OINP Invitation to Apply: Deadlines, Documents and What Follows Nomination
An invitation to apply under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program’s Ontario Workforce Priority stream starts a short, unforgiving clock. Your employer has 14 calendar days from the date of the invitation to submit its application for approval of an employment position, and you have 17 calendar days to submit yours with the fee paid. You cannot submit before your employer does. If the file is incomplete when it lands, Ontario returns it, refunds the fee and closes the matter, and there is no internal review of that outcome. If it is complete and you are nominated, you then have 6 months to apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence.
Key Takeaways
- Employer deadline: 14 calendar days from the invitation. Applicant deadline: 17 calendar days, fee included. Self employed physicians have the same 17 days.
- If your employer does not file, your job offer is withdrawn and your expression of interest (EOI) is removed from the pool. You cannot get it back.
- An incomplete application is returned with a refund and cannot be sent to internal review, because no eligibility decision was ever made.
- The application fee is $1,500 outside the Greater Toronto Area and $2,000 inside it, and becomes non-refundable once Ontario confirms completeness.
- After nomination you have 6 months to apply to IRCC, or 30 days to accept the nomination in Express Entry and 60 days to file the permanent residence application.
The clock starts on the invitation date, not on receipt
Both deadlines run from the date the invitation to apply was issued. There are three ways to lose the invitation, and all of them are avoidable:
- The employer misses its 14 days. The job offer is withdrawn and your EOI is removed from the selection pool. To try again the employer must submit an entirely new job offer, and you must register a new EOI.
- You miss your 17 days. The EOI is removed and cannot be reinstated.
- You try to submit before your employer has filed. You can work on the application during the 17 days, but the system will not let you submit until the employer’s application for approval of an employment position is in.
In practice the 17 days are shorter than they look, because the documents have to be gathered, scanned and matched to the checklist. The LPEN instructors described the submission window as the tightest part of the process, and the sequencing means a slow employer eats into your time, not theirs.
Completeness is now all or nothing
To shorten processing, Ontario no longer gives applicants a chance to add documents after the completeness check. This is not just policy. Under O. Reg. 421/17 (Approvals) under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015, if the director determines an application is incomplete, the director must return it with the fee and give written reasons; if it is complete, the director acknowledges completeness in writing; and once completeness is acknowledged, the fee is non-refundable even if the application is later refused.
The program page states the practical consequence plainly: an incomplete application is withdrawn, the fee is returned, and an internal review is not available, because the application was never assessed against the eligibility criteria and so no decision was made. A refusal can be reviewed. An incomplete file cannot.
That also means a returned file is not a soft landing. By the time it comes back, your EOI is gone and the employer’s job offer has been spent.
What has to be in the package
Ontario publishes separate checklists for the employer and the applicant, and the instructors’ advice was to follow them literally rather than approximately.
On the employer side. The signed job offer, and a recent supplementary letter where the original offer is more than about six months old or is missing required content. A consent form signed by the signing officer with a wet signature. Where applicable, recruitment records, the LMIA for the offered position, the relevant section of a collective agreement for unionized employers, and a representative’s declaration. Each document is capped at 10MB.
On the applicant side. Every scoring factor you claimed in the EOI has to be supported by a document. The checklist is prescriptive about content: a resume must list duties for each position held and include your current address, email and phone number. A few points worth planning for:
- ECA results have to be verifiable. You must contact the assessing organization and specifically authorize it to release your results to OINP. Doing this on day 15 is too late.
- Translations. Documents not in English or French need the original plus a notarized translation. For applications made from within Ontario, the instructors noted that translations should be ATIO certified.
- File naming. Number the files in the order the online form lists the required documents. Some sections accept multiple files, such as EOI factors, status documents, family passports and work history.
- Other activities. The form asks for everything in the last 10 years that is not in your work or education history, including training, unemployment, volunteering, sick leave, parental leave and long trips. Gaps invite questions.
- Intention to reside in Ontario. Prepare a short narrative on your ties to Ontario rather than leaving the field thin.
A covering submission letter is not required, but the instructors recommended one: identifiers and subject line, a summary of the employer, the position and its terms, the applicant’s education, experience and language, the intention to reside in Ontario, a summary of the EOI score, explanations for anything unusual, and an itemized index of what is enclosed. If something is genuinely unavailable, say so and say why, in the letter, rather than leaving a hole for the officer to find. The same discipline applies to any immigration submission: consistency between the form, the documents and any Express Entry profile is what prevents a misrepresentation problem later.
Fees
The Ontario Workforce Priority stream application fee is $1,500 where the job offer is outside the Greater Toronto Area and $2,000 where it is inside the City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, Peel or York. For self employed physicians the same two figures apply, based on the location of the Ontario medical practice. Ontario accepts Visa, Visa Debit, Mastercard and Mastercard Debit. The fee is refunded only if the application is incomplete or you withdraw before processing starts. It is not refunded if the application is refused. Confirm current fees on the program page before you pay.
If you are refused: internal review
Internal review is the remedy for a decision, not for an incomplete file. The process comes from section 34 of the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015, and the request is filed in the OINP e-Filing Portal under the “Action” column. Three features matter:
- 30 calendar days from the notice of decision to request it.
