Immigration to Ontario for foreign workers
The Foreign Worker stream helps foreign professionals who have found work in Ontario to immigrate.
The Foreign Worker stream of Ontario’s provincial program is designed for mid to high-skilled foreign professionals who have found work in the province. The feature of the stream is that candidates are not evaluated by age, education, and so on. The main thing is the job offer.
Eligibility
To immigrate through the Foreign Worker stream, you must meet the following requirements:
- be a specialist in a TEER category 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation according to the NOC classification;
- get a job offer in Ontario;
- have a minimum of 2-year work experience in the same profession within the last 5 years.
Candidate evaluation
Ontario evaluates candidates for immigration using the provincial Expression of Interest system. Points are awarded for criteria such as work experience, wage offered, professional field, etc. This is done as follows:
| Criterion | Points |
| JOB OFFER | |
| NOC TEER category | |
| TEER 0 or 1 | 10 |
| TEER 2 or 3 | 8 |
| NOC broad occupational category | |
| Occupational categories 0, 2, 3 | 10 |
| Occupational category 7 | 7 |
| Occupational categories 1, 9 | 5 |
| Occupational categories 4, 8 | 4 |
| Occupational categories 5, 6 | 3 |
| Suggested hourly wage, CAD | |
| $40 or more | 10 |
| $35 to $39.99 | 8 |
| $30 to $34.99 | 7 |
| $25 to $29.99 | 6 |
| $20 to $24.99 | 5 |
| Less than $20 | 0 |
| Work permit in Canada | |
| With valid work permit | 10 |
| Without valid work permit | 0 |
| Job tenure with job offer employer | |
| From 12 months6 months or more working in job offer position | 3 |
| Less than 6 months working in job offer position or not currently working in position | 0 |
| Earnings history, CAD | |
| Earnings from $40,000 per year | 3 |
| Earning less than $40,000 per year | 0 |
| LANGUAGES | |
| Language level on the CLB scale | |
| Level 9 or higher | 10 |
| Level 8 | 6 |
| Level 7 | 4 |
| Level 6 or lower | 0 |
| Knowledge of official languages | |
| Proficiency in two languages (English and French) | 10 |
| Proficiency in one language | 5 |
| REGIONAL IMMIGRATION | |
| Location of employer | |
| Northern Ontario | 10 |
| Other areas outside Greater Toronto Area (GTA) | 8 |
| Inside Greater Toronto Area (GTA) | 3 |
| Toronto | 0 |
How to apply
If you want to immigrate through the Foreign Worker stream, you can create a profile in the Expression of Interest system on Ontario's official website.
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To learn about other Ontario provincial program streams, see the article "Immigration to Ontario — Canada's provincial program".
