Breaking News from Ontario, Canada as Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has suspended its Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream on November 14, 2025.
This means no new applications will be accepted and all the outstanding skilled trades stream applications will be returned back with no processing on them.
Applicants will get emails from OINP about suspension and their application fees will be refunded. This is devastating news for applicants who were hoping to get permanent residence under this OINP Skilled Trades stream and had applications in processing from last 1-2 years.
Why OINP Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream Is Suspended ?
OINP has stated that there is systematic misrepresentation and/or fraud related to eligibility criteria of Skilled Trades stream. This has affected their ability to find out which applications are genuine and which are not. The current structure of Skilled trades stream is vulnerable to systematic misrepresentation and/or fraud thus they can’t find out if the applicants meet the labor requirements of the province.
In accordance with section 7 of Ontario Regulation 421/17 (Approvals under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program and Other Matters). The OINP has suspended skilled trades stream.
Effect of Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream Suspension
There are hundreds of genuine applicants who did everything according to the book but now they are suffering due some bad apples in system. Most of these applicants are waiting from 1-2 years and now at the end of expiry of their work permits.
This has resulted applicants worried and stressed. These applicants did their education in Canada and then made career in trades in Ontario, paid taxes, contributed to the economy and gave their valuable life years to Canada but in the end they got refusals.
What to do after suspension of Skilled trades stream
The other OINP streams are still open , you need valid job offer and you can apply under foreign worker stream, in demand skills stream plus if you are international graduate you can also try international graduate stream. Canada is boosting its PNP allocation and this is still a good news for applicants in Canada.
There are high hopes that in 2026 IRCC will conduct Express Entry trade occupations draw and if cooks removed from the occupations list then CRS score may fall drastically.
