Ontario Introduces Three New Permanent Residence Pathways

Ontario has officially introduced the first phase of its redesigned provincial immigration program by launching three new pathways that provide eligible foreign nationals with an opportunity to obtain permanent residence.

According to the province's announcement, regulatory amendments came into effect on June 26, 2026, outlining the eligibility requirements for applicants seeking a provincial nomination through the newly established Ontario Workforce Priority Stream.

The stream consists of the following three pathways:

• TEER 0–3 Pathway – Designed for individuals working in higher-skilled occupations.

• TEER 4–5 Pathway – Intended for workers employed in lower-skilled occupations.

• Self-Employed Physicians Pathway – Created for physicians who are registered and eligible to bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

Although these pathways are now officially in force, interested applicants cannot submit an application until the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) reopens its Expression of Interest (EOI) system.

The OINP has indicated that the updated EOI system is expected to become available later this summer.

Ontario also plans to introduce three additional immigration streams during the second phase of its immigration program overhaul:

• Priority Healthcare Stream

• Entrepreneur Stream

• Exceptional Talent Stream

At the time of publication, no official launch date has been announced for these future pathways.

Applicants who already submitted an application under the previous OINP pathways will continue to have their files assessed using the eligibility rules that were in effect when their applications were received.

The new regulatory framework officially came into force on Thursday, June 25, 2026, and was publicly announced by the province on Friday morning, June 26, 2026.

TEER 0–3 Pathway Requirements

The TEER 0–3 Pathway is intended for foreign nationals who have secured employment in occupations that generally require post-secondary education, specialized training, or professional qualifications.

To qualify under this pathway, applicants must satisfy the following conditions.

Job Offer

Applicants must possess a full-time, permanent job offer from an eligible employer in Ontario for a position classified under TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3.

Language Requirement or Ontario Graduate Requirement

Applicants must meet one of the following criteria:

• Demonstrate the minimum language proficiency required for their occupation in either English or French, meeting Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 6 or CLB 5, depending on the occupation; or

• Qualify as a recent Ontario graduate.

In addition to the above, applicants must also satisfy one of the following pathways.

Option 1 – Licensing

Hold the necessary licence or authorization required to practise a regulated profession in Ontario.

Option 2 – Education and Work Experience

Meet both the minimum educational and work experience requirements.

Education Requirement

Applicants must possess one of the following:

• A post-secondary degree or diploma earned through a program requiring at least one year of full-time study; or

• Qualify under the Nurse Aid exemption; or

• Qualify under the Skilled Trades exemption.

Work Experience Requirement

Applicants must satisfy either the Occupational Work Experience Minimum or the Job Offer Work Experience Minimum.

Occupational Work Experience Minimum

Applicants must have accumulated the equivalent of at least two years of full-time work experience within the last five years.

This experience must:

• Be in the same occupation as the Ontario job offer; or

• Be in a related occupation where a specified exemption applies.

Part-time work experience may also be counted toward this requirement where permitted.

Job Offer Work Experience Minimum

Applicants must have completed the required consecutive work experience with the same employer who issued the qualifying Ontario job offer while residing in Ontario.

The minimum requirement is either:

• Six consecutive months of full-time work experience; or

• Three consecutive months of full-time work experience for recent graduates of eligible Ontario post-secondary institutions.

Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)

Applicants may present either:

• A Canadian post-secondary credential; or

• An equivalent foreign credential supported by a valid Educational Credential Assessment (ECA).

Definition of Full-Time and Part-Time Work Experience

For the purpose of this pathway:

• Full-time employment means working at least 30 hours per week in one position.

Part-time work experience may contribute toward the occupational work experience requirement in the following ways:

• One-for-one credit where multiple jobs were worked simultaneously for a combined total of at least 30 hours per week.

• Two-for-one credit where a single part-time position involved at least 15 hours of work per week.

Recent Ontario Graduate

An applicant will be considered a recent Ontario graduate if, within the previous three years, they completed one of the following at an eligible Ontario post-secondary institution:

• A degree or diploma from a program lasting at least two years of full-time study;

• An Ontario college graduate certificate;

• A Master's degree; or

• A PhD.

Nurse Aid Educational Exemption

Applicants with a job offer under NOC 33102 (Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates) may satisfy the educational requirement by completing an Ontario college certificate program that required at least one year of full-time study.

Skilled Trades Educational Exemption

Applicants may satisfy the education requirement with only a secondary school diploma (or equivalent) if their job offer falls under one of the following occupational groups:

• Major Group 72 – Technical trades and transportation officers and controllers (excluding occupations within 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 Sub-Major Group 932)

• Minor Group 6320 – Cooks, Butchers and Bakers

• Unit Group 62200 – Chefs

Applicants employed in these occupations may also satisfy the language requirement with CLB 5.

