Deanne Acres-LansOn July 8th, 2019 the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) announced changes made to their In-Demand Skills Stream and the Entrepreneur Stream which are two of their existing provincial nominee programs.
The Entrepreneur Stream is for those looking to open and operate a business in Ontario. The previous requirements required the highest net worth and personal investment of all of the entrepreneur provincial nominee programs.
The program use to require applicants to have a:
- Minimum investment of $1,000,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business in the Greater Toronto Area OR $500,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business outside of the Greater Toronto Area
- Minimum net worth of $1,500,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business in the Greater Toronto Area OR $ 800,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business outside of the Greater Toronto Area
These requirements have now been updated and now require applicants to have a :
- Minimum investment of $600,000 if operating a business in the Greater Toronto Area OR $200,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business outside of the Greater Toronto Area OR in the information and communications technology or digital communications sector.
- Minimum net worth of $800,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business in the Greater Toronto Area OR $ 400,000 Canadian Dollars if operating a business outside of the Greater Toronto Area OR in the information and communications technology or digital communications sector regardless of location
These changes will allow more entrepreneurs to apply to the provincial nominee program and will allow more entrepreneurs to be successful in this program as it is scored based, which means that entrepreneurs are scored based on their business plan. The higher ranking entrepreneurs are then selected first. Previously those who did not have millions of Canadian dollars to invest in a business were excluded from the program.
The other provincial nominee program which saw changes was the
In-Demand Skills Stream. The work experience requirement has been reduced and three new National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes were added. All applicant’s must now have a job offer in one of the following NOC codes:
- 9462 – Industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers
- 3413 – Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
- 4412 – Home support workers and related occupations, excluding housekeepers
- 7441 – Residential and commercial installers and servicers
- 7511 – Transport truck driver
- 7521 – Heavy equipment operators (except crane)
- 7611 – Construction trades helpers and labourers
- 8431 – General farm workers
- 8432 – Nursery and greenhouse workers
- 8611 – Harvesting labourers