026 | Required no job offer |
| Express Entry, Human Capital Priorities | 25 June 2026 | Operated through the federal pool rather than Ontario's own system |
| Express Entry, French Speaking Skilled Worker | 25 June 2026 | Operated through the federal pool |
| Express Entry, Skilled Trades | 25 June 2026 | Already suspended on 14 November 2025 over compliance and misrepresentation concerns, with outstanding applications returned and fees refunded, then abolished |
| Masters Graduate | 30 May 2026 | Required no job offer. Closed ahead of the others by a preparatory regulatory change |
| Entrepreneur | Archived | Its page now redirects to the Archives of Ontario. It issued 91 nominations in 2024. We have not found an official closure date and do not state one |
The loss that matters most is the graduate routes. Masters and PhD graduates of Ontario universities could be nominated with no job offer at all, which made Ontario the obvious province for an international student finishing a research degree. Nothing in the replacement reproduces that. Every pathway now requires a job offer, apart from the one for self employed physicians. If you came to Ontario to study on the strength of that route, the plan needs rebuilding.
The three pathways
All three sit inside one stream and share one Expression of Interest pool and one points grid. What differs is who they are for and what they demand.
| TEER 0 to 3 | TEER 4 to 5 | Self employed physicians | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job offer | Required. Full time, at least 1,560 hours a year and 30 hours a week, permanent with no end date, located in Ontario | Required, on the same terms | Not required |
| Occupations | Any occupation at TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3. No occupation list | Any occupation at TEER 4 or 5. No occupation list | Physician occupations |
| Wage | At or above the median wage for that occupation in that employment region. Recent Ontario graduates need only meet the low wage level | At or above the median wage for the region | Not applicable |
| Work experience | One of four routes, set out below | 9 months of paid work in the specific job offer position within the previous 2 years | Not required, though it scores |
| Language | CLB 6 in all four abilities, or CLB 5 for a listed skilled trade. Recent Ontario graduates are exempt from the test | CLB 4 in all four abilities | Not required |
| Education | A post secondary credential of at least one year, or secondary school for a listed skilled trade. An educational credential assessment is required if obtained abroad | A Canadian secondary school diploma or equivalent | Not required |
| Ontario residence | Not required. You may apply from outside Canada | Not required | Not required |
| Age limit | None | None | None |
Seasonal and fixed term contract positions do not qualify as permanent. Piece work, bonuses, commissions, vacation pay and non financial compensation do not count toward the offered wage. Where the position is covered by a collective agreement, the wage level requirements do not apply.
Four ways to meet the experience requirement
TEER 0 to 3 pathway
Only one of these has to be satisfied, and the differences between them are large enough that the right one is worth identifying before anything is filed.
- Six months in the job offer position. At least six consecutive months of paid full time work in that specific position, meaning the same occupation with the same employer at the same location, within the twelve months before you apply. At least 780 hours at 30 hours a week or more.
- Three months, for a recent Ontario graduate. Reduced to three consecutive months, at least 390 hours, in the same position. A recent Ontario graduate means someone who completed a post secondary credential of at least two years, an Ontario College Graduate Certificate, a master's degree or a doctorate at an eligible Ontario institution within the previous three years.
- Two years in the same occupation anywhere. At least two years of cumulative paid full time work, or the part time equivalent, in the same occupation as the job offer within the five years before you apply, being at least 3,120 hours. Certain related occupations are accepted, including professional engineering experience for an engineering technician offer, pharmacist experience for a pharmacy assistant offer, and licensed practical or registered nursing experience for a nurse aide offer.
- A mandatory licence instead. Holding a licence or authorisation legally required to work in the position removes the experience requirement altogether. This does not apply to transport truck drivers or bus drivers.
The recent graduate concessions are the most valuable thing in the new stream. Three months of experience instead of six, no language test, and a job offer that only has to reach the low wage level rather than the median. For an international student finishing at an Ontario institution, that combination substantially replaces what the closed graduate streams used to offer, though it now requires an employer.
Self employed physicians
This is the only pathway with no job offer, and it is built around Ontario's own regulatory machinery rather than around employment.
- Billing eligibility. You must be eligible to receive payment for publicly funded health services under the Health Insurance Act, which in practice means holding an Ontario Health Insurance Plan billing number.
- College registration. A certificate of registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, in the independent practice, academic practice or provisional class, and membership in good standing.
- Postgraduate licence holders are excluded. A postgraduate education licence does not qualify under this pathway, though a physician holding one may still apply with a job offer if they have one.
- No other self employment qualifies. Contractors and anyone providing services without an employer and employee relationship are outside the stream entirely. This pathway is for physicians and nobody else.
The points grid
Ontario publishes the whole grid, which is unusual and useful. There is no published pass mark; cut offs are announced after each round and vary by pathway, region and whether the round was targeted.
