How does this affect immigrant professionals?

How will professional regulation affect me?

Immigrant professionals may enter Canada with existing qualifications and experience within a particular occupation. If that occupation is regulated in Canada, however, the immigrant professional will not be allowed to work in his or her occupation or use their professional title (for example, doctor, engineer) without first becoming registered or licensed through the appropriate professional body. In some cases, the process of becoming registered or licensed is fairly straightforward. For example, some regulatory bodies have mutual recognition agreements with international licensing bodies. In other cases, the professional status of a foreign professional may not be formally recognized, resulting in a much longer route to achieve professional status in Canada.

The Canadian federal and provincial governments are taking steps to make it easier for newcomers to Canada to practice their profession as quickly as possible upon entering the country. It is anticipated that 100% of growth in the Canadian labour force over the next decade or more will come from immigrants, while Canadian workers will provide sufficient labour to cover only the spaces made empty by people leaving the workforce to retire. For this reason, the needs of the Canadian labour market will increase and immigrants will be in an excellent position to meet those needs. The government recognizes this and is working closely with regulatory bodies in every province to streamline the processes used to license immigrant professionals.

Nevertheless, immigrants entering Canada should prepare in advance to meet the requirements for their profession in Canada. In the case of accounting, this website will help provide much of the information that you will need. Other factors that should be planned in advance of arrival include:

• having a place to live
• obtaining the information needed to understand a new culture with different customs
• being sufficiently fluent in either of Canada’s official languages – French and English

In Western Canada, English is the primary language of life and of business. If you are settling in the province of Ontario, Quebec or New Brunswick, knowledge of French may be beneficial or required. For most work in the federal government, fluency in French and English is a requirement.