The Employer Job Offer: International Student stream gives international students with a job offer in a skilled occupation the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.
Your job offer must be in a skilled occupation at TEER (Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities) category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC).
You must first register in the OINP’s Expression of Interest System and receive an invitation to apply before you can apply online to be nominated by the Ontario government for permanent residence.
If you are nominated, your next step is to apply to the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). They make the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.
Education in Canada
You must prove you have obtained one of the following eligible credentials:
- an undergraduate degree or diploma that takes at least two years if pursued on a full-time basis from an eligible Canadian institution
- a graduate degree or diploma that takes at least one year if pursued on a full-time basis from an eligible Canadian institution
- a college graduate certificate that takes at least one year to complete if pursued on a full-time basis from an eligible Ontario institution
- a university graduate certificate that takes at least one year to complete if pursued on a full-time basis from an eligible Ontario institution
You must also prove that more than half of the requirements necessary to obtain your credential were obtained while living and studying in Canada.
To determine whether your graduate certificate is an eligible credential, check that the official credential you received from your institution is an Ontario College Graduate Certificate.
Note: Full-time study is determined by your college or university. Generally, it means a minimum of 15 hours of instruction per week during the academic year, including any period of training in the workplace that is part of your studies.
Work/Business Experience
The work you do while in the position of the job offer must occur primarily in Ontario.
You or any member of your family may only hold or have held equity in your employer’s business, either directly or indirectly if the equity is/was less than 10% and only if it was obtained as part of the remuneration package as an employee. The combined total amount of equity held by you, or any of your family members, must be less than 10%.
Note that a family member includes your spouse, common law partner and children under the age of 22, including their children.
Job Offer
- The job offer must be for a full-time and permanent position.
- Full-time means the job must be a minimum of 1,560 hours a year and a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per week.
- Permanent means the job must have no end date (also known as an indeterminate duration). Job offers that are seasonal and/or contract based are ineligible.
- The position offered must be urgently necessary to your employer’s business. This means that the job offer must align with your employer’s existing business activities and the position must be urgently needed to maintain or grow ongoing business activity.
- The work you do while in the position of the job offer must occur primarily in Ontario.
Note: Your job offer will not qualify if it affects the employment of a person involved in a labour dispute.
Wage or Salary
- The pay of the job offered must meet or be higher than the low wage level for that occupation in the specific region of Ontario where you will be working.
- If you are already working in the position, the wage of the job offer must be equal to or greater than the wage level that the employer currently pays you in that position, in addition to meeting or exceeding the low wage level.
- These wage requirements do not apply if you have a collective agreement (a written contract between the employer and a union) in your workplace that determines your wages.
- If you are paid an annual salary, your hourly wage can be calculated as follows:
- deduct any bonuses or other discretionary benefits from the annual salary
- divide the remaining amount by the number of weeks of work per year (this will generally be 52 weeks)
- divide this amount by the number of hours of work per week
- the remaining amount is the hourly wage
- The program does not consider remuneration by piece work, bonuses, commissions, vacation pay, or non-financial compensation as comprising part of your hourly base wage.
Employer Eligibility
To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: International Student stream, your employer must:
- have been in active business for at least three years prior to submitting your application
- have business premises in Ontario where you will work
- have no outstanding orders made against them under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act
Your employer’s business must meet one of the relevant revenue requirements for the most recently completed fiscal year (the year used for tax or accounting purposes):
- a minimum of $1,000,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) or
- a minimum of $500,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area
In cases where the applicant will work at more than one location, the location where the applicant will report to work means either:
- the location where the applicant’s immediate supervisor or manager works, or
- the location of the administrative office where the applicant will receive work assignments
Your employer’s business must have at the time of application submission one of the following:
- at least five full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) or
- at least three full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area
A full-time employee is an employee who has worked a minimum of 30 hours per week.
Your employer must make an application for approval of an employment position by filling out and signing an Employer Form.
Your employer then must give you the form so you can scan and upload it with your application.
Eligible NOC TEER Categories
The job offered must be in a skilled occupation at TEER Category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupation Classification (NOC).
Intention to live in Province
You must intend to live in Ontario after you’ve been granted permanent residence. We determine this by examining your ties to Ontario, which can include doing things like:
- working or having worked in Ontario
- getting job offers or applying/interviewing for jobs
- studying
- volunteering
- leasing or owning property
- visiting
- having professional networks and affiliations, family ties, and personal relationships
Legal Status in Canada
If you are applying from within Canada, you must have legal status (a visitor record, study permit, or work permit) at the time you apply and should maintain that status until the time of nomination.
You may apply if you are in ‘implied status’ at the time of your OINP application submission. ‘Implied status’ means that you submitted an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to renew/extend your temporary status document (a visitor record, work permit, study permit) before its expiry date. You can remain in Canada and continue to work or study under the same conditions as your existing permit until a decision is made on your pending IRCC application.
Additional Requirements
- The job offered must be in a skilled occupation at TEER Category 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the National Occupation Classification (NOC).
- If your job offer is for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must hold a valid licence or authorization from the appropriate regulatory body in Ontario when you apply.
- You must submit your application within two years of completing the requirements necessary to obtain your degree, diploma, or certificate. If you don’t have your education credential yet, use the date on the official letter from your college or university which states when your education credential will be granted.
- The work you do while in the position of the job offer must occur primarily in Ontario.
- You or any member of your family may only hold or have held equity in your employer’s business, either directly or indirectly, if the equity is/was less than 10% and only if it was obtained as part of the remuneration package as an employee. The combined total amount of equity held by you, or any of your family members, must be less than 10%.
Note: A family member includes your spouse, common law partner, and children under the age of 22, including their children.
Ineligibility
Physicians and other self-employed professionals
Self-employed professionals, including physicians, are not eligible under OINP Employer Job Offer streams. This includes physicians who receive payment under a fee-for-service model such as OHIP or through other contractual service arrangements where there is no legal employer-employee relationship.
Application Period
- the processing times for a Masters Graduate stream application are estimated to be between 90 to 120 days.
“Fee for this stream is set at 1500 CAD. It can only be paid by a credit or debit card (Visa or MasterCard).
Application fees can only be refunded if the processing of the application has not started, either (i) if the applicant withdraws his/her application before processing starts, or (ii) if the application is refused as being incomplete by the OINP.”
Application Fee
Fee for this stream is set at 1500 CAD. It can only be paid by a credit or debit card (Visa or MasterCard).
Application fees can only be refunded if the processing of the application has not started, either (i) if the applicant withdraws his/her application before processing starts, or (ii) if the application is refused as being incomplete by the OINP.
Submission of Application
- Create a profile in the OINP e-Filing Portal.
- Register an expression of interest for the IS stream.
- After receiving an invitation to apply, apply to the IS stream within 14 days by submitting your application through the OINP e-Filing Portal (filling in forms and uploading required documents).
- Apply for permanent residence to the federal government (IRCC) within 6 months of receiving the nomination (after OINP processes your application). Candidates need to apply on paper to IRCC and include the Nomination Approval Letter and the Certificate of Nomination received from OINP.