Following changes to immigration in Ontario, some with hopes of becoming Canadian permanent residents are navigating a system that’s in flux — and they’re concerned they’ll be left behind.
Seeing it firsthand, Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad is anxiously awaiting word on whether he can obtain permanent residency.
“It’s like just waiting and waiting — frustration at its pinnacle,” he said.
The 25-year-old from Pakistan completed his master’s of applied computing in artificial intelligence (AI) from the University of Windsor in October 2024. He applied to an immigration stream that catered to master’s and PhD graduates, and has been waiting ever since.
The program he applied to falls under Ontario’s Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). A partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the program provides a fast-track to permanent residency for workers and international students with skills in specific areas seen as a benefit to the overall Canadian economy.
The Ontario government is looking at changes to the program. Already, a skilled trades stream has been cancelled, and the government is considering going from nine entry categories (based on skills and profession) to a proposed four.
An Ontario government webpage seeking feedback on the proposed changes says the plan would simplify the process for applicants and their employers, facilitate access for “priority health-care applicants” and add a path for entrepreneurs.
There will also be fewer spaces. Ottawa has reduced the number of provincial nominee applications accepted by about half, as the federal finance minister says Canada wants to bring immigration to “more sustainable” levels.
Ahmad said he and his friends worry that their stream will get suspended as proposed, though they may still be eligible under a different proposed stream for “exceptional talent.”
Amid that uncertainty, he said, his plan to pursue a PhD in medical AI from University of Toronto or University of Waterloo — paperwork for which is already prepared — is now on hold.
Ahmad said he still hopes things will work out.
“After every darkness, there’s a hope. After every night, there’s a light. I’m hopeful I will get nominated and get my permanent residence.”
Ahmad has time on his work permit until fall 2027 and if nothing works out, he said he would pursue his PhD in New Zealand instead.
“We are not sure what those new requirements going to be. So far, it’s totally unclear,” he said.
For a London, Ont., man, six years of efforts to attain permanent residency in Canada have gone down the drain and he said he’s returning home following the suspension of the skilled-trades stream under OINP.
“I am done with Canada. I’ve done everything I could do for this economy. And then, if this is how I’m going to be treated, then I’m sorry, no thank you. I’m a human too,” Ankit Kumar Patel said.
CBC spoke with the 29-year-old soon after the announcement of the suspension and, a month later, he says going back home is his only option. Patel came to Canada in 2019 as an international student from India after completing his mechanical engineering degree.
After studying at Fanshawe College, he secured a three-year work permit and worked as a computer numerical control operator for manufacturing companies.
In October 2024, with three months left on his work permit, Patel applied to the OINP for permanent resident status under the skilled-trades category.
More than a year later, on Nov. 14, the provincial government, in an update posted an on the ONIP web page, announced the indefinite suspension of the program’s skilled trades stream due to fraudulent applications in the system.
“I feel betrayed. If I knew that it’s going to end up this way, then I would’ve pursued something else and not waste my time working three years in a trade.”
Patel said it’s unfair the province is treating all applicants with the same broad stroke.
“It’s like a broken promise… If they didn’t need us in the first place, they should not have invited us,” he said.
Patel and hundreds impacted by the suspension of the trades stream staged protests last month outside the OINP’s office. CBC spoke with some of them, who say the province’s decision has thwarted their years of hard work and hopes of becoming Canadians.
In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said the move is in line to better meet current and future labour market needs in Ontario.
“This decision was made following a comprehensive review that found evidence of systemic misrepresentation or fraud in applications to the skilled trades stream,” the statement said.
“Examples of these systemic compliance and enforcement concerns include falsified information relating to work experience claims, including manufactured payroll records, inaccurate or falsified income documentation, and forged employer reference letters.”
The ministry said prior to the suspension, it had approved 59 applicants from the stream for a nomination but all other applications in the stream remain closed.
Alexa Gilmour, Ontario NDP critic for the OINP file, said the wider OINP overhaul and restructure from nine to four immigration streams could be “a jobs disaster.”
She said there were 2,600 applicants under the now-suspended trades stream. She called on the government to reopen the applications and give them “due process.”
“[The workers] did everything right … then the rug was pulled out from under them on November 14th. These workers were not only betrayed, but painted unfairly,” she said.
The employers and the communities that depend on those workers need them, she said. In northern Ontario, Gilmour said, whole communities are counting on these trades workers.
Lou Janssen Dangzalan, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, said misrepresentation and fraud has plagued OINP with “unsavory agents or ghost consultants and sometimes even licensed representatives” padding applications with problematic documentation.
But Dangzalan said it is still a “disruptive and drastic” move to the applicants and the businesses to cancel the trades stream entirely.
“This is purely a political policy choice,” he said.
“I do applaud the Ontario government for acknowledging that there’s a problem, but I’m not sure if basically using a hammer to kill a fly would be a good idea in a house of glass.”
Dangzalan said realistically, applicants should start planning for a possible future where they may need to leave Canada.
“But that doesn’t mean that their PR journey is necessarily over right there. Leaving Canada doesn’t mean that you’re already automatically excluded from the Canadian experience class.”
He said if people have to leave and wait in their home countries for PR, they can work toward gaining skilled work experience there, which can bump their scores, and boost language scores, including by learning French.
“So, 2026 is going to be tough for a lot of people… 2026 is going to be a year of enforcement… IRCC’s going to scrutinize every single application with more diligence than they ever did before.”
“From a large policy perspective, this is a crisis… There’s still an immigration arms race. A lot of candidates are available who are very fantastic candidates and Canada is going to need this, especially at a time where Canada is trying to wean itself away from its dependence from the United States.”
