The Ontario Tech PNP Draw

The province of Ontario recently introduced the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) to identify skilled tech workers who have submitted Express Entry profiles but may not have a high enough score to be invited to apply.

How the Ontario Tech PNP Works

Firstly, the Government identifies people with technological skills in the Express Entry pool under the following list of National Occupation Codes (NOC):

Software engineers and designers (NOC 2173)
Computer programmers and interactive media developers (NOC 2174)
Computer engineers (NOC 2147)
Web designers and developers (NOC 2175)
Database analysts and data administrators (NOC 2172)
Computer and information systems managers (NOC 0213)

If you fall under one of the categories listed above and meet the criteria of the Human Capital Priorities Stream, you may be nominated.

What Happens If You’re Selected?

The Ontario government will look for qualified candidates in the Express Entry pool. If you meet their criteria and you are selected, you will be invited to apply directly to them and have 45 days to do so. To apply to OINP, you will need to create a profile in their online portal, upload the required documentation, pay their application fees and wait for a decision.

If you are approved through OINP, you will earn an additional 600 CRS points, a guaranteed invitation to apply for the next Express Entry draw! The current estimated processing time for the Human Capital Priorities Stream is 30 to 60 days.

How are Ontario Businesses Supported?

Canadian tech employers that are interested in finding out more about using immigration to fill tech labour market needs can contact ONIP’s Business Immigration Services team at: [email protected].

Ready to see if Express Entry is a good opportunity for you? Fill out our quick intake form here.

This post was initially prepared by a group of graduate students / recent graduates that are exploring issues related to the Canadian immigration programs for skilled workers. Their project is powered by Visto!

Written by Josh Schachnow

Josh Schachnow is a Toronto-based immigration lawyer. After spending 4 years growing his own law firm and helping hundreds of immigrants and companies navigate Canadian immigration, he realized there was no technology to help make the process easy. So he started Visto, in an effort to automate all of the things he spent years doing manually – generating checklists, filling out forms, sending documents for signature, and more. He now spends most of his time talking to new clients, partners and working closely with the tech team to continue to improve the platform.