In 2023, IRCC identified healthcare occupations as a key priority among the five categories in the Express Entry program. This strategic choice highlights Canada’s significant demand for healthcare workers in the Express Entry category-based draws, emphasizing the country’s commitment to addressing the healthcare workforce shortage.
Express Entry category-based draws were implemented earlier this year with the goal of identifying immigration candidates who fit Canada’s labor market standards and have particular characteristics, such as job experience and education.
Based on the discovery of labor market gaps, the IRCC selected five categories: healthcare, science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), transportation, trades, and agriculture/agri-food. The public and a wide range of stakeholders provided considerable feedback and input, which led to the decision to prioritize certain occupations.
Draws that are based on categories function similarly to the conventional Express Entry draws. But the selection criteria are where the real difference is found. Candidates’ CRS scores are the main focus of regular Express Entry draws. On the other hand, candidates’ work experience within the selected occupations is given priority in category-based draws, which emphasizes their professional history in those disciplines more. This customized strategy is in line with the goal of meeting particular labor market demands.
What led to the selection of healthcare as a focused category in Express Entry?
The ongoing scarcity of healthcare workers, particularly doctors and nurses, severely affects primary and emergency healthcare services in Canada.
For example, a physician shortage forced Niagara Health to halt overnight services at its urgent care sites in southern Ontario in May of this year. Comparably, a hospital in Minden, Ontario, faced with staffing issues and made the painful decision to close its local emergency room permanently. In addition, 180 Calgary ER physicians together expressed their worries in an open letter that brought attention to the vulnerable situation of emergency medicine in the city.
Canada mainly depends on immigration to fill employment openings in the healthcare industry in order to close these gaps. The Healthcare and Social Assistance category had an astounding 143,695 job openings in the fourth quarter of 2022, representing a 6% job vacancy rate. During that time, this category had the highest job vacancy rate of any category-based occupation.
Moreover, a significant portion of the healthcare workforce in Canada comprises foreign-born professionals, with 36% being physicians and 25% being registered nurses.
However, getting the required licensure to practice medicine in Canada can be difficult for medical professionals with foreign training. The IRCC has taken action to address this problem by streamlining the immigration procedure for healthcare professionals with foreign training. These programs have made it easier for doctors and other medical professionals to enter the Canadian workforce, which has helped to lessen the impact of a labor shortage in the healthcare sector.
Canada’s demand for healthcare workers in Express Entry
A useful tool provided by ESDC – (Employment and Social Development Canada) is the COPS – Canadian Occupational Projection System. This tool is a comprehensive information source that provides insights into the expected employment prospects of different professions. It also assesses the expected job openings in specific occupations between 2022 and 2031.
COPS offers insightful information about the future of a number of healthcare occupations. It helps with workforce planning and addresses potential labor shortages in the healthcare industry by providing an early look at the employment landscape for these professions in the future.
- Registered nurses and psychiatric nurses: An estimated 155,400 new job opportunities.
- Licensed practical nurses: Anticipating approximately 27,800 new job openings.
- General practitioners and family physicians: Expecting around 48,900 new job positions.
- Specialist physicians: Envisaging approximately 29,800 new job openings.
- Nursing coordinators and supervisors: Projections indicate roughly 23,100 new job opportunities.
- Optometrists, chiropractors, and other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating: Foreseeing approximately 17,900 new job openings.
- Pharmacists: Anticipating around 16,100 new job positions.
- Physiotherapists: Envisioning about 14,300 new job opportunities.
Based on these figures, Canada will need to admit hundreds of thousands of highly qualified healthcare workers in order to fill the upcoming job vacancies and labor shortages in the upcoming years.
What does this circumstance present to those who might be considering immigration to Canada?
According to former Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, Canadian healthcare workers have been working nonstop to provide communities with top-notch treatment. In order to guarantee the provision of high-quality care across the country, he acknowledged the urgent need for more healthcare professionals. In response, Fraser declared the implementation of category-based draws.
Fraser also pointed out that between 2017 and 2022, Canada received almost 21,000 healthcare professionals, or more than 4,000 every year. According to the IRCC, the strategy is to increase this intake with the goal of hiring 8,000 additional healthcare professionals annually.
under addition to the category-based draws for Express Entry, specialized streams under the Provincial Nominee Program have resulted in draws for healthcare professionals in a number of provinces (PNP). For example, as part of the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, Alberta provides a Designated Healthcare Pathway.
Consequently, a variety of immigration pathways are available to healthcare professionals who wish to immigrate to Canada. Prospective applicants can pursue important and substantial jobs in Canada while helping to fill labor market gaps, as there is a clear need for healthcare personnel.
A chronological overview of healthcare-related Express Entry draws
The IRCC has issued two invitation-only rounds under the Express Entry mechanism so far, targeting only qualified applicants who have recently gained experience in the healthcare industry.
On June 28, 2023, the IRCC sent ITAs to 500 immigration candidates with work experience in the healthcare industry in the first draw dedicated to this field. Candidates in this draw had to have a minimum CRS score of 476 in order to be considered. Just eight days later, on July 6, 2023, the IRCC held another draw for medical practitioners only. In this draw, IRCC invited 1,500 qualified immigration candidates who met the minimum CRS score requirement of 463 to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
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