2026 Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) Updates
Ontario rebuilt the OINP in 2026. Eight streams closed on 25 June, a single Ontario Workforce Priority stream replaced them, and the expression of interest portal reopened on 4 August. This page tracks every 2026 draw, every rule change, and the full draw history back to 2023.
- Where the OINP stands today
- 2026 timeline of changes
- The Ontario Workforce Priority stream
- What closed and what happens to old applications
- 2026 draw results in detail
- Full draw history, 2023 to 2026
- Would your score have been invited?
- Year by year allocations and results
- What to expect for the rest of 2026
- Frequently asked questions
Where the OINP stands today
Ontario has not issued a single invitation since 30 April 2026. That is the longest gap in the program’s recent history, and it is deliberate. The province spent May and June rewriting the regulation that governs the OINP, closed every stream that had been running, and then spent July and August building the replacement.
The practical position as of 16 August 2026 is simple. There is one live stream, the Ontario Workforce Priority stream. Its expression of interest portal opened on 4 August. No draw has been held from it yet, and Ontario has not published a draw calendar or a minimum score.
Ontario Workforce Priority stream
EOI portal live since 4 August 2026. Three pathways: TEER 0 to 3, TEER 4 to 5, and self-employed physicians. No draws held yet.
Employer Job Offer streams
Foreign Worker, International Student and In-Demand Skills all ended on 25 June 2026. Last draws were 22 to 30 April 2026.
Master's and PhD Graduate streams
Both ran their final rounds on 22 April 2026 and closed with the rest. No graduate-only pathway exists at the moment.
Express Entry streams
Human Capital Priorities, French-Speaking Skilled Worker and Skilled Trades. The Skilled Trades stream was already suspended in November 2025 over fraud concerns.
Phase 2 streams
Ontario has signalled further pathways, including proposals covering priority healthcare, entrepreneurs and exceptional talent. No eligibility rules or launch dates have been published.
First Workforce Priority draw
Ontario gives no advance notice. Results are posted to the official program updates page after the fact, usually within a day or two.
2026 timeline of changes
Everything that moved this year, in order. The regulatory dates matter as much as the draw dates, because they are what closed the door on the old streams.
A 31% increase on the 10,750 slots Ontario had in 2025, but still only about two thirds of its 2024 allocation of 21,500.
Six rounds covering physicians, healthcare and early childhood educators, and the REDI pilot. Profiles created between 2 July 2025 and 28 January 2026 were in scope.
Ontario publishes amendments to Ontario Regulation 422/17 under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015, setting up the redesign.
The Master's and PhD Graduate streams return after a long absence, alongside physician and REDI rounds.
Greater Toronto Area, Southwestern, Central, Eastern and Northern Ontario, all under the Employer Job Offer streams.
759 invitations to candidates in mining-related occupations, a signal of where Ontario's labour priorities were heading.
Healthcare and early childhood educators were invited from a Foreign Worker score of 20, the lowest published cut-off in 2026.
Agriculture from a score of 35, other priority occupations from 36.
918 to Master's and PhD graduates, then 2,156 across four regions.
1,063 invitations to Greater Toronto Area candidates. Foreign Worker from 57, International Student from 81. No draw has been held since.
The regulation that gives the OINP director power to run general and targeted invitation rounds comes into force.
The Expression of Interest system closes to new profiles. Unactioned EOIs and registered job offers are withdrawn. The Ontario Workforce Priority stream is introduced in regulation.
Ontario updates its webpages with the criteria for the new stream, including pathway requirements and employer thresholds.
Employers and candidates can register again for the first time since 25 June. Draw timing has not been announced.
The Ontario Workforce Priority stream
This is now the only way into the OINP. It is employer driven, it covers every TEER category, and it replaces eight separate streams with one set of rules and one expression of interest pool.
The biggest change is who starts the process. Under the old Employer Job Offer streams a candidate could create a profile and wait. Now the job offer sits at the centre. An Ontario employer registers the position, the candidate is attached to it, and the province ranks the combined profile.
