Syed Khan – January 11, 2022
In the latest announcement made by the IRCC, Ontario remained the most popular province to settle from January to October 2021. Ontario welcomed 154,005 new permanent residents from the total of 313,880 arriving in the country.
The province of Ontario has one of the highest rates in all provinces and territories of bringing in economic immigrants. Ontario Immigration also offers candidates faster processing options like the Global Talent Stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program which processes applications in under 2 weeks. The Skilled Worker Program has significantly increased the number of immigrants as more than 3,555 migrants became permanent residents under it till now in 2021. From January to October, 165 new permanent residents settled in Ontario under Start-Up and Self-Employed business programs.
Ontario Immigration, in its recent proposal, is seeking to double the skilled immigrants that settle in the province while bettering working conditions for them. This move is seen as a desperate move in order to fill the gaping labor shortage and boost the skilled workforce.
The Ontario government is also looking to amend some rules set by the law governing regulatory bodies. It is proposing to remove requirements like Canadian work experience, extensive language tests, etc. in order to ease the process of getting licensed in non-health-related occupations.
If this proposal is passed, Ontario would write history as being the first province in Canada that eliminates the requirement for Canadian work experience in regulated occupations and for introducing revolutionary policies like the right-to-disconnect policy. It is also proposing to ban non-compete agreements.
The Minister also called for Ontario’s nomination allocation to be doubled from next year, from the current 9,000. This means that currently, Ontario can only nominate about 9,000 people every year for PR despite being one of the most popular destinations for immigrants to settle in. This new program is one of the many steps taken by Ontario to increase immigration and attract newcomers to the province.
Ontario has announced a new two-year immigration program that aims to attract $20 million investments from 100 international entrepreneurs. This program is aimed to help struggling businesses and create jobs in sectors like tourism and technology. It is set to be launched under the existing Entrepreneur Stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. After successfully operating their business for 18 to 20 months, these applicants will be nominated automatically for permanent residence by Ontario Immigration.
Ontario proposed a new provincial law in October that removes the requirement of foreign-trained professionals like lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, electricians, and plumbers to get Canadian work experience and licensing in order to practice their professions in Ontario. Under this new proposed law, the number of language tests for foreign professionals to obtain professional licensing will also be reduced and applications under this program will be sped up in order to help these working professionals settle in Canada quickly.
The number of immigrants that settled from Jan-Oct in each province are given below, according to the data given by the IRCC:
| Name of the Province | Number of Immigrants |
| Ontario | 154,005 |
| British Columbia | 54,345 |
| Quebec | 39,550 |
| Alberta | 30,560 |
| Manitoba | 12,570 |
| Saskatchewan | 8,390 |
| Nova Scotia | 6,170 |
| New Brunswick | 3,825 |
| Prince Edward Island | 2,065 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 1,358 |
| Yukon | 475 |
| Northwest Territories | 240 |
| Nunavut | 35 |
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