Ontario Launches French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream, Aligned With Express Entry

the CanadaVisa Team - 13 July, 2015

The province of Ontario has announced details of a new French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream under its Opportunities Ontario: Provincial Nominee Program (OOPNP) for Canadian immigration.

The stream, which is aligned with the federal Express Entry immigration selection system, is for French-Speaking skilled workers who also have strong English language abilities and who want to live and work permanently in Ontario. Ontario is Canada’s most populated provinceand home to the national capital city, Ottawa, as well as Canada’s largest city, Toronto. This stream enables the OOPNP to nominate individuals who have qualified for the Express Entry pool and who have the required education, skilled work experience, language ability, and other characteristics to help them successfully establish and integrate into Ontario’s labour market and communities.

How it works

When candidates register for Express Entry, they must indicate their interest in immigrating to either Ontario or “All Provinces and Territories.” They must also be eligible to enter the pool through either the Federal Skilled Worker Program or the Canadian Experience Class.

OOPNP searches the Express Entry pool and identifies potential candidates who meet the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream criteria:

• Minimum of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level of 7 in French and CLB 6 in English, as demonstrated by results from a standardised language test recognised by the governments of Canada and Ontario;
• Minimum work experience for either the FSWP or the CEC criteria. All applicants require a minimum level of work experience. Candidates who choose to be assessed against the FSWP criteria must have a minimum of one year of continuous and full-time employment (1,560 hours or more) or an equal amount in continuous part-time paid work experience in a National Occupation Classification (NOC) level 0, A, or B occupation in the past five years from the date of the PT Notification of Interest from Ontario. This work experience must have been completed in one specific NOC occupation. Candidates who choose to be assessed against the CEC criteria are required to have a minimum of one year of cumulative and full-time employment (1,560 hours or more) or an equal amount in part-time paid work experience in a NOC 0, A, or B occupation in Canada in the past three years from the date of the PT notification of interest from OOPNP.
• Equivalent of a Canadian Bachelor’s degree or above;
• Sufficient settlement funds; and
• An intention to reside in Ontario.

Candidates identified by the OOPNP will receive a PT Notification of Interest from Ontario through their MyCIC account. This notification will invite them to apply to OOPNP for nomination under the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream. From this point, selected candidates have 45 days to apply to OOPNP under the Human Capital Priorities Stream.

If the application is approved by Ontario, the candidate will receive a letter from OOPNP through his or her MyCIC account notifying him or her of the nomination. From this point, he or she will have 30 days to accept the nomination from Ontario in the Express Entry system. Candidates who obtain a nomination from Ontario through this stream will receive an additional 600 CRS points and an invitation to apply for permanent residence from CIC.

Learn more about the province of Ontario.

To find out if you are eligible for the OOPNP French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream or more than 60 other Canadian immigration programs, please fill out a free assessment.