During his speech at the Ontario Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development Conference on May 23, Ontario Minister Monte McNaughton announced that Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) was the first professional organization in the province to remove the requirement for Canadian work experience from its application criteria.
As a result of eliminating the requirement for Canadian work experience, qualified individuals will be able to find employment in their field of study more easily, according to the minister.
It’s not uncommon to find skilled newcomers who were trained as engineers and doctors. As well as accountants working in low-wage jobs that have nothing to do with their profession,” McNaughton said.
Work experience requirements for engineering license application
According to the latest work experience standards of the PEO, candidates seeking a license should have 48 months of verifiable and acceptable engineering experience as soon as they graduate. During that time, you must have worked for a Canadian engineer who had a license to practice.
Millions of dollars worth of production could be lost as a result of 300,000 vacant engineering jobs, according to McNaughton.
The change was prompted by the Working for Workers Act of 2021. Engineering is a regulated profession, which means that competency evaluations must be conducted without discrimination in accordance with the Act. Newcomers are being offered this opportunity to maintain their careers in Ontario.
The PEO President Roydon Fraser estimates that sixty percent of all license applications are submitted by international-trained engineers each year. It is his contention that removing the requirement of Canadian work experience will expedite the licensing of foreign engineers with skills.
A PEO report indicates that 85,649 engineers are licensed in Ontario as of 2019. A total of 24,258 members hold international training, making it the second-highest number. According to the province, removing the work experience requirement will allow qualified individuals to maintain their careers while still meeting Ontario’s licensing and examination requirements.
The PEO will continue to ensure compliance with rigorous licensing requirements by using competency-based assessment methodologies and other evaluation techniques, says Royce.
If a newcomer has no prior work experience in Canada, they could still face barriers to registration even. If they have the knowledge and expertise to pass the licensing examinations for their profession. Thus, many people must gain this experience through a variety of employment. It includes jobs in non-related fields, such as retail or hospitality.
Professionals with other registrations
There is a severe shortage of labor in numerous industries in Ontario, the country’s most populous province. An obstacle to filling open positions is finding qualified newcomers with the accreditation they need to work in regulated professions.
A number of actions are being taken by Ontario to facilitate the hiring of immigrants in regulated professions. As an example, it approved laws allowing nurses to work without being registered with health regulatory colleges in the province. A temporary class will make it possible for nurses with overseas training to begin their careers sooner while pursuing full registration.
5,124 nurses from the College of Nurses Ontario earned their nursing education abroad, with 12,385 registered nurses last year.
A modified language proficiency policy was also implemented by the College to assist candidates in meeting the education requirement.
