OINP Masters Graduate Stream
OINP Masters Graduate Stream is one of the nine pathways of Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program that offers provincial nomination to eligible international students with a master’s degree from a university in Ontario.
Eligibility requirements of OINP Masters Graduate Stream
You must meet the following eligibility requirements to apply for this OINP Masters Graduate Stream.
1. Receive an ITA
The first condition you must meet is getting an Invitation to Apply. You must register an OINP EOI or Expression of interest before applying to the stream. Once you are scored in the EOI system, you might get an ITA in the OINP draws. After you receive your invitation, you will be able to apply to the OINP for provincial nomination.
2. Education
You must be eligible to get a master’s degree. Secondly, you must have earned a master’s degree from an eligible university in Ontario. A master’s degree is valid only if:
- It is a full-time course for at least one academic year. A full-time academic course is one that is 15 hours of instruction per week throughout the academic year. This includes any workplace training as part of your studies. Part-time courses will qualify only if the instruction hours are equal to those in one academic year.
- Your Masters degree must be earned from a University in Ontario.
- You must have completed your master’s degree when you apply to the OINP Masters Graduate Stream. You can apply to this stream while still studying only under two conditions.
- If you are studying in order to get mandatory authorization or a license for a regulated occupation in Ontario
- You are a full-time student in Ontario
Note: You will be ineligible to apply if you are enrolled in a master’s program through a grant or a scholarship that requires you to return to your home country upon completion of the program. You will be eligible only after you have fulfilled the conditions of your scholarship and successfully demonstrate an intention to permanently reside in Ontario.
3. Language Proficiency
You must have at least CLB 7 in all four fields of listening, speaking, writing, and reading. To demonstrate your language ability you must take language tests. OINP accepts CELPIP-G
and IELTS for English and TCF and TEF for French. The language test score is valid for two years.
4. Settlement Funds
You must be financially stable and must have enough resources to support yourself and your family if they are accompanying you to Canada. The funds you require to be eligible for the OINP master graduate stream depend upon the number of family members accompanying you.
| Number of accompanying family members | Settlement funds required |
| 1 | $13310 |
| 2 | $16570 |
| 3 | $20371 |
| 4 | $24733 |
| 5 | $28052 |
| 6 | $31638 |
| 7 | $35224 |
| Each additional member | $3586 |
You can fulfill the settlement funds requirement through the following ways:
- An employment offer in Ontario
- Availability of funds demonstrated through your bank statements, and other account statements showing forms of investments such as mutual funds, fixed term deposits, etc.
- Yearly earnings from ongoing employment in Ontario
Hence, if you are the only one aiming to settle in Ontario, you will need $13310 to be eligible to apply to OINP. You can meet this requirement through the wages of your job offer, funds in your bank account, or annual earnings from your job in Ontario.
5. Plan to settle in Ontario
To apply for provincial nomination through OINP, you must successfully be able to prove that you aim to settle in the province of Ontario. This can be assessed through:
- Proof of leasing or owning a property in Ontario
- Appearing for job interviews
- Working in Ontario, or having prior work experience in the province
- Studying in Ontario
- Having a social circle such as family members, friends, and professional connections in the province
6. Residency status at the time of application
You cannot apply to the OINP Masters graduate stream if you are in a Canadian territory or province other than Ontario at the time of application. You must either be living outside Canada or must have a valid work permit, study permit, or visitor visa at the time of applying to the OINP stream.
7. Must have lived in Ontario
To be eligible for the Masters Graduate stream, you must have lived in Ontario for at least a year within the last two years. Your one-year stay does not need to be continuous and can be cumulative.
8. Must have a legal status in Canada
If you are applying to the Masters Graduate stream from Canada, you must have a valid work permit, study permit, or visitor visa at the time of application. In case you have applied to extend your permit to the IRCC, you can apply to the OINP stream as an ‘implied status’.
9. Valid application period
You must apply to the OINP Masters Graduate stream within two years of completing your Masters program. For instance, if you received your degree on July 1, 2023, you can apply to the Masters Graduate stream till July 1, 2025.
