The province of Ontario is Canada’s most popular destination for immigrants with many newcomers drawn to the bustling city of Toronto and its growing tech-jobs sector. As such, the province has a large quota for helping newcomers immigrate through Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams. Securing a PNP from Ontario is considered the golden ticket in Canadian immigration.
Overview
On March 19th, 2021, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program provided an overview of their 2020 PNP activity.
For 2020, the federal government allocated 7,350 nominations to the province of Ontario, with an additional 250 nominations allocated to Ontario’s NOC C Pilot, a Federal-Provincial partnership to increase permanent resident pathways for in-demand lower-skilled workers with job offers. In November 2020, the OINP had met its 2020 quota, issuing a total of 7,600 nominations. As a response to COVID 19 immigration efforts, Ontario was granted an additional 450 nominations to be issued before the end of year, bringing Ontario’s 2020 nominations up to 8,054. In addition to principal applicants, OINP nominations also included 7,249 spouses and dependents for a total of 15,303 new immigrants to Ontario nominated for 2020.
The 8,054 nominations were issued to applicants in the following streams:
| Stream | Number of nominations |
| Employer Job Offer: International Student Stream | 1,732 |
| Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills Stream | 608 |
| Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker Stream | 1,558 |
| PhD Graduate Stream | 251 |
| Masters Graduate Stream | 405 |
| Ontario’s Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream | 1,106 |
| Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream | 1,996 |
| Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream | 397 |
| Entrepreneur Stream | 1 |
| Grand Total | 8,054 |
Where are the nominated applicants from?
The 8,054 nominees in 2020 came from over 130 different countries with over 50% of all nominated applicants coming from India. The top 10 countries of birth being:
| Country of birth | Number of nominations |
| India | 4,212 |
| China | 1,350 |
| Brazil | 310 |
| South Korea | 276 |
| Nigeria | 159 |
| Pakistan | 111 |
| Morocco | 106 |
| Philippines | 88 |
| Iran | 79 |
| Vietnam | 74 |
An increase in Tech Workers
In 2020 as a result of a shift in labour market needs, the OINP issued a high number of nominations in technology-related occupations. Approximately 20% of all nominations were to individuals citing work experience or a job offer in a high-tech occupation, including:
- Software Engineers and Designers
- Computer Programmers
- Interactive Media Developers
- IT systems analysts
- technology consultants
| Top Tech Occupations | Number of nominations |
| Software engineers and designers | 528 |
| Computer programmers and interactive media developers | 374 |
| Computer and information systems managers | 172 |
| Database analysts and data administrators | 162 |
| Web designers and developers | 96 |
| Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) | 63 |
| All other tech occupations | 209 |
| Grand total | 1,604 |
The importance of an Express Entry profile.
Out of the 8.054 nominations issued, over 40% of applicants were selected via their federal Express Entry profile, further identifying the importance of a strong Express Entry profile. The lowest targeting CRS score for 2020 was 358, with a median lowest CRS across all Express Entry draws of 442.