The PhD Graduate stream gives international graduates with an Ontario PhD degree the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.
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.
Language
Have a minimum Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level of 7.
Education in Canada
- You must have completed the requirements necessary to obtain a PhD degree. The degree must be from an eligible university in Ontario.
- At least two years of your PhD studies must have been completed while legally living and studying in Ontario.
- You don’t qualify if you have received a bursary, grant or scholarship that requires you to return to your home country after you earn your PhD degree. You may only apply after you have fulfilled those commitments and can demonstrate an intention to live in Ontario.
Adaptability / Accompanying members
Residing in Province
You must have legally lived in Ontario for at least one year in the past two years before you apply.
Note that your one year of residency can be cumulative. This means that there can be gaps provided that all the periods of residency in Ontario add up to 12 months within the past two years before you apply.
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
- You must submit your application within two years of completing the requirements necessary to obtain your PhD degree.
- This means that the date on your degree must be within two years of your OINP application submission date, not the date you received the invitation to apply.
- If you don’t have your degree yet, use the date on the official letter from your university which states when your degree will be granted.
- Important: you must have completed your PhD degree before you submit your application.
- You must have received an invitation to apply and applied within the deadline identified.
- You must demonstrate that you had the qualifications that you claimed you had in the expression of interest that you registered with the OINP and attested to.
Funds
You must have enough money to support yourself and your dependent family members when you settle in Canada.
You can meet this requirement through one or a combination of any of the following:
- funds as demonstrated by the balance listed in bank statements, or statements of accounts showing other investments such as non-locked in, fixed term deposits, mutual funds, etc.
- annual earnings from ongoing employment in Ontario
- a job offer in Ontario
If you provide bank statements that include a one-time large deposit, we may ask you to provide additional documentation to support that your funds are free of debt or liability.
Ineligibility
You don’t qualify if you have received a bursary, grant or scholarship that requires you return to your home country after you earn your PhD degree. You may only apply after you have fulfilled those commitments and can demonstrate an intention to live in Ontario.
Application Period
- the processing times for a PhD Graduate stream application are estimated to be between 90 to 120 days.
Application Fee
Fee for this stream is set at 1500 CAD.
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 PhD Graduate stream.
- After receiving an invitation to apply, apply to the PhD Graduate 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.