What changed
- Ontario removed its entrepreneur streams when changes to the regulation came into force on 25 June 2026.
- A single Ontario Workforce Priority stream replaced them, and it is a worker route rather than a business one.
- Its expression of interest system opened on 4 August 2026, six weeks after the regulation.
What actually changed
The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program was rebuilt rather than adjusted. Changes to the regulation under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015 came into force on 25 June 2026 and were announced the following day.
The former streams were removed. A single Ontario Workforce Priority stream took their place, and its expression of interest system opened on 4 August 2026.
Six weeks separated the regulation coming into force from the new system accepting anybody. That gap is the sort of detail worth writing down, because it is invisible once both dates have passed.
Is there still an entrepreneur route in Ontario?
No. The new stream is a worker route. It covers people with job offers across the National Occupational Classification, which is a different proposition from arriving to start or buy a business.
Anyone who was building an Ontario entrepreneur application is not waiting for an intake to reopen. There is nothing to reopen, and a plan built on that route needs replacing rather than pausing.
What that leaves
Other provinces still run entrepreneur streams, and the federal work permit routes are untouched by an Ontario regulation. Which of those fits depends on net worth, the sector, and whether the intention is temporary or permanent from the start.
The Ontario entrepreneur stream is gone, but other provinces still nominate. The page on this site covering provincial entrepreneur streams carries the current position for each.
What to do if you were building an Ontario file
Stop measuring against the old criteria. A business plan written for the entrepreneur stream is not a weaker version of a Workforce Priority application, it is an application for something else, and the two ask for different evidence about different people.
The practical question is whether the goal was the business or the residence. Where it was the residence, a worker route or another province may reach it. Where it was the business, a federal work permit can put somebody in Canada running it while the residence question is worked out separately. Those are different files with different timelines, and choosing between them is the first decision rather than the last.
The detail sits on Provincial entrepreneur streams, which is kept current as the rules move.