The second big change is coverage. Every TEER 4 and TEER 5 occupation is eligible, not just a closed list of in-demand occupations. That opens the program to a much wider group of support workers, provided they already have Ontario work experience with the employer making the offer.
| Requirement | TEER 0 to 3 pathway | TEER 4 to 5 pathway | Self-employed physicians |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job offer | Permanent, full time, in Ontario | Permanent, full time, in Ontario | Not required |
| Work experience | 6 consecutive months with the employer in the offered role within the last 12 months, or 3 months for recent Ontario graduates, or 2 years cumulative in the same NOC in the last 5 years | 9 months of paid full-time experience in the offered position, gained while lawfully working in Ontario, within the last 2 years | Membership in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario |
| Language | CLB 6, reduced to CLB 5 for certain occupations | CLB 4 | Set out in the stream criteria |
| Education | Post-secondary credential, or an ECA less than 5 years old for foreign credentials | Canadian secondary school diploma or an assessed equivalent | Medical qualifications recognised in Ontario |
| Wage | At or above the Job Bank median for the occupation and region. A lower wage is only accepted for recent Ontario graduates | At or above the applicable median wage | Eligible to bill OHIP |
| Registration certificate | Not applicable | Not applicable | Independent practice, academic practice or provisional certificate |
Employer revenue thresholds
| Where the job is located | Minimum annual gross revenue |
|---|---|
| Greater Toronto Area | $1,000,000 |
| Other census metropolitan areas | $500,000 |
| Rural and northern communities, census divisions under 150,000 people | $250,000 |
How candidates will be selected
The regulation gives the OINP director two tools. A general invitation round ranks everyone in the pool. A targeted invitation round only ranks candidates who meet labour market or human capital attributes the director sets for that round, such as an occupation group, a region, or a language. Only the highest ranked candidates who meet those attributes are invited.
Ranking factors published so far include the occupation and its TEER category, the wage offered, Canadian and Ontario work experience, education, language ability, where the job is located, provincial labour market priorities, and the characteristics of the employer. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee an invitation.
What closed, and what happens to applications already in the system
Eight streams were removed from the regulation. Here is what each one was doing before it stopped, and where its candidates stand now.
| Closed stream | Final draw | Final cut-off | Where those candidates stand now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker | 30 April 2026 | 57 (GTA) | Replaced by the TEER 0 to 3 pathway. Similar idea, tighter experience and wage rules. |
| Employer Job Offer: International Student | 30 April 2026 | 81 (GTA) | No student-specific stream now. Recent Ontario graduates get a shorter experience requirement instead. |
| Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills | 23 April 2026 | 34 to 35 | Replaced by the TEER 4 to 5 pathway, which covers far more occupations. |
| Master's Graduate | 22 April 2026 | 61 | No replacement. Graduates now need a qualifying job offer. |
| PhD Graduate | 22 April 2026 | 56 | No replacement. Same position as master's graduates. |
| Express Entry Human Capital Priorities | 2024 | CRS 471 to 480 | No Express Entry aligned stream is currently running in Ontario. |
| Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker | 2024 | CRS 308 to 434 | Francophone candidates were still targeted through the Employer Job Offer streams in April 2026. |
| Express Entry Skilled Trades | 2024, suspended November 2025 | CRS 320+ | Suspended over systemic misrepresentation and fraud. Outstanding applications were returned with fee refunds. |
Transition rules
The rules split three ways depending on how far along you were on 25 June 2026.
Application already submitted
If you were invited and had filed your application, it continues to be assessed under the eligibility rules that applied when you were invited. Nothing changes for you.
Invited but not yet applied
Your invitation carries its own deadline. Check the date on the invitation itself, since it was issued under the former rules.
EOI or job offer with no invitation
Withdrawn automatically. There is no appeal and no transfer. Registering again under the Workforce Priority stream is the only route.
2026 draw results in detail
Ontario issued 12,238 invitations across 30 rounds between 2 February and 30 April 2026, then stopped. Against a 14,119 nomination allocation, that means roughly 87% of the year’s invitation capacity was used in under 13 weeks.
Two patterns stand out. First, healthcare and early childhood education absorbed the largest single blocks, with 1,635 invitations on 8 April alone at a Foreign Worker cut-off of 20. Second, cut-offs for the regional rounds rose sharply between March and April as the pool thinned out and Ontario pushed volume through faster.
Invitations by draw date, 2026
Total 12,238 invitations. No rounds have been held since 30 April 2026.