OINP Masters Graduate Stream score calculator
You need to register an Expression of Interest (EOI) before applying to the Ontario Masters Graduate stream. The EOI system will score you based on the information you provide while registering your interest. The scoring factors for the Master’s Graduate stream are tabulated below. You will be scored out of 71 points.
| Proficiency in Official languages | |
| 12 points
12 points |
| Degree in Business and administration, social sciences, academics, law, transport services, etc. | 06 points |
| Degree in Arts and humanities | 0 Points |
| Points for Canadian education | |
| If you have more than one Canadian degree or credential | 10 points |
| If you have only one Canadian degree or credential | 05 points |
| Language Proficiency | |
| CLB 9 and above | 10 points |
| CLB 8 | 06 points |
| CLB 7 | 04 points |
| CLB 6 or lower | 0 points |
| Points for Location of Study | |
| If you are proficient in both English and French | 10 points |
| If you are proficient in either English or French | 05 points |
| Points for Location of Study | |
| Northern Ontario | 10 points |
| Outside Greater Toronto Area excluding Northern Ontario | 08 points |
| Inside GTA | 03 points |
| Toronto | 0 points |
| Permit Status | |
| With a study or work permit | 10 points |
| Without a study or work permit | 0 points |
| Canadian Earning history (if applicable) | |
| If you earn more than $40k annually | 03 points |
| If you earn less than $40k in a year | 00 points |
| Maximum Points available | 71 points |
OINP Masters Graduate Stream Documentation Checklist
The following documents are required while registering an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the OINP Masters Graduate Stream.
- Attestation Form that has been completed and submitted the same day as the submission of the Expression of Interest.
- Copy of Work permit, study permit, or any other current and previous status document from IRCC or the CBSA. If you have an implied status, you must submit:
- An acknowledgment letter from IRCC stating that they have received your request to extend your status, or
- IRCC fee receipt
- To support your points for your Canadian earning history, you must upload a copy of a Notice of Assessment (NOA) issued by the Canada Revenue Agency, within the last 5 years.
- To substantiate your points for field of study, and location of study, upload a copy of your Canadian credential or degree. You will also be required to submit your transcript.
- Language test report. Your test results must not be older than 2 years.
- In order to prove that you stayed in Ontario for at least a year, you will also need to provide documents such as phone bills, rent agreements, payslips from an Ontario employer, etc.
- A scanned copy of your passport or visa photograph
- Copy of the personal information page of your passport.
- Documents to demonstrate your settlement funds. These include copies of your latest bank account statements that have three months’ activities.
- Documents to prove that you aim to settle in Ontario.
- Your latest resume includes your work experience, education, contact number, current residential, and email address.
List of Universities in Ontario eligible for OINP Masters Graduate Stream
Here is the list of 30 Universities in Ontario eligible for the OINP Masters Graduate Stream
- Algoma University
- Brescia University College (Affiliated with the University of Western Ontario)
- Brock University
- Carleton University
- Dominican University College
- Huron University College (Affiliated with the University of Western Ontario)
- King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario
- Lakehead University
- Laurentian University
- McMaster University
- Nipissing University
- Ontario College of Art & Design University
- Queen’s University
- Royal Military College of Canada
- Ryerson University
- Saint Paul University (Federated with the University of Ottawa)
- St. Jerome’s University (Federated with the University of Waterloo)
- Trent University
- University of Guelph
- University of Ontario Institute of Technology
- University of Ottawa
- University of St. Michael’s College (Federated with the University of Toronto)
- University of Toronto
- University of Trinity College (Federated with the University of Toronto)
- University of Waterloo
- University of Windsor
- Victoria University (Federated with the University of Toronto)
- Western University
- Wilfrid Laurier University
- York University
Applying for Canada PR
- The first and foremost step is to register your expression of interest in applying for provincial nomination through the OINP Masters graduate stream.
- Your EOI will be scored on the basis of the information you provide while registering it.
- Once you get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) in the OINP draws, you must apply to the Ontario Masters graduate stream within 14 days of getting the ITA.
- Once your application is approved, you will get a nomination letter and a provincial nomination certificate from the OINP
- Apply to the IRCC for Canada PR through the PNP program within 6 months of being nominated.
- Get a COPR or Confirmation of Permanent Residence once your PR application is approved by the IRCC.
