(ONTARIO, CANADA) Ontario kicked off its 2026 provincial immigration selections on February 2, 2026, issuing 1,825 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) through six targeted draws under the Employer Job Offer streams of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). The message to candidates and employers was direct: Ontario is using its first draws of the year to fill jobs tied to healthcare, education, physicians, and regional needs.
For workers, these draws show what Ontario is willing to move fast on early in the year, especially when a real job offer is already on the table. For employers, the draws underline that hiring needs in priority sectors and in specific regions can move a profile from “waiting” to “invited,” even when broader demand remains high across the province.
Ontario runs two main types of selections in the Employer Job Offer system. A broad draw considers a wider pool in a stream. A targeted draw narrows the pool to profiles that match Ontario’s focus at that moment, such as specific occupations, sectors, or a regional pilot.
The February 2 selections were targeted draws, and they were also the first OINP selections of 2026, which matters because early-year invitations can set the tone for who gets attention first.
Summary of the February 2 draws and focus areas
The 1,825 ITAs were spread across the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker and Employer Job Offer: International Student streams, with additional targeted draws for physicians and the Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) pilot.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the early emphasis on healthcare-linked roles and regional hiring pressure signals Ontario’s intent to direct nominations where vacancies are hardest to fill and where local services depend on stable staffing.
Anyone tracking eligibility also needed to watch one practical gate: Ontario limited the draw to candidates with EOI profiles created between July 2, 2025, and January 28, 2026. your profile had to be recent enough to count for this round, even if you met every other requirement.
February 2, 2026: What Ontario did, and why it matters for Employer Job Offer candidates
Ontario’s Employer Job Offer system is built around one core idea: a qualifying Ontario job offer from an eligible employer anchors the application. Candidates first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI), which is a profile in Ontario’s scoring system.
Ontario then issues ITAs to top-ranked profiles that match the target of a draw. A targeted draw is not a “special program” by itself; it is a selection choice inside the same streams.
Ontario can run a draw that is general within a stream, or it can limit invitations to candidates in certain occupations or initiatives. February 2 showed both approaches in the same day: large general draws plus smaller draws aimed at physicians and REDI locations.
This approach sends a clear signal about labour demand. Ontario’s targeting touched healthcare and physicians, which often face staffing gaps that affect access to care. It also touched education, a sector that depends on consistent staffing to keep classrooms running.
Finally, it leaned into REDI, which is designed to help employers outside major hubs compete for workers. For candidates, timing and targeting now matter as much as raw score.
A strong profile still helps, but the “right” profile for Ontario’s current focus can move faster than a higher-scoring profile outside that focus. For employers, it means job offers tied to priority needs can translate into quicker movement for the worker, which supports retention plans and staffing stability.
Ontario maintains official program information and updates through its provincial site, including stream basics and employer requirements at the Ontario 🇨🇦 government’s OINP page: Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).
How the six draws split across streams, targets, and EOI score thresholds
The February 2 invitations were issued through Employer Job Offer draws that covered the following areas. This section is written to lead into an interactive breakdown by stream and draw that will display the exact splits, thresholds, and counts.
- Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream — a large general draw, plus a physicians draw, plus a REDI draw
- Employer Job Offer: International Student stream — a large general draw, plus a REDI draw
Ontario’s EOI system uses a score threshold for each draw. That threshold is the lowest score that received an invitation in that round. The score is not a pass mark, and it is not fixed across the year; it shifts with the size of the pool and Ontario’s target for that day.
A key point for candidates is that Ontario can change who it invites even inside the same stream. Two people can both be in the Foreign Worker stream, but only the one matching a targeted occupation or pilot might be eligible for that particular draw.
In the February 2 selections, Ontario issued 1,649 ITAs through the two large “general” Employer Job Offer draws, split across the Foreign Worker and International Student streams. Ontario also issued 129 ITAs in a Foreign Worker draw targeted to physicians, and 40 ITAs across two REDI draws.
Those smaller draws came with their own score thresholds. Ontario’s physicians draw in the Foreign Worker stream targeted NOC 31100, 31101, and 31102, covering clinical and laboratory specialists, surgery specialists, and general practitioners and family physicians.
REDI invitations were tied to job offers in specific regions, which can narrow the pool sharply and change how competitive a score needs to be. Just as important, Ontario limited the February 2 draws to EOIs created within a set window.
Profiles created outside July 2, 2025, to January 28, 2026 were not in play for this round. Recency becomes a real strategy issue, especially for candidates who created a profile long ago and assumed it would stay competitive.
REDI: Ontario’s regional pilot and how job location is assessed in practice
REDI, short for Regional Economic Development through Immigration, is a pilot inside the OINP Employer Job Offer system. Ontario uses it to help rural and northern employers attract workers when hiring is tougher than in large cities.
REDI does not replace the usual Employer Job Offer rules. Instead, it adds a regional condition: the job offer must be in a qualifying REDI area. Ontario’s February 2 REDI draws focused on job offers located in Lanark County, Leeds and Grenville, Sarnia-Lambton, or the Thunder Bay region.
In day-to-day terms, REDI is about where the worker will actually work, not where the employer has a head office or where payroll is processed. That location point is where many applications stumble.
Candidates often assume that living near a region, commuting into it, or working remotely for a regional employer will satisfy a regional requirement. Ontario’s focus is the job’s location, and the application must support that clearly.
Common REDI pitfalls include:
- Treating an employer’s headquarters as the job location, when the role is based somewhere else.
- Using vague worksite descriptions in the job offer, which makes it harder to show the job is in a REDI area.
