Ontario Replaces Nine PNP Streams With One 2026 Workforce Priority Stream
30 May 2026: Ontario Regulation 47/26 comes into force and, in a single stroke, revokes every one of the province’s existing PNP streams. 26 June 2026: the sole replacement launches. If you read anything about Ontario’s provincial nominee program written before that window, treat it as historical rather than current — this is the ontario workforce priority stream 2026 timeline, and it has made almost everything published before it obsolete.
Which nine OINP streams were revoked in May 2026
For the record, and so nobody keeps chasing a dead route: which nine OINP streams were revoked in May 2026 were Human Capital Priorities, Employer Job Offer (in its Foreign Worker, International Student and In-Demand Skills forms), Masters Graduate, PhD Graduate, French-Speaking Skilled Worker, Skilled Trades, and Entrepreneur. Ontario’s own site states it plainly: the new stream has launched, and all other streams are now closed. Ontario frames this as Phase 1 of a two-phase redesign — Phase 2 pathways have been announced in principle, but no eligibility rules or dates have been published yet.
How the one remaining stream works
Ontario Workforce Priority is built around an employer-held job offer. Eligible candidates need somewhere between six months and two years of relevant experience depending on the occupation’s skill level, a CLB score of 4 to 6 depending on that same tier, and a secondary school diploma or post-secondary credential. TEER 0–3 applicants can optionally route their nomination through Express Entry for the usual +600 CRS boost, or apply on the base track without one. A separate, job-offer-free path exists specifically for self-employed physicians billing OHIP and in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
Employer requirements under the Workforce Priority stream
The employer side carries real weight here. Employer requirements under the Workforce Priority stream include having operated for at least three years, maintaining actual Ontario premises, demonstrating genuine recruitment efforts, meeting wage standards for the role, and employing a minimum proportion of Canadian citizens or permanent residents that varies by location. This is not a stream a candidate applies into cold — the process starts with the employer submitting the job offer, then the candidate registers an Expression of Interest within 30 days, gets ranked, and if invited has just 17 calendar days to file the full application.
Northern Ontario versus Toronto points in the new grid
The scoring system carries a clear geographic message. Northern Ontario versus Toronto points in the new grid tells the whole story: a job located in Northern Ontario earns 15 points, while the identical role in Toronto earns zero. Combined with points for employment factors, wage, education and language, job-offer candidates can score up to roughly 130 points on the new grid, published 20 July 2026.
What this means for anyone reading Ontario advice right now
Anyone building a strategy around the ontario workforce priority stream 2026 launch should assume the details will keep moving through Phase 2, and check the live regulation rather than a cached summary.
Treat any Ontario PNP content — including older Cape2Canada material, if you find it — as suspect unless it’s dated after 26 June 2026. The mechanics of eligibility, the scoring, and even the list of what exists have all changed. For a specific reading of how your own occupation, wage, and location score against this new grid, that’s a calculation worth running with a licensed RCIC rather than estimating from a general explainer.