On November 4, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) permanently halted its entrepreneur immigration track after a hiatus in application intake since December 2023.
Furthermore, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) hosted candidate selections for entrepreneurs and skilled workers seeking to immigrate to the province on November 5 and 6, respectively.
Provincial immigration updates November 1 - 8
Ontario
The OINP has announced the discontinuation of its Entrepreneur stream.
The provincial authorities stated that they are now working on making amendments to "wind-down and close" the stream.
Applications already submitted to the Entrepreneur stream will be processed in compliance with the amended regulations. According to these modifications, current candidates with applications in the pipeline may still be eligible for a provincial nomination for permanent residency (PR), based on their commitments to establish their enterprises in Ontario.
The OINP will contact all current Entrepreneur stream applicants (and their authorised representatives) in the coming days to provide more information about the next steps in the processing of their applications.
British Columbia
The BCPNP held two draws on November 5 and 6.
On November 5, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) held two selections for the Base and Regional Entrepreneur streams. These choices issued at least 11 invitations to apply (ITAs) in total, with different cut-off scores for each stream.
| Stream | Cut-off score | ITAs issued |
|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneur Base Stream | 115 | 10 |
| Entrepreneur Regional Stream | 130 | <5 |
On November 6, the BCPNP performed another draw for the Skilled Worker, International Graduate stream. This draw also took into account candidates in the stream who had valid profiles in Canada's federal Express Entry pool (referred to as the Express Entry British Columbia (EEBC) option). A province may nominate candidates in the Express Entry pool using a method known as enhanced provincial nomination.
Candidates were invited based on their professional expertise in British Columbia's priority occupations—with varied cut-off scores and invites issued depending on the industries and professions targeted.
| Stream | Professions targeted | Cut-off score | ITAs issued |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker, International Graduate | Childcare | 96 | 7 |
| Construction | 97 | 5 | |
| Healthcare | 111 | 8 | |
| Tech | 128 | 31 |