Transport Occupation Work Experience Rule

Applicants with job offers under:

• NOC 73300 – Transport truck drivers, or

• NOC 73301 – Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators

must satisfy the work experience requirement exclusively through the six-month consecutive employment requirement under the Job Offer Work Experience Minimum.

Occupational Work Experience Exemptions

Certain occupations allow related work experience to satisfy eligibility requirements.

These include:

Pharmacy Assistants

Applicants with job offers under NOC 33101 (Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants) may count work experience obtained under NOC 31120 (Pharmacists).

Nurse Aides and Orderlies

Applicants with job offers under NOC 33102 (Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates) may use qualifying work experience obtained under:

• NOC 32101 (Licensed Practical Nurses), or

• NOC 31301 (Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses).

Engineering Technician Occupations

Applicants with job offers classified under NOC Sub-Major Group 223 may count qualifying work experience gained under Sub-Major Group 213 (Professional Occupations in Engineering).

Applicants must also possess any licence, certification, or legal authorization required under Ontario or federal law if their occupation is regulated or requires professional authorization.

TEER 4–5 Pathway Requirements

The TEER 4–5 Pathway is intended for foreign nationals who have received job offers in occupations that generally require a secondary school education and/or several weeks of on-the-job training.

To qualify under this pathway, applicants must meet the following requirements.

Job Offer

Applicants must have a full-time, permanent job offer from an eligible Ontario employer in a TEER 4 or TEER 5 occupation. The offered wage must be at least equal to the median wage for that occupation in the applicable region.

Work Experience

Applicants must have accumulated at least nine months of work experience within the previous two years.

The work experience must:

• Be in the same occupation as the qualifying Ontario job offer.

• Be with the same employer who has extended the qualifying job offer.

Education

Applicants must possess:

• A secondary school diploma, or

• An equivalent educational credential.

Language Requirement

Applicants must demonstrate a minimum language proficiency of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4 in either English or French across all four language abilities.

Self-Employed Physicians Pathway Requirements

The Self-Employed Physicians Pathway is available to physicians who meet Ontario's licensing and billing requirements.

To qualify, applicants must:

• Hold a valid certificate of registration as an independent, academic, or provisional practitioner in Ontario.

• Be licensed and in good standing with the appropriate regulatory authority.

• Be eligible to bill medical services through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

Licensing requirements are established by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, while OHIP billing eligibility requirements are published separately by the Province of Ontario.

Employer Eligibility Requirements

Employers offering positions under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream must satisfy several eligibility criteria.

An eligible employer must:

• Maintain an active place of business in Ontario.

• Have been operating the business for at least three years.

Minimum Gross Annual Revenue

The employer must meet the minimum annual revenue requirement based on the location of its business.

Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

• Minimum annual revenue of $1,000,000 during the most recently completed fiscal year.

Major Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs)

• Minimum annual revenue of $500,000 during the most recently completed fiscal year.

Outside the GTA and Major CMAs

• Minimum annual revenue of $250,000 in each of the two most recently completed fiscal years.

Major CMAs include:

• Ottawa

• Waterloo

• Hamilton

• Niagara

• Essex

• Wellington

• Greater Sudbury

• Frontenac

• Brant

• Peterborough

• Hastings

• Thunder Bay

Minimum Employee Requirement

The employer must also employ a minimum number of full-time Canadian citizens and/or permanent residents at the location where the job is being offered.

Within the GTA

• At least five full-time Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Outside the GTA

• At least three full-time Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Labour Compliance

The employer must not have any outstanding orders issued under Ontario's major labour legislation.

Job Offer Requirements

To qualify under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, the job offer itself must meet several conditions.

The position must:

• Be full-time.

• Be permanent (not for a fixed or limited duration).

• Be urgently required for the employer's business operations.

• Be performed primarily in Ontario, unless it qualifies for the transportation occupation exemption.

• Pay at least the same wage the employer currently pays the applicant if the applicant is already employed by that employer.

Wage Requirements

The offered wage must satisfy one of the following conditions:

• Be equal to or higher than the median wage for the occupation in the region where the job is located; or

• For recent Ontario graduates applying through the TEER 0–3 Pathway, meet or exceed the low-wage threshold for that occupation in the applicable region.

Ontario determines wage requirements using the federal government's Job Bank wage data available on the date the application is submitted.

