The Government of Ontario briefly reopened a popular immigration stream, the Masters Graduate Stream on April 5.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) reopened the Masters Graduate Stream for less than an hour to new submissions from international graduates interested in settling in the province. 

This is the second time that Ontario has opened this popular first-come, first-served stream in 2018. Another prominent stream under the International Student Category is the PhD Graduate Stream.

An appealing feature of the Masters Graduate Stream is that no job offer is required to apply. Furthermore, applicants to the stream do not have to be currently living in Canada.

The Masters Graduate stream opened once so far this year on January 29, when it also reached its intake limit within hours of reopening.

Successful applicants to the Masters Graduate Stream receive a ‘base’ provincial nomination certificate and can later submit an application for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Even though ‘base’ immigration streams are not linked to the federal Express Entry system, they provide prospective immigrants a pathway to Canadian permanent residence.

The OINP said it will intermittently reopen the Masters Graduate Stream this year in its efforts to fulfill Ontario’s 2018 provincial nomination allocation.

The OINP’s total 2018 provincial nomination allocation for all programs is 6,600. 

Who can apply?

To apply for the Masters Graduate Stream, an applicant:

• Must intend to live and work in Ontario.
• Must have graduated from an existing Master’s program at an eligible publicly funded university in Ontario.
  • The program of study must have been at least one year in length and must have been completed on a full-time basis.
• Must submit the application within two years of the date on which the Masters degree was granted.
• Must have legal status (i.e. study permit, work permit, visitor record) if living in Ontario at the time of the application:
  • Applicants may be living outside Canada at the time of application; however, individuals living in Canada but outside Ontario are ineligible to apply.
  • Candidates do not need to have legal status in Canada if they are applying from outside Canada.
• Must demonstrate an adequate intermediate proficiency level in English or French of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 or above in all four competencies (speaking, reading, writing, and listening).
• Must be able to show a minimum level of savings and/or income in order to support themselves and their dependents.
• Must show that they have resided in Ontario for at least 12 cumulative months in the 24 months before submitting an application.

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