Canada: Significant Increase in Ontario’s Nomination Allocations Announced

The government of the Ontario province has announced it is doubling the number of economic immigrants it selects to the province under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program by 2025, to help solve the province’s labor shortages, especially in critical industries like skilled trades, technology and health care. Under an agreement with the federal government, the province plans to select 16,500 immigrants in 2023 and more than 18,000 immigrants in 2025, up from 9,000 in 2021. Foreign nationals with qualifying skills, experience and education seeking to obtain permanent residence in Canada by settling in Ontario can apply to Ontario’s Immigrant Nominee Program. The province then sends its nominees to the federal government, which makes the final decision on permanent residence applications.