Healthcare is one of the targeted professions chosen by IRCC to prioritize through Express Entry category-based draws in 2023. There is a need for healthcare workers in Canada.
Express Entry category-based draws were announced earlier this year. The program’s goal is to select immigration applicants who have specific qualifications, like education, relevant work experience, etc., to support labor market needs in Canada.
IRCC selects five categories which are experiencing acute labor shortages, i.e., STEM professions, healthcare, trade, transport, & agriculture/ agri-food. These professions were selected after IRCC gathered feedback as well as suggestions from a wide range of stakeholders & public.
Moreover, category-based draws are similar to standard Express Entry draws. However, while the latter focuses on the CRS score, the former prioritizes work experience in selected professions.
Why Is Healthcare Selected As A Targeted Express Entry Category?
Canada has been facing a chronic shortage of nurses as well as physicians who have caused detrimental effects on emergency & primary care.
For instance, Niagara Health stated that it required healthcare workers in Canada (Southern Ontario). Moreover, a hospital in Minden, Ontario, had to close the local ER because of the staffing strain permanently. In addition, 180 ER doctors across Calgary wrote an open letter highlighting the state of emergency care in the city.
Canada relies on newcomers to fill labor market gaps in the healthcare system. In the fourth quarter of 2022, there were over 143,695 job vacancies in the Social Assistance & Healthcare category. Moreover, the sector had the highest job vacancy rate out of all category-based professions at that time.
Furthermore, over 36% of physicians & around 25% of registered nurses in Canada were born outside the nation.
Foreign-trained healthcare workers in Canada can find it challenging to get proper licensing. Because of this, IRCC has taken specific measures to make immigration easier for foreign-trained healthcare workers in Canada. As a result, this has enabled physicians & other professionals to seek work & help with the labor shortages in the healthcare system.
Need Of Healthcare Workers In Canada
ESDC offers a tool called COPS. This tool provides data on the professional outlook for different occupations, thus calculating the amount of job openings in a specific profession.
Some of the healthcare profession outlooks include:
- Registered nurses & psychiatric nurses
- Licensed practical nurses
- Specialist physicians
- Supervisors & nursing coordinators
- Family physicians
- General practitioners
- Pharmacists
- Physiotherapists
What Opportunities Lie Ahead of Prospective Newcomers?
The immigration minister, i.e., Sean Fraser, stated that healthcare workers in Canada have been working every time to provide world-class care to people in different communities. He further asserted that the healthcare system requires more professionals to continue delivering the quality care that people deserve.
Moreover, between 2017 & 2022, the nation welcomed around 21,000 healthcare workers in Canada, i.e., 4,000 every year. Fraser further said that IRCC plans to double that number, i.e., over 8,000 new healthcare workers in Canada.
In addition, apart from the category-based draws, numerous provinces have held draws for healthcare workers via the targeted streams of PNP. For instance, Alberta has a designated Healthcare Pathway under AAIP.
Thus, healthcare professionals who wish to immigrate to Canada might be eligible to come via several immigration pathways. Since there is an apparent demand for healthcare workers in Canada, prospective applicants can easily fill labor market gaps while having vital & meaningful/ fulfilling careers.