August 2, 2016
Update to the Three Years of Active Business Requirement for Employer Applications
Employers must demonstrate that they have been in active business (corporations, limited partnerships and sole proprietorships) for at least 3 years before submitting an application to the OINP. This includes recently amalgamated corporations who are able to demonstrate that:
- the business (including one of the predecessor businesses) has been in continuous operation for three years;
- that the job-offers to potential nominees are still valid; and
- that the restructuring does not affect the employment opportunities of Ontarians.
In order to demonstrate that they meet the above criteria, employers who have been amalgamated in the past three years are required to provide the following documents.
- A written statement explaining the need for foreign workers if layoffs occurred as a result of the amalgamation.
If the amalgamation took place prior to the submission of, or approval of, the employer application, the employer must provide:
- Revenue Canada Schedules 125 (Income Statement Information) and 141 (Accounting Practitioner Information) OR the company’s financial statements signed by a certified accountant for the pre-amalgamated and post-amalgamated corporations covering the three years prior to the application being submitted.
- Revenue Canada T4 Summary for the pre-merger and post-merger corporations covering the three years prior to the application being submitted
If an amalgamation took place after an employer application is approved, the employer must also provide an updated job offer letter for each position. The new offer must match the key information that was approved by the program during the employer pre-screen application process. Specifically the position must:
- be permanent and full time;
- be the same National Occupational Classification (NOC) code as the previous offer;
- offer the same wage or a higher wage as the previous offer; and
- be for the same number of hours as the previous offer.
Please note: on May 9, 2016 the OINP temporarily paused intake of new pre-screen applications (see program update for May 9, 2016). The guidance above applies only to applications received by the Program prior to May 9, 2016.
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