The Employer Job Offer: International Student stream gives international students with a job offer in a skilled occupation the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.

Your job offer must be in a skilled occupation at Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A or B of the National Occupational Classification (NOC). This stream is open to international students in and outside of Canada.

You must first register in the OINP’s Expression of Interest System and receive an invitation to apply before you can apply online to be nominated by the Ontario government for permanent residence.

If you are nominated, your next step is to apply to the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). They make the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.

To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: International Student stream, you must have a job offer in Ontario from an employer that meets the following requirements.

The job offer must be for a full-time and permanent position.

Full-time means the job must be a minimum of 1,560 hours a year and a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per week.

Permanent means the job must have no end date (also known as an indeterminate duration). Job offers that are seasonal and/or contract-based are ineligible.

Note that your job offer will not qualify if it affects the employment of a person involved in a labour dispute.

The job offered must be in a skilled occupation at Skill Type 0 or Skill Levels A or B.

The pay of the job offered must meet or be higher than the low wage level, for that occupation, in the specific region of Ontario where you will be working. To find the low wage, go to the Job Bank website. Enter the occupation title and NOC code of the job offer into the occupation search. Then enter the location where you will be working into the filter search. Refer to the low wage level listed on the chart.

If you are already working in the position, the wage of the job offer must be equal to or greater than the wage level that the employer currently pays you in that position, in addition to meeting or exceeding the low wage level.

If the wage of the employment region where the applicant will work or report to work is not available on the wage report, the Ontario wage should be used.

If you are already working in the position, the wage of the job offer must be equal to or greater than the wage level that the employer currently pays you in that position, in addition to meeting or exceeding the low wage level.

These wage requirements do not apply if you have a collective agreement (a written contract between the employer and a union) in your workplace that determines your wages.

If you are paid an annual salary, your hourly wage can be calculated as follows:

• deduct any bonuses or other discretionary benefits from the annual salary
• divide the remaining amount by the number of weeks of work per year (this will generally be 52 weeks)
• divide this amount by the number of hours of work per week
• the remaining amount is the hourly wage

The program does not consider remuneration by piece work, bonuses, commissions, vacation pay or non-financial compensation as comprising part of your hourly base wage.

The position offered must be urgently necessary to your employer’s business. This means that the job offer must align with your employer’s existing business activities and the position must be urgently needed to maintain or grow ongoing business activity.

The work you do while in the job offer position must occur primarily in Ontario.

Applicant requirements

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

Please refer to section 6 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. Education

You must have received from an eligible Canadian institution one of the following:

• a degree or diploma that takes at least two years to complete if you study on a full-time basis, or
• a degree, diploma or certificate that takes at least one year to complete if you study on a full-time basis and that requires a completed degree as an admission requirement

This means that in order to be eligible, your one-year program must require a completed degree as an admission requirement. One-year programs are ineligible if they require a degree or a diploma, or “a degree or work experience”, or similar, regardless of whether you personally completed a degree program prior to being accepted into the one-year program. Please also note that in order for a certificate program to be eligible, it must take at least one year to complete and require a completed degree as an admission requirement. A certificate program that takes two or more years is still subject to the degree requirement.

You must also have completed more than half of your studies while living and studying in Canada.

Some programs of study from eligible institutions may not meet eligibility requirements. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their specific program meets the necessary requirements.

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 authorisations in Ontario, please visit 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 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.

You may apply if you are in ‘implied status’ at the time of your OINP application submission. ‘Implied status’ means that you submitted an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to renew/extend your temporary status document (a visitor record, work permit, study permit) before its expiry date. You can remain in Canada and continue to work or study under the same conditions as your existing permit until a decision is made on your pending IRCCapplication.

6. Application period

You must submit your application within two years of completing the requirements necessary to obtain your degree, diploma or certificate (also known as your education credential). For example, if your degree, diploma or certificate is dated June 1, 2019, you must apply to this stream on or before June 1, 2021.

This means that the date on your educational credential must be within two years of your OINP application submission date, not the date you received the invitation to apply. For example, if your educational credential is dated June 1, 2019, you must apply to this stream on or before June 1, 2021. If you don’t have your education credential yet, use the date on the official letter from your college or university that states when your education credential will be granted.

If you don’t have your education credential yet, use the date on the official letter from your college or university that states when your education credential will be granted.

Employer requirements

Please refer to section 4 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 and the Employer Guide for more details on each requirement.

1. General requirements

To qualify under the Employer Job Offer: International Student stream, your employer must:

• have been in active business for at least three years prior to submitting your application
• have business premises in Ontario where you will work
• have no outstanding orders made against them under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 or the Occupational Health and Safety Act

2. Revenue requirements

Your employer’s business must meet one of the relevant revenue requirement for the most recently completed fiscal year (the year used for tax or accounting purposes):

• a minimum of $1,000,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) or
• a minimum of $500,000 in total gross annual revenue if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area

Meaning of report to work

In cases where the applicant will work at more than one location, the location where the applicant will report to work means either:

• the location where the applicant’s immediate supervisor or manager works, or
• the location of the administrative office where the applicant will receive work assignments

3. Full-time employee requirements

Your employer’s business must have at the time of application submission one of the following:

• at least five full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location in the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) or
• at least three full-time employees who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who work at the location where you will work, or will report to work, if you will work or report to work at a location outside the Greater Toronto Area

Meaning of full-time employee

A full-time employee is an employee who has worked a minimum of 30 hours per week.

4. Employer Form

Your employer must make an application for approval of an employment position by filling out and signing an Employer Form.

Your employer then must give you the form so you can scan and upload it with your application.