Ontario's New Pilot Provincial Nominee Program: The Employer Category

Immi Sikand

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On May 24, 2007 the Ontario government finally launched its own Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). The program has begun as a Pilot PNP for the first year, which will give the government room to make adjustments to the program to “ensure that the program is flexible and effective at meeting the employers’ labour market needs and addressing provincial priorities” according to Mike Colle, the Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Ontario ’s PNP is limited to nominate 500 individuals in the first year. Approximately 50% will be targeted to areas outside of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and 50% within the GTA. There are two streams to the program: The Employer Category and the Multinational Category. A brief description of the Employer Category is described below.

The Employer Category:

The Employer Category will account for 90% of the 500 prospective nominees in the first year. This is employer driven and allows eligible Ontario employers to fill labour needs in only 20 specific occupations. An eligible employer is one with business premises in Ontario, that has a minimum of $1,000,000 in gross revenue and five full-time employees. The specific occupations are limited to those in health, education, manufacturing, and construction and are in sectors that are presently experiencing labour shortages. The specific occupations range from physicians, registered nurses, pharmacists, university professors, and lab technicians to machinists, industrial electricians, bricklayers and drywallers.

There are special criteria for international students to apply under the Pilot PNP. International students have the option to apply for an approved position from within or outside Canada and must apply within two years from the date they received their degree or diploma or in the last semester of their studies. Students must show that they have completed at least half of their total studies in Ontario and graduated from an eligible University or College in Ontario. Their job offer must be in one of the 20 specific occupations and related to their field of study at the Ontario College or University they attended. The benefit for International Students, it appears, is that they do not have to show one year of continuous full-time work experience, as required under the Skilled Worker Category. International students that are new graduates or just about to graduate and have the relevant education can potentially qualify for permanent residence under the Pilot PNP.

To start the process, the employer makes an Employer Pre-Screen Application to the Ontario PNP with necessary supporting documents. Upon approval, the Ontario government will issue nominee materials. The foreign national must then apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for permanent residence, who conducts background medical and security checks. The Ontario PNP nominee approval replaces selection under other immigration classes, such as the federal Skilled Worker category and nominees receive priority processing from CIC. The Ontario Pilot PNP will charge a non-refundable processing fee payable with each nominee application. The fee is $2,000 for all applicants, except for the International Student stream where the fee is $200.

An interesting aspect to the Ontario Pilot PNP program is that they state that they will support work permit applications for nominees to allow the nominee to begin working for the nominating employer while the permanent residence application is in process with CIC. This will certainly help employers address labour shortages in Ontario.

Ontario employers and foreign nationals have waited a long time for an Ontario nominee program. The Pilot PNP which was published on May 24 is somewhat promising although the occupations are very limited and the eligibility criteria for employers may exclude many small businesses looking to employ foreign nationals. It may however set the course for the development of a more robust Ontario PNP in the future.