Ontario Workforce Priority

Ontario Workforce Priority – Eligibility

There are 4 main categories of eligibility requirements that are summarized below. You can apply to the Ontario Workforce Priority (OWP) stream if you, your employer, and your job offer satisfy to all the requirements below.

Eligibility also depends on which of the 3 OWP pathways applies to you — TEER 0-3 job offer, TEER 4-5 job offer, or self-employed physician. Again, there are no settlement funds required for this stream.

Job offer

To be eligible under OWP with a job offer, it must:

• be full-time (min. 30h/week and 1,560h/year) and permanent (no end date in the contract),
• be in any NOC TEER Category, 0 through 5. You can learn more about NOC codes here,
• have a salary level at or above the median wage level for that occupation in the region where you’ll work (if you have a collective agreement determining your wages, the median wage requirement doesn’t apply),
• align with your employer’s existing business activities and be needed to maintain or grow ongoing business activity, and
• be for a position primarily based in Ontario.

You, and members of your family (combined), cannot hold more than 10% equity in the employer, except equity received as part of your remuneration package as an employee.

Self-employed professionals, excluding physicians, are not eligible under this stream.

Applicant

Work experience (must have one of the following):

• TEER 0-3 job offers:
  
  • at least 6 months of consecutive, paid full-time work in the exact job offer position within the past 12 months; OR
  • at least 3 months of the same for recent Ontario graduates (within 3 years of graduating with a 2+ year diploma, degree, Ontario College Graduate Certificate, Master’s, or PhD); OR
  • at least 2 years of cumulative full-time work in the same NOC occupation within the past 5 years; OR
  • a mandatory licence/authorization for the position (which also waives the work experience requirement, except for transport truck drivers and bus/transit operators, who must still show the 6 months).
• TEER 4-5 job offers: at least 9 months of cumulative full-time work experience in the job offer position within the past 2 years.

Language — you must take an approved English or French test and meet the minimum Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) in all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking), with results dated within 2 years of your application:

• CLB 6 for TEER 0-3 job offers, or CLB 5 if the occupation is on Ontario’s designated skilled trades list (most trades, technical, and natural resource occupations, plus cooks/bakers/butchers/chefs). No test is required if you’re a recent Ontario graduate with one of the credentials listed above.
• CLB 4 for TEER 4-5 job offers — there’s no graduate exemption at this level.

Education

• TEER 0-3: a postsecondary credential of at least 1 year full-time (Canadian or foreign equivalent via ECA), unless your occupation is a designated skilled trade (Canadian high school diploma or equivalent is enough) or you hold a required licence/authorization.
• TEER 4-5: a Canadian high school diploma or its foreign equivalent.

Foreign credentials need an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report, less than 5 years old, from an IRCC-designated organization.

Intent to reside in Ontario — You must also intend to live and work in Ontario after becoming a permanent resident. OINP assesses this through ties such as past or current work, job offers/interviews, studies, volunteering, property, visits, or professional/family/personal relationships in the province. If you don’t have strong ties yet, we recommend covering in your letter:

• Your current job offer and industry, and the prospects of your line of work in Ontario specifically.
• What draws you to Ontario (climate, culture, communities, etc.) and how you’d settle in without issue.

In short, show you’ve done your research — and don’t discuss other provinces or territories.

Status in Canada — When applying from inside Canada, you need valid legal status — a Visitor Record, Work Permit, a Study Permit — including “maintained status” if you’ve applied to extend or renew it before its expiry and are awaiting a decision. You should keep your status until you are nominated.

Employer

To be eligible to sponsor under OWP, the employer must:

• have been in active business for at least 3 years,
• have business premises in Ontario where the employee will work,
• have no outstanding orders made against them under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act,
• meet the gross annual revenue and full-time employee requirements for the employee’s work location (below), and
• demonstrate that reasonable efforts were made to recruit a Canadian citizen or permanent resident before offering the position — unless the employee is already authorized to work in Ontario, or the employer holds a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for the same NOC and position.

Revenue requirement (based on the most recently completed fiscal year, or the last two fiscal years for the lowest tier):

• 1,000,000 CAD minimum if the employee will work or report to work in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, Peel and York regions).
• 500,000 CAD minimum if the employee will work or report to work in one of: Ottawa, Waterloo, Hamilton, Simcoe, Middlesex, Niagara, Essex, Wellington, Greater Sudbury, Frontenac, Brant, Peterborough, Hastings, or Thunder Bay.
• 250,000 CAD minimum (over the last two completed fiscal years) for any other location in Ontario.

Full-time employee requirement

• At least 5 full-time Canadian citizen/permanent resident employees if the position is inside the GTA.
• At least 3 full-time Canadian citizen/permanent resident employees if the position is outside the GTA.

A full-time employee is defined as someone working a minimum of 30 hours per week; for employers with a mobile workforce, employees who report to (but don’t work directly at) the relevant location can also count.

Domestic recruitment efforts, where required, must use at least 2 advertising/recruitment methods (e.g. Job Bank, national/provincial print media, general or specialist job sites, the employer’s own careers page, job fairs), posted for a minimum of 4 weeks before the position is offered to the foreign worker, and must include the business’s operating name and address, position title/duties, skill requirements, wage, work location, contact information, and posting dates.

The location where the employee will “report to work” means either (i) the location where their immediate supervisor or manager works, or (ii) the administrative office where they receive work assignments.