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OINP PhD Graduate stream

Learn how to apply for a nomination for permanent residence in Ontario if you have a PhD degree from an Ontario university.

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The PhD Graduate stream gives international graduates with an Ontario PhD degree the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.

You must first register in the OINP ’s Expression of Interest System and receive an invitation to apply before you can apply online to be nominated by the Ontario government for permanent residence.

If you are nominated, your next step is to apply to the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ( IRCC ). They make the final decision on who becomes a permanent resident.

Steps to apply

• Register an expression of interest

Before you can apply to this stream you must:

• register an expression of interest
• receive an invitation to apply.
• Review document checklist

If you received an invitation to apply

If you are using a representative, or you are a representative, the submission process is different. Learn more about how to appoint a representative or register as one .

Applications submitted by self-appointed representatives are invalid and will be withdrawn by the OINP . Your application will be returned as incomplete and your application fee will be refunded.

Follow these steps to apply:

• Click the submit an application button below.
• Log into your My Ontario account as a returning user.
• From your My Applications page, click on the file number link to begin your application.

Please note your application file number is different than your EOI file number.

Stream requirements

After you receive an invitation to apply, you may apply to the PhD Graduate stream. You must meet all the requirements in the categories below in order for your application to be approved. You don’t need a job offer to apply.

Please refer to section 9 of Ontario Regulation 422/17 for more details on each requirement.

1. Expression of interest and invitation to apply

• You must have received an invitation to apply and applied within the deadline identified.
• You must demonstrate that you had the qualifications that you claimed you had in the expression of interest that you registered with the OINP and attested to.

2. Education

You must have completed the requirements necessary to obtain a PhD degree. The degree must be from an eligible university in Ontario (see the list of eligible Ontario universities offering PhD degrees below ).

At least two years of your PhD studies must have been completed while legally living and studying in Ontario.

You don’t qualify if you have received a bursary, grant or scholarship that requires you return to your home country after you earn your PhD degree. You may only apply after you have fulfilled those commitments and can demonstrate an intention to live in Ontario.

3. Residency in Ontario

You must have legally lived in Ontario for at least one year in the past two years before you apply.

Note that your one year of residency can be cumulative. This means that there can be gaps provided that all the periods of residency in Ontario add up to 12 months within the past two years before you apply.

4. Settlement funds

You must have enough money to support yourself and your dependent family members when you settle in Canada.

Note that a family member includes your spouse, common law partner and children under the age of 22, including their children.

You can meet this requirement through one or a combination of any of the following:

• funds as demonstrated by the balance listed in bank statements, or statements of accounts showing other investments such as non-locked in, fixed term deposits, mutual funds, etc.
• annual earnings from ongoing employment in Ontario, and/or
• a job offer in Ontario

Learn more about the amount of money you must have available in order to apply (see “How much money you'll need”).

Example: You have checked how much money you must have available and, based on your family size, you must have $29,000 (CAD). You have a job offer in Ontario with an annual wage of $25,000 and you have a balance of $5,000 in your savings account for a total of $30,000. By using a combination of your job offer and bank statement, you would meet the settlements fund requirement.

If you provide bank statements that include a one-time large deposit, we may ask you to provide additional documentation to support that your funds are free of debt or liability.

5. Intention to live in Ontario

You must intend to live and work in Ontario after you’ve been granted permanent residence. We determine this by examining your ties to Ontario, which can include doing things like:

• working or having worked in Ontario
• getting job offers, to or applying/interviewing for jobs
• volunteering
• leasing or owning property
• having professional networks and affiliations, family ties and social or personal relationships

6. Legal status in Canada (if applicable)

If you are applying from within Canada, you must have legal status (a visitor record, study permit, or work permit) at the time you apply and should maintain that status until the time of nomination.

You may apply if you are in ‘maintained status’ at the time of your OINP application submission. ‘Maintained status’ means that you submitted an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ( IRCC ) to renew/extend your temporary status document (a visitor record, work permit, study permit) before its expiry date. You can remain in Canada and continue to work or study under the same conditions as your existing permit until a decision is made on your pending IRCC application.

7. Application period

You must submit your application within two years of completing the requirements necessary to obtain your PhD degree.

