Higher-skilled (TEER 0–3)
Qualifying Ontario job offer required. May be able to apply for permanent residence through Express Entry after nomination.
Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
OINP 2026 — What is live, and what is coming
Ontario reset its entire nominee program in 2026. The Workforce Priority Stream is open. A redesigned Entrepreneur stream is planned. We position business clients for both — without pretending unpublished rules are already law.
Need to operate first? See work permits →
The 2026 reset
Ontario replaced its old PNP streams
On 30 May 2026, Ontario's previous Immigrant Nominee Program streams — including the old Entrepreneur category — lost their legal basis. The province is rebuilding the program in two phases.
Phase 1 is live: the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream (OWPS), with intake opened 4 August 2026. Phase 2 is announced, not launched: Entrepreneur, Exceptional Talent, and Priority Healthcare. Final eligibility criteria for those three have not been published.
Live nowLive Live Live
Ontario Workforce Priority Stream
Three pathways. Job-offer tracks require a qualifying offer from an eligible Ontario employer in the OINP Employer Portal.
Lower-skilled (TEER 4–5)
Qualifying Ontario job offer required. A base pathway for occupations outside the higher-skilled track.
Self-employed physicians
No job offer. Must be in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and eligible to bill OHIP.
For business clients: OWPS matters if you are hiring into Ontario or already working here on a permit and a qualifying job offer is part of the PR plan. Founders whose path is owning the company should treat Phase 2 Entrepreneur as the nomination target — and operate legally in the meantime.
Coming — Phase 2
Three streams Ontario has named, not yet opened
No launch date and no final scoring grid. This is the shape of the program, not a checklist you can file against today.
Coming — most relevant here
Entrepreneur stream
Proposed for foreign nationals who have established and are actively operating a new Ontario business, or who have purchased and are actively operating an existing one. The emphasis is demonstrated operation — not a business-plan commitment the way the old category often worked.
Ontario has not published investment minimums, net-worth requirements, job-creation targets, or a launch date. Anyone quoting those numbers as current OINP rules is guessing.
Coming
Exceptional Talent stream
Announced for people with significant achievements in science and technology, arts, literature and culture, or academia. Relevant for some founder and operator profiles. No published criteria yet.
Coming
Priority Healthcare stream
For workers in healthcare professions who are licensed or on the path to licensing. Planned without a job-offer requirement. Mentioned here for completeness; it is not the centre of this practice.
FAQ
OINP questions
What we can say today, and what we will not invent.
On 30 May 2026 Ontario replaced its previous nominee streams. The old Entrepreneur category is closed. Phase 1 of the redesign is the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream. Phase 2 — Entrepreneur, Exceptional Talent, and Priority Healthcare — has been announced but has not launched with published criteria.
Not yet. Ontario has said the redesigned Entrepreneur stream will target people who have established and are actively operating a new Ontario business, or who have purchased and are operating an existing one. No final investment, net-worth, or job-creation numbers have been published. We will not invent them on this page.
Build a real Ontario company and operate it on a valid work permit — typically C11 owner-operator or an intra-company transfer. The proposed stream is about demonstrated operation, not a business-plan promise. Getting the corporate and immigration pieces right now is the preparation.
OWPS is the live Phase 1 pathway. It has three tracks: higher-skilled workers (TEER 0–3) with a qualifying Ontario job offer, lower-skilled workers (TEER 4–5) with a qualifying job offer, and self-employed physicians who are licensed and OHIP-eligible. Intake opened in August 2026.
We advise business clients on how OWPS interacts with hiring and with founder work permits. If your profile is a standard job-offer nomination with no business component, say so on the consultation — we will tell you honestly whether we are the right firm.
Get the Ontario file ready before intake opens
Book a free consultation. We will separate what is live (OWPS, work permits) from what is still a proposal (Entrepreneur).