Medical professionals are in high demand all across the globe – including the Great White North. Due to the country's major skills shortages, there are an abundance of vacancies in the country's health sector, so if you're a doctor looking for opportunities, the door is wide open for you to immigrate to Canada.
The country has many pathways available to medical professionals who wish to take their skills to the land of the maple leaf. In a statement released in September 2022, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) Sean Fraser acknowledged the role foreign doctors played in the nation's well-being. As a result, he announced revisions to simplify the process for foreign-born physicians to stay in Canada.
According to Fraser, the IRCC accepted more than 8,600 temporary and permanent residency applications from foreign nationals entering the medical fraternity in Canada this year alone. He added that over the last seven years, more than 22,400 medical practitioners, including more than 3,600 physicians and 8,600 nurses, gained Canadian permanent residency via the Express Entry System and the Provincial Nominee Program. He also reported that work permit and work permit extension applications were granted to more than 2,500 specialized physicians, 620 nurses, and 550 nurses' aides and orderlies.
If you're determined to immigrate to Canada, we'll look at the pathways to get there in a bit. But first, let's look at the demand for doctors in the country.
Doctors will always be in demand as long as there are people to treat. Statistics Canada reports that employers in the health sector and social assistance had over 150,000 vacant positions, constituting a 6.4% vacancy rate for August 2022.
Here are Job Bank’s projections for job prospects for medical professionals over the next three years:
- British Columbia: Very good
- Manitoba: Very good
- New Brunswick: Very good
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Very good
- Nova Scotia: Very good
- Ontario: Very good
- Prince Edward Island: Very good
- Quebec: Very good
- Saskatchewan: Very good
- Yukon: Good
- Alberta: Good
- Northwest Territories: No data available
- Nunavut: No data available
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I need to work in Canada