How regional Foreign Worker cut-offs moved
| Region | March round | April round | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Ontario | 57 | 63 | +6 |
| Northern Ontario | 54 | 60 | +6 |
| Southwestern Ontario | 53 | 60 | +7 |
| Central Ontario | 55 | 60 | +5 |
| Greater Toronto Area | 61 | 57 | -4 |
March rounds were held on 25 March 2026. April rounds were held on 23 April 2026, except the Greater Toronto Area, which was drawn on 30 April 2026.
Full OINP draw history, 2023 to 2026
Every published round for the last four years. Filter by year or stream, search by occupation group or region, and sort by clicking a column heading.
| Date | Stream | Targeted group or region | Invitations | Score |
|---|
Would your score have been invited?
The Workforce Priority stream uses a new ranking system and Ontario has not published a cut-off for it yet. Until it does, the closest guide is how the old scores performed. Enter the score you held under an Employer Job Offer or graduate stream to see which 2026 rounds you would have cleared.
2026 invitation check
Year by year: allocations, invitations and what changed
Ontario’s allocation is set by the federal government and it has swung hard. The 2025 cut was the reason draws stopped for four months that year. The 2026 recovery is real but partial.
Federal nomination allocation by year
| Year | Nomination allocation | Rounds recorded | Invitations recorded | What defined the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 14,119 | 30 | 12,238 | Draws ran February to April only. Eight streams closed on 25 June and the Workforce Priority stream replaced them. |
| 2025 | 10,750 | 26 | 12,456 | Allocation cut by half. No general draws between mid-January and 3 June. The Express Entry Skilled Trades stream was suspended in November over fraud. |
| 2024 | 21,500 | 21 | 16,659 | The largest allocation Ontario has had. Reached its limit in December. |
| 2023 | 16,500 | 58 | 40,617 | Record nomination year. Heavy use of Express Entry aligned rounds, which issued notifications of interest in large volumes. |
2022 allocation was 9,750 for comparison. Rounds and invitations for 2023 and 2024 are compiled from published reports and may not be exhaustive.
What to expect for the rest of 2026
Ontario has used 12,238 invitations against a 14,119 nomination allocation. Invitations do not convert one to one into nominations, since some invited candidates never apply and some applications are refused, so there is room left in the allocation. That is the main argument for a Workforce Priority draw before the end of the year.
Three things are worth watching between now and December.
1. The first Workforce Priority round
It will set the benchmark score for the new system. Expect it to be a targeted round rather than a general one, since every draw Ontario ran in 2026 was targeted by occupation or region.
2. Healthcare keeps its priority
Healthcare and early childhood education took the largest blocks and the lowest cut-offs all year, and the new stream carries a dedicated physician pathway. That priority is unlikely to move.
3. Phase 2 stream announcements
Ontario has described the June changes as the first phase of a two-phase redesign. Additional pathways have been signalled but none have published criteria yet.
How to be ready before the first draw
- Confirm your employer meets the revenue threshold for the region the job sits in. This is the most common reason a job offer fails at the registration stage.
- Get the wage checked against the current Job Bank median for that NOC and region, not the national figure.
- Have language results and an educational credential assessment ready. An ECA older than five years will not be accepted for the TEER 0 to 3 pathway.
- Count your qualifying experience precisely. The TEER 4 to 5 pathway needs nine months in the offered position gained while lawfully working in Ontario, which is stricter than it first reads.
- Keep watching the official program updates page. Ontario posts results after the fact and gives no advance notice.
Frequently asked questions
Not sure where you stand after the OINP redesign?
The rules changed in June and most candidates who were in the pool are starting again. A short assessment will tell you whether the Workforce Priority stream fits your situation, and what else is open to you in the meantime.
Check your eligibility See the latest Express Entry drawSources and updates
- Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, 2026 Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program updates and 2025 program updates pages
- Ontario Regulation 422/17 under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015, as amended June 2026
- Published draw reports from CIC News, Immigration News Canada and Immigration.ca for rounds held in 2023 and 2024, since Ontario has archived those update pages
This page is updated after each published OINP round. It is general information about a program that is changing quickly, not legal advice. Confirm any detail against the official Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program pages before you act on it. Last reviewed 16 August 2026.