OINP Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream

Applicant requirements

After you receive an invitation to apply, you may apply to the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream. You must meet all the requirements in the categories below in order for your application to be approved.

Please refer to section 5 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 for more details on each requirement.

1. Expression of interest and invitation to apply

• 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.

2. Work experience or licence or other authorization

You must meet one of the following requirements depending on the position of the job offer:

• 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 at the time of application submission.
• If your job offer is not for an occupation that requires a mandatory licence or other authorization in Ontario, you must demonstrate work experience in the same occupation as the NOC code of your job offer.

To meet the work experience requirement, you must have at least two years of cumulative paid full-time work experience (or the equivalent in paid part-time work) in the same occupation (same National Occupational Classification code) as your job offer.

You must have gained this work experience within the five years prior to the date you submit your application, not the date you received the invitation to apply. If your work experience was gained in Canada, you must have been legally living and working in Canada.

Cumulative means the work you’ve done must add up to two years – it does not have to be two years of continuous work.

Full-time work experience means working in a job with at least 30 hours of paid work in a week that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work over a two-year period.

Part-time equivalent work experience means:

• working in one job for at least 15 hours of paid work in a week that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work over a four-year period
• working in more than one job for at least 30 hours of paid work in a week, for two years, that amounts to at least 3,120 hours of paid work in that two-year period

If you are using periods of self-employment, you will need to provide employment documentation that is independently verifiable through third parties. This can include client reference letters indicating your duties and periods of work, as well as evidence of ongoing payments to you personally, for the services provided (for example, invoices). Please also note that your hours of self-employed work must be quantifiable to ensure that you accumulated at least 3,120 hours over two years of employment. Reference letters from yourself, your business partners and/or a family member are not accepted by the program.

3. Valid licence or other authorization (if applicable)

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.

For more information on licences and authorizations in Ontario, please visit the Ontario’s Jobs and Employment website or the Skilled Trades Ontario website.

4. Intention to live in Ontario

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, applying to or interviewing for jobs
• studying
• volunteering
• leasing or owning property
• visiting
• having professional networks and affiliations, family ties and personal relationships

5. Legal status in Canada (if applicable)

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.