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| Occupation TEER 0 or 1 | 9 |
| TEER 2 or 3 | 6 |
| TEER 4 or 5 | 0 |
| Occupational category health | 10 |
| Trades, transport and equipment operators | 8 |
| Natural and applied sciences | 6 |
| Management, business, education and law, manufacturing, resources and agriculture | 4 |
| Arts and culture, sales and service | 2 |
| Hourly wage $40 or more | 15 |
| $35 to $39.99 | 12 |
| $30 to $34.99 | 10 |
| $25 to $29.99 | 8 |
| $20 to $24.99 | 5 |
| Under $20 | 0 |
| Ontario experience over 24 months in the job offer position | 18 |
| 13 to 24 months in the position | 15 |
| 6 to 12 months in the position | 12 |
| Otherwise, over 24 months working in Ontario | 12 |
| 13 to 24 months in Ontario | 9 |
| 6 to 12 months in Ontario | 6 |
| Canadian earnings history $70,000 or more in a year | 8 |
| $50,000 to $69,999 | 6 |
| $30,000 to $49,999 | 4 |
| Status in Canada valid work permit | 10 |
| Valid study permit | 5 |
| Education doctorate, or a degree in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or optometry | 10 |
| Master's degree | 8 |
| Bachelor's degree, or a university credential above bachelor level | 6 |
| College or trades credential, or an Ontario College Graduate Certificate | 5 |
| Canadian credentials more than one | 10 |
| One | 5 |
| Language CLB 9 or above | 15 |
| CLB 8 | 12 |
| CLB 7 | 8 |
| CLB 6 | 4 |
| Both official languages at CLB 6 or above in each | 10 |
| One official language | 5 |
| Where you will work Northern Ontario | 15 |
| Eastern, Central outside the Greater Toronto Area, or Southwestern Ontario | 10 |
| Greater Toronto Area outside the City of Toronto | 5 |
| City of Toronto | 0 |
Toronto scores nothing, and Northern Ontario scores fifteen. On a grid whose theoretical maximum is about 130, location is worth more than your language score and more than any education credential. Two candidates with identical records, one hired in Toronto and one hired in Thunder Bay, are fifteen points apart before anything else is looked at. For anyone whose employer has more than one site, or who is genuinely open about where in Ontario they live, this is the single most efficient thing to change.
Northern Ontario means Muskoka, Haliburton, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Manitoulin, Sudbury and Greater Sudbury, Timiskaming, Cochrane, Algoma, Thunder Bay, Rainy River and Kenora. The Greater Toronto Area means the City of Toronto together with Durham, Halton, Peel and York. Ontario sets and may change these figures at any time.
Ontario score estimator
Built from Ontario's published grid. It returns an estimate only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited. Ontario does not publish cut offs in advance.
Your situation
Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
What Ontario asks of the employer
Every pathway except the physician one depends on an employer who qualifies in their own right, and these requirements are assessed separately from yours. A file can be perfect on the applicant's side and fail here.
| Requirement | Inside the Greater Toronto Area | Mid sized regions | Everywhere else in Ontario |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross annual revenue | $1,000,000 | $500,000 | $250,000, across the last two completed fiscal years |
| Full time employees who are citizens or permanent residents, at that location | 5 | 3 | |
| Years in active business | 3, before the application is submitted | ||
| Premises | A business premises in Ontario where the employee will actually work | ||
| Compliance | No outstanding orders under the Employment Standards Act or the Occupational Health and Safety Act | ||
| Domestic recruitment | At least two recruitment methods, advertised for at least four weeks, unless the worker is already authorised to work in Ontario or the employer holds a positive labour market impact assessment for the same occupation and position | ||
The mid sized regions are Ottawa, Waterloo, Hamilton, Simcoe, Middlesex, Niagara, Essex, Wellington, Greater Sudbury, Frontenac, Brant, Peterborough, Hastings and Thunder Bay. Transport truck driver and bus driver positions additionally require a valid Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration with an excellent or satisfactory safety rating. Ontario Public Service entities cannot participate as employers.
The rural revenue threshold is a quarter of the Toronto one. A business outside the larger centres needs $250,000 of revenue rather than $1,000,000, and three qualifying employees rather than five. Combined with fifteen regionalisation points for Northern Ontario, the programme is now built to push hiring out of Toronto. Where an employer has sites in more than one region, which site the offer is written against changes both whether the employer qualifies and how the candidate scores. What this means if you are the employer.
How the process runs
The employer moves first, and then a short clock starts that catches people out.
- The employer registers and submits the job offerThrough Ontario's Employer Portal. The employer, not the applicant, begins the process. Once submitted, you receive a job offer identifier.
- You register an Expression of Interest within 30 calendar daysMiss it and the job offer expires and the employer has to submit a new one. Registering an Expression of Interest is free.
- Your Expression of Interest sits in the pool for 12 monthsIf you are not invited within twelve months it is removed automatically and you start again.
- Ontario invites, generally or by targetThe province ranks the pool and invites the highest scorers, and may run targeted rounds by occupation, region or other attributes.
- You apply, and pay$1,500 outside the Greater Toronto Area, $2,000 inside it. Refunded if the application is incomplete or you withdraw before processing starts. Not refunded once processing begins, or if the application is refused.
- Nomination, then permanent residenceA nomination adds 600 points to your federal ranking score. The permanent residence decision is federal, not provincial.
Thirty days, and the employer controls the start. The clock runs from the employer's submission, not from anything you do, so an applicant who is travelling, unwell or simply unaware can lose the offer without ever seeing a deadline. Where we act for both sides on a joint retainer, this is one of the practical reasons why.
What we do not state
Because it is not confirmed
Four things about the new stream could not be confirmed from Ontario's own published material, so this page does not assert them. Each is the sort of gap that another site will fill with a guess.
- Settlement funds. The closed graduate streams required them at a published amount. The new stream's page does not list them as a criterion. Whether the regulation imposes them is unresolved, so we do not say either way.
- Ontario's 2026 nomination allocation. The 2025 figure was 10,750 and was exhausted by 17 December 2025. The 2026 figure is not published in the sources we checked.
- The Entrepreneur stream's closure date. Its page is archived, so it is plainly not open, but we have found no official closure announcement and will not invent a date.
- When the current fees took effect. The amounts are confirmed. The regulation that set them is not.
Any of these can be established for a live file. They are absent here rather than hedged, because a dated page that quietly guesses is worse than one that says what it does not know.