Ontario issues new invitations to French-speaking Express Entry candidates

The 61 invitations were issued February 7 through Ontario’s French-Speaking Skilled Worker immigration stream. (Shutterstock Photo)

Ontario has issued new invitations to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence to French-speaking Express Entry candidates.   

The 61 invitations were issued February 7 through Ontario’s French-Speaking Skilled Worker immigration stream.

This stream lets the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) select French-speaking candidates in the Express Entry-managed Federal Skilled Worker Class or Canadian Experience Class who have strong English abilities and eligible skilled work experience, among other criteria.

The Express Entry system is Canada’s main source of skilled foreign labour and manages the pool of candidates for the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Trades Class.

Eligible candidates are ranked in the Express Entry pool based on a score awarded for factors including age, education, skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French and a set number of the highest-ranked are invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence through regular invitation rounds.

Express Entry candidates with a provincial nomination are issued an additional 600 points toward their ranking score, effectively guaranteeing an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Ontario’s French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream has two key advantages for Express Entry candidates: one being the fact it does not require a job offer in Ontario and the other being it does not require a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score in order to be eligible.

Candidates, however, must be able to understand, read, write and speak French at a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 7 and have a CLB of 6 in those same four abilities in English.

The February 7 French-Speaking Skilled Worker draw followed an earlier one on February 1 in which 29 invitations to apply for a provincial nomination were issued.

Ontario has now issued a total of 189 invitations to apply through the French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream in 2019.