- The review is limited to an error in the decision. You are asked to identify the error that, had it not been made, would have produced a different result.
- No new evidence, unless it was not reasonably available when the decision was made. The reviewer assesses eligibility as at the time of the original application, and the reviewer’s decision is final.
That last point is why the application itself, not the review, is where the work belongs.
After nomination: two routes to permanent residence
A successful application produces a nomination approval letter, a nomination certificate, and a work permit support letter where applicable. The certificate is valid for 6 months, and you must apply to IRCC for permanent residence before it expires. A nomination is not a grant of permanent residence: IRCC makes that decision, and you and your family members must still be admissible.
Through Express Entry. Available if you applied with a job offer in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3, or as a self employed physician, and you meet a federal Express Entry program. You must have entered a valid Express Entry profile and job seeker validation code when you created the EOI, select “Ontario” or “All Provinces and Territories” in the profile, and keep that profile valid through to nomination. Ontario enters the nomination in the Express Entry system, you have 30 calendar days to accept, and acceptance adds 600 CRS points, which in practice means an invitation in the next round. You then have 60 calendar days to file the permanent residence application. If your profile expires after nomination, you have to start the whole OINP process again, so this is a diary date, not a formality. Our overview of category-based Express Entry draws in 2026 explains how the federal side is running this year.
Outside Express Entry. Everyone else, including all TEER 4 and 5 nominees, applies to IRCC through the paper based provincial nominee class within the 6 month window. Extensions of the nomination certificate are granted only on narrow grounds, such as an IRCC return for incompleteness or a documented delay in obtaining something like a police certificate.
If your original Express Entry profile becomes ineligible, you can ask OINP by webform to transfer the nomination to a new profile, attaching IRCC’s acknowledgment of the new profile and its explanation of why the old one lapsed.
Working while permanent residence is processed
Nominees with a job offer receive a work permit support letter, which supports an employer specific work permit application to IRCC under the T13 LMIA exemption. The employer must first submit the offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal. The application can be made inside or outside Canada. Note that a nominee who is self employed as a physician does not receive a work permit support letter.
You can ask OINP by webform to extend an expired work permit support letter, or to reissue it where you have been promoted with a new title or NOC code, or where the employer’s name changed through a merger or acquisition. The request needs a copy of your current work permit, a recently dated employment verification letter, your two most recent pay statements, and confirmation of your current address.
A nominee already in Canada on a valid work permit, with maintained status, or eligible to restore status as a worker, may instead qualify for a bridging open work permit once the permanent residence application has cleared the relevant completeness or eligibility stage. Provincial nominees qualify only where the nomination carries no employer restrictions, so always include the nomination certificate and evidence that it is unrestricted. Both the work permit fee and the open work permit holder fee apply. The full rules, including the current fee amounts, are in our guide to the bridging open work permit.
Conditions that survive the nomination
The nomination is conditional until permanent residence is decided, and the conditions sit in the approval letter. Three of them catch people out.
The employer must keep employing you on the approved terms. Duties, wage, hours and work location are all part of what was approved, and Ontario cannot change an approved employment position after nomination. The employer must contact OINP before changing any of those terms, and in the event of a termination. If the employment ends and the approval is cancelled, the route back is a new EOI, from the beginning.
Ontario verifies. A Post-Nomination Verification Unit contacts nominees and employers to confirm the conditions are being met, and the program is authorized to cancel approvals, including the nomination, where they are not.
You have to actually settle in Ontario. Both your OINP application and your IRCC application represent an intention to live in Ontario. The instructors’ view was that relocating to another province before permanent residence is issued is likely fatal to the nomination, with a risk of a misrepresentation allegation on top. Where a move genuinely becomes necessary, keep records of the original efforts to settle in Ontario and of what changed.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to apply after an OINP invitation?
17 calendar days from the date the invitation was issued, with the fee paid. Your employer has 14 calendar days, and you cannot submit until the employer has.
My application was returned as incomplete. Can I ask for an internal review?
No. Internal review is only available where eligibility was assessed and a decision made. An incomplete file is returned with the fee refunded.
How long is an OINP nomination certificate valid?
6 months. You must apply to IRCC for permanent residence before it expires.
What happens if I lose my job after being nominated?
Tell OINP. The approved employment position is the basis of the nomination, and if the approval is cancelled you would need to start again with a new EOI under the stream.
Can I move to another province after nomination?
It is a serious risk. You represented to both Ontario and IRCC that you intend to settle in Ontario, and relocating before permanent residence is issued can cost the nomination and raise a misrepresentation issue.
Do self employed physicians get a work permit support letter?
No. Physicians nominated without a job offer are not issued one, although a physician already holding a valid work permit may still be able to look at a bridging open work permit.
Deadlines, fees and checklists change. Confirm them on the current OINP pages before you file, and contact us if you want help preparing the package inside the 17 day window.
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Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration law and IRCC/ESDC policy change frequently, and every case turns on its own facts. Reading this article does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Obtain advice tailored to your situation before you act.
Talk to a Canadian immigration lawyer. BridgePoint Law advises individuals and businesses across Canada — and on Canada–US–China cross-border matters — on Ontario provincial nomination and permanent residence. Book a consultation with our team in Toronto and Kingston. We work in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.