GlobeQuest
Legal & ID🇨🇦 Hamilton, Canada

Express Entry, and the Ontario nominee programme that was demolished and rebuilt in 2026

Two doors, and one of them was replaced this year. Express Entry ranks you on points, needs no employer, and carries a six-month service standard after an invitation. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program is the second door and it changed completely in 2026: Ontario closed all of its previous streams and launched a single Ontario Workforce Priority stream, so guidance describing the old Human Capital Priorities, Employer Job Offer and graduate streams now describes routes that no longer exist. A nomination is still worth 600 points federally, which in practice settles the outcome — but there is one route to it now rather than nine.

Total cost
The federal permanent-residence application fee plus a right-of-permanent-residence fee on approval, with a separate provincial fee for a nomination. Language tests, the credential assessment, medicals and police certificates are all additional and are paid whether or not you are selected. Regulated professions carry their own college assessment and registration fees. Use the current official fee tables — IRCC adjusted permanent-residence fees in 2026.
Time needed
Express Entry carries a six-month service standard after an invitation to apply, but the wait to be invited is open-ended. Professional licensure frequently takes longer than the immigration application and runs on a separate clock.
Validity
Permanent residence is indefinite, with a PR card renewed every five years and a residency obligation of 730 days in Canada per rolling five years. Work permits run for the term of the offer and must be renewed before expiry.
Verified
August 2026
High confidence·Foreign nationals moving to Hamilton. Permanent residence is granted federally by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, with a provincial nomination programme on top. None of it is specific to Hamilton — Ontario nominates for Ontario, and the routes are identical in Toronto, Mississauga and Ottawa.

Before you start

  • Language test results — IELTS General Training or CELPIP for English, TEF or TCF for French
  • An Educational Credential Assessment for qualifications earned outside Canada
  • A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
  • Proof of settlement funds for some Express Entry programmes

Step-by-step

  1. 1

    Create an Express Entry profile first, whatever else you do

    It is free, needs no employer, and is the pool a provincial nomination attaches to. Category-based draws targeting particular occupations — health care among them, which matters in a city where the hospitals are the largest employer — regularly clear well below the general cut-off.

    OnlineWho: You
  2. 2

    Read the current OINP page rather than any article about it

    Ontario closed its previous nomination streams and the Ontario Workforce Priority stream is now the only one open. Advice written before mid-2026, including material that still ranks well in search, names streams that have been withdrawn. Start from the province's own page.

    OnlineWho: You
  3. 3

    Sit the language test and get credentials assessed early

    The Educational Credential Assessment commonly takes months and both it and language results expire. Start the assessment before the language test — it is the long pole, and regulated health professions have their own separate recognition process on top of it.

    OnlineWho: YouLanguage results ~2 weeks; assessment commonly 6–14 weeks
  4. 4

    If you are a regulated health professional, start the college process in parallel

    Licensure in Ontario runs through the relevant regulatory college and is entirely separate from immigration. Hamilton's largest employers are hospitals, so this is the practical bottleneck for a large share of people moving here — and it does not wait for permanent residence to be granted.

    OnlineWho: You
  5. 5

    Gather police certificates for every country you have lived in

    One for each country you lived in for six months or more since turning 18, not merely the most recent. Some issuing authorities take months and this is the most common reason a Canadian application stalls.

    OnlineWho: You
  6. 6

    Apply for a Social Insurance Number in your first week

    Free, from Service Canada, with your passport and permit. Applying in person usually gets the number issued during the visit. No employer can run payroll without it, so this comes before the bank and before the health card.

    In personWho: YouWeek 1

Documents you’ll need

  • Passport
  • Language test results (IELTS/CELPIP, or TEF/TCF)
  • Educational Credential Assessment for foreign qualifications
  • Police certificates for each country lived in six months or more since age 18
  • Immigration medical exam from a panel physician
  • Proof of settlement funds, where the programme requires it
  • Regulatory college registration documents, for licensed professions

Things most newcomers don’t know

Ontario closed every one of its nomination streams in 2026 and replaced them with one.

The province withdrew its previous permanent-residence streams and launched the Ontario Workforce Priority stream in their place; the OINP's own page now states that all other streams are closed. It stranded an enormous body of published advice — consultants' pages, forum threads and news articles all still describe streams you can no longer apply to. If a source names a stream that is not on ontario.ca today, stop reading it.

Source: Ontario — Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program

In this city the licence matters more than the visa, for a large share of arrivals.

Hamilton's economy is anchored by hospitals and a university. For nurses, physicians, technologists and allied health professionals, permanent residence is rarely the binding constraint — recognition by the Ontario regulatory college is, and it is a wholly separate process with its own evidence requirements and its own queue. Starting it after landing rather than before is how people end up working outside their profession for a year.

Source: community-reported, consistently corroborated

A provincial nomination is worth 600 points, which is why the federal profile comes first.

The Comprehensive Ranking System tops out well below the score a nomination produces, so a nominated candidate is invited in the next relevant draw as a practical certainty. The nomination is not an alternative to Express Entry; it is what makes Express Entry work. Building the profile costs nothing and is the prerequisite for everything else.

Source: IRCC — Express Entry and provincial nominees

Choosing Hamilton over Toronto changes your rent, not your immigration position.

Ontario nominates for Ontario, and there is no regional immigration stream inside the province the way there is in Atlantic Canada or in some western provinces. Newcomers regularly ask whether a smaller Ontario city is an easier door. It is not — it is a cheaper city with the same door.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Working from any OINP guidance written before mid-2026 — the streams it names have been closed.
  • Waiting for an employer to sponsor you instead of creating a free Express Entry profile.
  • Starting the regulatory college process after arrival rather than before.
  • Letting language results or the credential assessment expire while waiting for a draw.
  • Requesting only one police certificate when you have lived in three countries.
  • Starting work before the Social Insurance Number is issued and delaying your own first pay.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

Make it your personal checklist

Globe Quest turns this into a tracked, AI-personalized plan for Hamilton — timed to your move date, with reminders so nothing slips. Free to start.

Sources

Last verified August 2026. Government processes change — always confirm critical details against the official source before acting.

More on settling into Hamilton

Driving
Exchanging for an Ontario G, and the escarpment accesses that close in freezing rain
Banking
Opening an account, building a credit file, and what a landlord here actually asks for
Health
OHIP with no waiting period, and a city where the hospitals are the biggest employer
Telecom
Mobile and internet, the flanker brands, and what the escarpment does to a signal
Tax
One return, Ontario's ~53% top rate, a 1% vacant unit tax, and a transit levy that varies by postcode
Hamilton guideCost of livingLanguageCulture