Photo credit: CAN Pathways
Some immigrants nominated for permanent residency under the Ontario Nominee Program say they regret accepting their invitations.
Toronto Today reports that their grouse is the year-long delays that have left them out of a job. Many of them are considering leaving the country.
The Ontario Immigration Nomination Program (ONIP) allows the provincial government to nominate candidates for permanent residency based on their skills and experience. The province has recently pivoted to prioritizing skilled trades in industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, technology, and agriculture.
It’s supposed to take a maximum of five months to process the application. However, a large number of applicants are reporting waits of over a year.
Meanwhile, the federal government has reduced the number of immigrant allocations for Ontario by 50%, from 21,500 nominations in 2024 to 10,750 in 2025. The province, as well as other experts, say that this created a big challenge, as invitations for the following year had already been sent out on the assumption that the numbers would be similar.
NDP, MPP Alexa Gilmour said, “These are real lives. You know, there’s a gentleman that sat across from me a month ago contemplating suicide because he doesn’t know how to navigate what comes next. Does he go home? Does he wait? He’s got no transparency.”
While the province tackles the backlog in applications, the NDP is calling for work permits to be extended for those on the OINP list. This, they argue, will allow them to, at least, overcome the financial toll of the delays and keep their status as employees.
\the province says it does provide letters of support to the federal government for OINP job-offer streams so that they can be considered for a work-permit extension. But that letter is not available for those going through the Express Entry streams, which include those who apply under the skilled trades category.
