Ontario Organizes the Biggest Expression of Interest Draws Ever

Canada is aiming to invite a larger number of immigrants in 2021 in order to make up for the immigration losses caused by the pandemic in 2020. The Canadian provinces are hence issuing more invitations to skilled candidates who will be able to boost their economies.

On July 13, the province of Ontario decided to hold three draws under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Ontario uses the PNP to select candidates who have the skills to fill the labor deficiencies in the market. The draws issued invitations to international students, temporary foreign workers, and any other candidate with an existing job offer in one of the rural communities.

Details of the draws

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) invited 1,685 eligible candidates in the July 13 draws to apply for a provincial nomination. Invitations were issued only to those candidates who had completed their profiles under the new Expression of Interest (EOI) pool.

The selected candidates are likely to fulfill the eligibility requirements of either of the two Employer Job Offer streams. The largest draw saw 1,211 candidates receiving invitations and they might be eligible for the Foreign Worker Stream. The required score for candidates to get invitations in this general draw was 33. Ontario held a second general draw via the International Student Stream in which a total of 431 candidates received invitations. The required EOI score for these candidates was 62, at the very least. The third draw saw OINP distributing 43 invitations among candidates registered in the Regional Immigration Pilot with the potential to fulfill the eligibility requirements of the Employer Job Offer streams.

Ontario has already released the instructions to be followed by candidates when filling out the provincial nomination form.