If current Job Bank wage information is unavailable for a particular occupation and region, the province will use:

1. The most recent historical wage data for that region; or

2. If regional information is unavailable, the current national wage data for that occupation.

Recruitment Requirement

According to the regulations, the program director may require the employer to demonstrate that they made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to recruit a Canadian citizen or permanent resident before offering the position to the foreign national.

Ownership Restriction

Neither the applicant nor their family members may directly or indirectly own equity in the employer's business.

The only exception applies where:

• The ownership interest was received as employee compensation; and

• The combined ownership held by the applicant and their family members is less than 10% of the employer's total equity.

Transport Occupation Exemption

Certain transportation occupations qualify for an exemption to the Ontario work location requirement.

To qualify, the following conditions must all be met:

• The job offer must fall under NOC 73300 (Transport truck drivers) or NOC 73301 (Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators).

• The employer must hold a valid Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration (CVOR) certificate.

• The employer must have a safety rating of Excellent or Satisfactory under Ontario's Highway Traffic Act.

Labour Dispute Requirement

The regulations also state that provincial nomination approval must not be likely to affect the resolution of a labour dispute or the employment of an individual involved in such a dispute.

Consideration Under the New Expression of Interest (EOI) System

To be considered for provincial nomination through the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, foreign nationals must submit a new Expression of Interest (EOI) once the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) reopens its online EOI system.

For applicants who have a qualifying job offer, their employer must also participate in the process by initiating a new Expression of Interest on the worker's behalf. This requires the employer to submit:

• A new job offer; and

• A new application requesting approval of the employment position through the Employer Portal after it reopens.

Employers who are already registered in the Employer Portal will not need to register again.

Once the EOI system is active, eligible candidates must:

1. Create a new EOI profile.

2. Be selected from the OINP Expression of Interest pool.

3. Receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) from the OINP.

4. Submit a complete application for provincial nomination.

After a complete application is submitted, the OINP will assess the application according to program requirements.

First Phase of Ontario's Provincial Immigration Overhaul

The launch of the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream and its three new pathways on June 26, 2026, marks the beginning of Ontario's broader overhaul of its provincial immigration system.

Complete details of these pathways have been published under the latest version of O. Reg. 422/17 General.

Prior to launching these new pathways, Ontario officially closed all previous permanent residence streams on May 30, 2026, without immediately replacing them.

The removal of the former pathways formed part of a planned modernization of Ontario's immigration program, which was first announced in December 2025.

Additional Immigration Streams Expected in Phase Two

Ontario has also confirmed that a second phase of the immigration overhaul will introduce three additional streams.

Although no launch date has yet been announced, the planned streams include:

Priority Healthcare Stream

Designed for healthcare professionals who are already licensed in Ontario or are actively working toward obtaining their licence.

Unlike several other pathways, this stream will not require a job offer.

Entrepreneur Stream

Created for individuals who intend to establish or operate a business in Ontario as owner-operators.

Exceptional Talent Stream

Intended for foreign nationals who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in one or more of the following fields:

• Science and technology

• Arts

• Literature and culture

• Academia

Obtaining Permanent Residence Through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

Foreign nationals who wish to become permanent residents through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) must first demonstrate their intention to settle in a Canadian province or territory outside Quebec.

The process begins by obtaining a provincial nomination from the province or territory where the applicant plans to live. After receiving the nomination, the applicant must then apply to the federal government for permanent residence under the Provincial Nominee Class.

Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) Process

For applicants using the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, the permanent residence process generally involves the following steps:

Step 1

Meet all eligibility requirements for at least one OINP permanent residence pathway.

Step 2

Work with the employer to submit an eligible Expression of Interest (EOI) through the OINP online EOI system.

Step 3

Be selected from the EOI pool and receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) from the OINP.

Step 4

Submit a complete application for provincial nomination.

Step 5

If approved, receive an Ontario provincial nomination and officially become a provincial nominee.

Step 6

Apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence under the Provincial Nominee Class.

Step 7

If the federal application is approved, receive a Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR).

Step 8

Complete the permanent residence landing process in Canada and officially become a permanent resident.

The procedure for Step 6 depends on whether the application is submitted through:

• An Enhanced Provincial Nominee Program, which is linked to the federal Express Entry system; or

• A Base Provincial Nominee Program.

Similarly, the landing process in Step 8 will vary depending on whether the applicant is already in Canada when the application is finalized or is arriving from outside Canada.

Understanding TEER Levels

Canada classifies occupations using the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system.

Occupations are assigned a Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category based on the level of skill and qualifications generally required for the position.

The six TEER categories are:

These TEER classifications determine which Ontario Workforce Priority Stream pathway an applicant may qualify for and help establish the applicable eligibility requirements.