The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has increased the points available to candidates who earn at least $80,000 a year, improving their chances of receiving a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence.
On October 7, Ontario announced that candidates with higher earnings can now receive 10 points under the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream (OWPS).
The change took effect on October 5 and was automatically applied to profiles affected by the update.
Higher Earnings Now Bring More Points
The OINP has added a new higher-earning category to the Canadian work experience: earnings history factor.
Before the change, candidates received the maximum eight points for annual earnings of $70,000 or more.
The province now uses the following scoring system:
| Annual earnings | Points |
| ≥$80,000 | 10 |
| 70,000–79,999 | 8 |
| 50,000–69,999 | 6 |
| 30,000–49,999 | 4 |
| <$30,000 | 0 |
The OINP calculates earnings using a candidate’s annual income shown on a Notice of Assessment issued by the Canada Revenue Agency within the past five years.
Candidates with higher scores have a better chance of being selected by Ontario and receiving an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination.
After receiving a provincial nomination, candidates can apply to the federal government for Canadian permanent residence.
Ontario Workforce Priority Stream Remains Available
At the time of writing, the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream is the only available route for foreign nationals seeking provincial nomination for permanent residence through Ontario.
Ontario opened the stream for eligible employers, workers, and self-employed physicians on August 4. The province had introduced the candidate ranking system in July.
Ontario officially launched the OWPS on June 26.
The OINP had ended all nine of its previous provincial permanent residence pathways on May 30, marking a major change in the province’s immigration system.
The OWPS represents the first stage of Ontario’s broader plan to change how it selects foreign nationals for provincial immigration. The province first announced the planned overhaul in December 2025.
Three More Streams Planned
The second phase of the overhaul will introduce three additional streams:
- The Priority Healthcare stream: for healthcare workers in in-demand occupations.
- The Entrepreneur Stream: for owner-operators of Ontario businesses, either as founders or successors.
- Exceptional Talent Stream: for foreign nationals with exceptional achievements in domains such as academia, science, technology, and the creative or performing arts.
Ontario has not announced a launch date for the second phase as of the time of writing.
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