Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program Announces Temporary Pause on High Volume Streams
On May 9, 2016, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (“OINP”) announced that the Province of Ontario had received a sufficient number of OINP applications to meet its 2016 federal allocation. As a result, it has placed a temporary pause on the intake of applications under what it refers to as “select, high-volume” OINP streams. However, it claims that other lower-volume OINP streams continue to be available.
The OINP announcement confirms the following facts:
- The OINP stopped sending Notifications of Interest for the Human Capital Priorities (Express Entry) Stream on February 16, 2016.
- The OINP temporarily paused the intake of new applications for the following high-volume OINP streams at 5:00 pm EDT on May 9, 2016: (1) Employer Pre-Screen, (2) International Student – Masters Graduate Stream, (3) International Student – PhD Graduate Stream.
- All applications for the Employer Pre-Screen and International Students (both Masters Graduate and PhD Graduate) streams sent after 5:00 pm EDT on May 9, 2016, will not be processed and will be returned to the applicant along with the unprocessed payment.
- The OINP will continue to accept nominee applications under the Foreign Worker and International Student with a Job Offer Streams, in connection with any Employer Pre-Screen application that was filed before the above cutoff date, once that Employer Pre-Screen application has been adjudicated. These applicants will have 60 days from the date of the Employer Pre-Screen approval letter to apply under either of these streams.
- The OINP continues to accept and process applications for the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream and the Corporate Stream. The OINP also continues to accept Expressions of Interest for the Entrepreneur Stream.
The announcement also states that the OINP expects to receive its 2017 nomination allocation from the federal government before the end of November 2016, and that it will be in a position to accept applications for some streams in six months.