This means that the date on your degree must be within two years of your OINP application submission date, not the date you received the invitation to apply. For example, if your degree is dated June 1, 2021, you must have registered an EOI , received an Invitation to Apply, and submitted your application on or before June 1, 2023.

If you don’t have your degree yet, use the date on the official letter from your university which states when your degree will be granted.

Scoring factors

Once you register an expression of interest under this stream you will be assigned points based on the following factors.

If you are invited to apply, you will be required to submit specific documents to support each scoring factor for which you received points. Scoring factors are not the same as stream criteria. You must meet all criteria for this stream and provide the mandatory documents with your application. Refer to the document checklist for the PhD Graduate stream.

Employment / labour market factors

Work or study permit status.

• With valid work or study permit – 10 points
• Without valid work or study permit – 0 points

The work or study permit must confer legal status.

Earnings history

Based on a Notice of Assessment issued by the Canada Revenue Agency in the last five years.

• $40k or more earnings in a year – 3 points
• Less than $40k earnings in a year – 0 points

Highest level of education

Canadian credential or Educational Credential Assessment required.

• PhD – 10 points
• Masters – 8 points
• Bachelors or equivalent – 6 points
• Graduate diploma or certificate – 6 points
• Undergraduate diploma or certificate – 5 points
• Apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma – 5 points
• Less than college or trade certificate – 0 points

Field of study

Points are awarded based on the field of study of the eligible education credential being used for the OINP application.

• STEM /Health (Engineering, Health, Math, Computer Science) and Trades (agriculture and natural resources operations and management, mechanics and repair, architecture, construction and precision production) - 12 points
• Business and administration, social, legal, education, behavioral science, personal, security and transport services, social work and related programs - 6 points
• Arts and humanities, Business, humanities, arts, social science and education ( BHASE ) programs, not elsewhere classified ( n.e.c ) - 0 points

Learn more about fields of study on the Statistics Canada website.

Canadian education experience

Credential must be for a post-secondary education credential from an eligible Canadian institution  that takes at least one year to complete on a full-time basis.

• More than one Canadian credential – 10 points
• One Canadian credential – 5 points

Official language ability

• CLB 9 or higher – 10 points
• CLB 8 – 6 points
• CLB 7 – 4 points
• CLB 6 or lower – 0 points

Knowledge of official languages

• 2 Official Languages – 10 points 10 points (a minimum Canadian Language Benchmark ( CLB ) score of 7 in one official language and a minimum  CLB  6 in the second official language)
• 1 Official Language – 5 points

Regionalization

Regional immigration: location of study (where you physically attended classes).

• Northern Ontario – 10 points
• Other areas outside GTA (except Northern Ontario) – 8 points
• Inside GTA (except Toronto) – 3 points
• Toronto – 0 points
• Credential was completed without physically attending (in-person) classes – 0 points

For Regionalization scoring factors, the regions are defined as follows:

• Northern Ontario – includes the following Census Divisions: Muskoka Haliburton, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Manitoulin, Sudbury, Greater Sudbury/Grand Sudbury, Timiskaming, Cochrane, Algoma, Thunder Bay, Rainy River and Kenora
• Other areas outside of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area ( GTA ), except Northern Ontario – includes all Ontario regions except those listed as part of Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area and Northern Ontario
• Greater Toronto Area (except Toronto) – includes the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel and York
• Toronto – includes the City of Toronto

Eligible Ontario universities offering PhD programs

To qualify for the PhD Graduate stream, your PhD degree must be from one of the universities listed below:

• Brock University
• Carleton University
• Lakehead University
• Laurentian University
• McMaster University
• Nipissing University
• Queen’s University
• Royal Military College of Canada
• Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)
• Trent University
• University of Guelph
• University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• University of Ottawa
• University of Toronto
• University of Waterloo
• University of Windsor
• Western University
• Wilfrid Laurier University
• York University

Ask us a question via webform or by phone from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at:

• Tel : 416-327-0374
• Toll-free: 1-866-214-6820  (toll-free within North America only)
• TTY : 416-325-0866
• Toll-free TTY : 1-866-853-2137

Use our Stream Selector Tool to identify which OINP stream you may be eligible for.