The guide below takes a deep look into one of the streams of Ontario’s Provincial Nominee Program (OINP), the French Speaking Skilled Worker (FSSW) stream. The guide will go through an overview of the stream, its eligibility requirements, how it works, the documentation needed, its cost and processing times.
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – Overview
The French Speaking Skilled Worker (FSSW) stream is one of Ontario’s PNP streams that is aligned with Express Entry, which means that a candidate needs a valid Express Entry profile to be eligible to the stream.
Ontario, through this stream, chooses its future newcomers to the province under a set of specific requirements.
The OINP goes through all the candidates already in the Express Entry pool, and sends Notifications of Interest (equivalent to invitations to apply) to the ones whose profile corresponds best to their needs.
The FSSW stream has minimum eligibility requirements, however, Ontario does not send Notifications of Interest to every candidate that meets these minimum criteria. In fact, Ontario conducts periodic FSSW draws, and each draw has its own criteria (in addition to the minimum criteria), usually a minimum CRS score, etc. More information is available in the draw history section of this guide.
If nominated, a candidate will receive an additional 600 CRS points in their Express Entry profile, thus guaranteeing an Invitation to Apply.
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – Eligibility
As said earlier, meeting these minimum eligibility requirements does not necessarily mean that you will receive a Notification of Interest from the OINP. These are other sets of criteria that are specific to each draw (criteria are not disclosed until after the draw happens).
There are 7 categories of eligibility requirements under the French Speaking Skilled Worker (FSSW) stream, summarized below. These are the same as for the Human Capital Priorities stream, except for the language requirements as this stream is targeted at French speaking candidates.
Work experience
For candidates qualified under:
- The Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, they need to have, in the last 5 years from the date of submitting the application to the OINP, minimum 1 year of continuous, paid, full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience in NOC TEER Category 0, 1, 2 or 3.
- The Canadian Experience Class (CEC), they need to have, in the last 3 years from the date of submitting the application to the OINP, minimum 1 year of cumulative, paid, full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience in NOC TEER Category 0, 1, 2 or 3. The work experience must have been obtained in Canada.
There is no need to hold a valid job offer per the minimum criteria of this stream.
Education
To be eligible for the FSSW stream, you have to hold at least a Canadian Bachelor’s degree or its international equivalent (assessed by an authorized service provider). You can check here on how to get an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) for your international degree(s).
Nurses whose primary NOC falls under one of the following occupations do not need to demonstrate that they meet the stream’s education requirement if they are registered by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) in the General, Extended or Temporary class:
- NOC 31300 – Nursing coordinators and supervisors
- NOC 31301 – Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
- NOC 31302 – Nurse practitioners
- NOC 32101 – Licensed practical nurses
Language
You need to score at least CLB7 in French AND CLB6 in English to qualify. You can learn more about the Canadian Language Benchmarks and the authorized language tests in this section.
Settlement funds
You need to own a minimum amount of liquid funds when you apply for this stream. The amount is based on the settlement funds required under Express Entry, and depend on the number of family members (accompanying you or not). You can find the amounts required here.
However, the requirements are a little different from Express Entry. There are two main cases of discrepancies:
- If you qualify under CEC, you do not need to provide proof of funds under Express Entry. However, you will have to under the FSSW stream.
- If you are allowed to work in Ontario and have a job offer, you do not need to provide proof of funds under Express Entry. However, under the FSSW stream, you need to count the annual wages of your job offer towards your settlement funds. For example, if the salary from your job offer is 28,000$, and your required settlement funds are 32,000$, then you need to only provide proof of owning 4,000$ (the difference between 32,000$ and 28,000$) of liquid funds.
Intent to settle in Ontario
OINP will assess this through a series of factors, such as past studies, work, or tourism in the province, having family members or personal relationships residing in Ontario, etc.
However, having none of these does not mean you will not be eligible. You can prove your intent to reside in Ontario by showing how you have already looked in the province, by knowing where you want to live and already looked at, and by applying to jobs. You must not show any interest in other provinces or territories in Canada. This section is usually not a problem as long as you are honest and do your homework.
You will need to list all ties that you have to the province, including family, friends, prior studies, prior or current work experience, prior visit, etc. Remember to add any document that could support the claims you are making.
If you do not have any of the ties listed above, you can still talk about the following topics in your letter:
- Talk about your current job and the industry in which you work, and then add information about the prospects of your line of work in Ontario: how there are multiple job listings, cite the cities in Ontario where you are most likely to find work.
- Talk about the number of jobs you applied to and where, and provide proof of such applications.
- Talk about Ontario in general, what you like about it (weather, festivals, etc.), and how you can settle without any problem there.
In short, you need to prove that you did your research, and do not talk about other provinces or territories.
Legal status in Canada
When applying from inside Canada, you need to have the appropriate legal documentation to prove you are in the country legally, either a Work Permit, a Study Permit, etc.
Federal Program Eligibility
You need to qualify to one of the two following federal programs to be eligible to the FSSW stream:
- Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, or
- Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
To understand the eligibility criteria of these two programs, click either on FSW or CEC.
This point is easily settled as you cannot enter the Express Entry pool (and receive a Notification of Interest under the FSSW stream) without first being eligible to one of the federal programs.
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – Application Process
For a better understanding of the process, below is a list of the steps involved in obtaining Permanent Residence through the Human Capital Priorities (FSSW) stream. Candidates must:
- Meet the eligibility requirements of the federal FSW or CEC programs.
- Generate their Express Entry profile, and specify their interest in the province by selecting “Ontario” or “All Provinces and Territories”.
- Qualify for the minimum FSSW stream eligibility requirements.
- Obtain a Notification of Interest directly in their Express Entry profile.
- Apply to the FSSW stream within 45 days of receiving the Notification of Interest, by submitting their application through the OINP e-Filing Portal (filling in forms and uploading required documents).
- Accept the Ontario provincial nomination (after the OINP processes their application) within 30 days of receiving it on their Express Entry profile.
- Obtain an additional 600 CRS points in the Express Entry profile, and receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA).
- Apply for permanent residence through your Express Entry profile.
You can check out our 10-step guide for Express Entry for more detailed information and advice.
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – Application Fees
The fee for this stream is quite expensive, the most expensive in all other Provincial Nominee Programs. It is set at 1,500 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.
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – Processing Times
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – Latest News & Data
Ontario | French Speaking Skilled Worker – In-Demand Occupations?
You can find out about the other provinces’ in-demand jobs in our in-demand NOC codes article.
