One of the most popular Express Entry-aligned Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams for immigration to Canada, Ontario’s Human Capital Priorities (HCP) stream, is now accepting applications. The OINP also expects to issue new Notifications of Interest (NOIs) to eligible candidates in the Express Entry pool before the end of 2017.
News of the HCP stream reopening was provided by immigration authorities in Ontario on Thursday, November 2.
This stream is a major component of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), one of Canada’s PNPs. Successful applicants to the HCP stream are awarded 600 additional Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), with an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence to follow at a subsequent draw from the Express Entry pool.
Ontario’s HCP stream is something of an outlier among the many Express Entry-aligned PNP streams due to it operating on a passive model. The process is neither first-come, first-served, nor Expression of Interest-based. Instead, the OINP searches the pool for eligible candidates who may settle in the province successfully, and issues them a NOI, which serves as an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination certificate through the OINP.
Speaking exclusively to CICNews, OINP staff confirmed that it expects to issue new NOIs before the end of the year, in line with the province’s annual PNP allocation, some of which has yet to be filled. Candidates who were eligible under the HCP stream criteria when the OINP was last issuing NOIs in July, but who did not receive a NOI, are encouraged by OINP staff to create a new profile in the Express Entry system to make it easier for Ontario to identify their profile during its search of the pool. Other candidates who have been in the pool for more than a couple of months, and who may be eligible for the HCP stream, may also re-create their profile in line with previous recommendations from immigration authorities in Ontario.