- Assuming occasional travel to a REDI worksite is enough, when the role is mainly in a non-REDI location.
- Failing to keep supporting documents consistent, such as job offer details, internal job postings, and worksite addresses.
A strong REDI file reads like one coherent story. The job offer, the worksite address, the duties, and the employer’s operational need should all point to the same place. When Ontario targets REDI, it is buying regional outcomes, meaning workers physically filling jobs where local economies need them.
Early 2026 counts, and why “invitations” are not the same as “nominations”
Ontario’s reporting often uses year-to-date totals, meaning the number of ITAs issued since the start of the calendar year. This matters for applicants because it becomes a rough signal of how active the program has been.
For 2026, Ontario’s year-to-date reporting confirmed 777 ITAs in the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream, alongside additional invitations in the International Student stream and other categories.
Because February 2 was the first selection date of the year, those early totals can shift fast once Ontario starts running more frequent rounds. Still, it’s critical to keep one distinction straight: an invitation to apply is not a nomination.
An ITA is permission to submit a full application to Ontario under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). A nomination only happens after Ontario reviews the application and approves it.
That difference affects planning in real ways:
- Workers should not resign from jobs or make irreversible moves based on an ITA alone.
- Employers should not treat an ITA as guaranteed retention, because the worker still must qualify at the application stage.
- Families should plan finances around a longer timeline, because an ITA starts a process rather than ending it.
Ontario’s early targeted draws can also distort expectations. A candidate might see a large number of invitations and assume broad access. The February 2 pattern shows the opposite. Ontario can issue many invitations, yet still reserve meaningful space for targeted needs like physicians and REDI locations.
2026 program restructuring: Phase 1 TEER tracks, then Phase 2 new and eliminated streams
Ontario is not only running draws in 2026. It is also restructuring how parts of OINP work, especially the Employer Job Offer side. This section explains the planned changes and is prepared to lead into an interactive tool that will display the phased changes, timelines, and affected streams.
Phase 1, planned for Spring 2026, merges the current Employer Job Offer streams—Foreign Worker, International Student, and In-Demand Skills—into a single Employer Job Offer stream with two TEER-based tracks.
TEER is Canada’s training and education framework used in the National Occupational Classification. Ontario’s plan separates the new Employer Job Offer stream into two tracks:
- TEER 0–3 track, tied to higher-skilled roles, including managers, professional roles, and many technical trades.
- TEER 4–5 track, tied to more frontline and essential occupations.
In practice, TEER-based tracks can reshape who gets priority. TEER 0–3 applicants often have roles that already line up with common shortage categories, including healthcare, trades, and some tech roles. TEER 4–5 applicants can still be central to Ontario’s workforce, but Ontario signaled more structured conditions, including 9 months of experience with the same employer and draws tied to regions and industries.
Ontario also flagged a potential construction stream without a job offer, tied to union validation. That concept differs from Employer Job Offer logic because it shifts focus away from a single employer’s offer and toward verified trade status through a union channel.
Targeted draws are also likely to remain a core tool under the new structure. Even with a single stream, Ontario can still aim invitations at sectors, occupations, or regions. The February 2 draw pattern fits that approach, because targeting has become Ontario’s main steering wheel.
Phase 2, planned for Late 2026, is broader. Ontario plans to eliminate the Masters Graduate, PhD Graduate, and Human Capital Priorities streams, then introduce new streams such as Priority Healthcare, Exceptional Talent, and Entrepreneur streams.
Even before those changes arrive, candidates and employers can prepare in practical ways. Document readiness matters more when timelines tighten, and employer compliance matters more when portals and processes change. Workers should keep job offer details consistent and current. Employers should be ready to confirm business legitimacy, worksite details, and the genuine need for the role.
Employer Portal launch, outage window, and the step-by-step reality after an ITA
The biggest operational change Ontario set out for 2026 is a new employer-led submission system. A new Employer Portal launches July 2, 2026, shifting the workflow so the employer submits job details first. Ontario also scheduled a system outage from June 20 to July 2, and Ontario indicated that existing EOIs will be withdrawn during that outage window.
Operationally, this type of transition changes how candidates and employers coordinate. The Employer Job Offer streams already require alignment between the worker’s profile and the employer’s job offer. A portal that starts with the employer adds another coordination point, especially for timing.
Candidates should expect more employer-led steps up front, including structured job details entered into Ontario’s system. Employers should expect to gather documentation early and to keep job information consistent across systems, because mismatches create delays and can raise credibility issues.
Once a candidate receives an ITA under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), the clock becomes the next pressure point. Ontario’s standard rule is clear: invited candidates must submit a complete application within 14 days. “Complete” means Ontario receives what it requires, in the required format, before the deadline.
Missing documents, inconsistent job details, or late submissions can sink the application, even when the candidate’s profile looked strong enough to be invited.
A simple way to think about the post-ITA process is a four-step sequence:
- Invitation issued under one of the Employer Job Offer streams, often with a targeted focus.
- Full application filed within 14 days, with employer and candidate documents aligned.
- Ontario assesses and, if approved, issues a provincial nomination.
- Permanent residence is processed federally after nomination, following federal requirements and checks.
That final step matters for planning. Ontario’s nomination supports a permanent residence application, but the federal stage still includes security, medical, and background screening under national rules.
For many applicants, the emotional reality is that the hardest part is not a single form. It is staying organized while life continues, jobs change, and systems update. Ontario’s 2026 shift, including the July 2 Employer Portal launch and the June 20 to July 2 outage window, means candidates and employers who plan around timing and documentation will be better placed when the next targeted draw arrives.
