India and China were the two biggest sources of immigrants to Ontario last year as that central Canadian province nominated 9,000 prospective immigrants under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).
“In 2021, the province’s nomination allocation from the federal government was 8,350 nominations. An additional 250 nominations were allocated to Ontario through the National Occupational Classification (NOC) Level C Pilot, a federal-provincial partnership to increase permanent resident pathways for in-demand, lower-skilled workers with job offers,” the province reported in an update on Friday.
“In addition to the province’s initial allocation, the federal government granted Ontario an additional 400 nomination spaces which were also fulfilled before year-end. Including this year-end increase, the OINP was able to nominate 9,000 individuals in 2021, including 250 applicants through the NOC C Pilot.”
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During that year, 4,332 nominees under the OINP came from India and another 1,736 from China, for a total of 6,068 nominees, or slightly more than two-thirds of the total, 67.4 per cent.
Other important sources of nominees to the OINP were Nigeria which provided 438, Pakistan, which provided another 211, and Brazil at 210.
There were 139 South Koreans nominated under the OINP, 116 Iranians, 114 Moroccans and 100 Portuguese. All the other countries combined contributed 1,496 nominees under the OINP.
“In 2021, the OINP saw a high number of nominations in technology-related occupations,” reports the provincial government in its latest update.
“Approximately 25 per cent of all nominations were to individuals citing work experience or a job offer in a high-tech occupation, including:
- software engineers and designers
- computer programmers
- interactive media developers
- IT systems analysts
- technology consultants
Software Engineer Tops List Of Top 20 Jobs Nominated By The OINP In 2021
| National Occupational Classification (NOC) | Occupations | Number of nominations |
| NOC 2173 | Software engineers and designers | 792 |
| NOC 124 | Advertising, marketing and public relations managers | 482 |
| NOC 1111 | Financial auditors and accountants | 382 |
| NOC 2174 | Computer programmers and interactive media developers | 374 |
| NOC 6311 | Food service supervisors | 353 |
| NOC 7511 | Transport truckdrivers | 325 |
| NOC 2172 | Database analysts and data administrators | 319 |
| NOC 1122 | Professional occupations in business management consulting | 267 |
| NOC 601 | Corporate sales managers | 258 |
| NOC 213 | Computer and information systems managers | 252 |
| NOC 1121 | Human resources professionals | 186 |
| NOC 122 | Banking, credit and other investment managers | 183 |
| NOC 2175 | Web designers and developers | 167 |
| NOC 1112 | Financial and investment analysts | 164 |
| NOC 1241 | Administrative assistants | 148 |
| NOC 2147 | Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) | 133 |
| NOC 1215 | Supervisors, supply chain, tracking and scheduling co-ordination occupations | 122 |
| NOC 6322 | Cooks | 118 |
| NOC 114 | Other administrative services managers | 114 |
| NOC 4163 | Business development officers, marketing researchers, consultants | 103 |
| All other occupations | 3,758 | |
| Grand total | 9,000 |
Under the OINP, the province recruited foreign nationals to address its acute labour shortages in the skilled trades and healthcare sector last year.
“In 2021, roughly 15 per cent of nominees had work experience in a skilled trade with over 800 nominations made under the program’s Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker and Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills streams,” reports the province.
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“The top skilled trades occupations of nominees were: transport truck drivers, cooks, machinists and machining and tooling inspectors, carpenters, and bricklayers.”
The OINP also nominated more than 100 health care workers in 2021, including about 50 personal support workers.
Third Of Nominees Under OINP Came Through The Human Capital Priorities Stream
| Stream | Number of nominations |
| Employer Job Offer: International Student stream | 1,240 |
| Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills stream | 540 |
| Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream | 1,705 |
| PhD Graduate stream | 212 |
| Masters Graduate stream | 1,202 |
| Ontario’s Express Entry Skilled Trades stream | 177 |
| Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream | 3,513 |
| Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream | 410 |
| Entrepreneur stream | 1 |
| Grand total | 9,000 |
A two-year pilot program started last year to support employers in three communities outside of the Greater Toronto Area and bring skilled labour there to address labour shortages.
“Since its launch during the pandemic in 2020, the pilot has seen great success with over 226 nominations,” reports the province. “In early 2022, OINP will process the remaining applications and is projected to meet the 300 nominations goal for the two-year pilot.
“The program also surpassed its five per cent target for francophone immigration, issuing 5.3 per cent or 480 nominations to individuals with high French-language proficiency. Most francophone applicants received nominations under the French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream and the Human Capital Priorities stream.”
Two entrepreneurs were nominated under the OINP’s Entrepreneur stream last year and another 32 applicants were in the stream’s compliance monitoring process by the end of the year, including nine applicants living in Ontario and working to establish their business.
“We anticipate that these 32 Entrepreneur stream candidates will invest over $25.2 million dollars and hire 133 Ontarians as a result of establishing their businesses in the province. An additional 63 applications are in processing, which we received in 2020 and 2021.”
