Canada’s Accreditation Process for Internationally Educated Nurses requires them to visit a provincial college of nursing. This nursing college plays the role of a regulatory body. In addition, a variety of colleges will be available, relying on the nursing licensing requirement.
Canada is undergoing an acute shortage of healthcare professionals. As a result, new immigrants and Canadians have to face challenges when it comes to getting care and treatment. The lack of adequate professional staff in the healthcare sector leads to the staff people working repeatedly without much rest.
Statistics Canada’s latest survey results display that as of May 2023, there were nearly 134,500 jobs available in the healthcare and social assistance sector. Even though this figure is much less than in January 2023, it remains the highest in job vacancies in this sector. Earlier, the number was 151,200.
Besides, Statistics Canada recently revealed that during the pandemic and in 2022, Nurses were overworked to pay off their duties. This implies that they worked 8.6 hours beyond their routine work. This reflects an increase of 1.9 hours compared to the time they invested in 2019 on average.
Filling the huge gap in Canada’s labor force
At the beginning of this year, Canada introduced the Category-based Express Entry selection draws to combat the existing labor market gaps. Six categories are a part of these category-based selection draws, one of which is the healthcare sector.
However, despite receiving an invitation to apply, these healthcare professionals must gain a license in the Canadian province they will be residing in. Healthcare implies the responsibility of the provincial, and the accreditation process will differ from one another. Every province in Canada will provide a different nursing college through which an IEN will receive proper licensing. This also implies that if an Internationally Educated Nurse goes to a different province, they will have to go through an entirely different licensing process yet again.
Canada’s Accreditation Process for Internationally Educated Nurses
In every province or territory in Canada, there is a separate nursing category with its own regulatory body. However, the Canadian Nurses Association depicts that in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, all nurse categories will be regulated by one college.
In addition, a majority of colleges want IENs to begin their journey to complete an assessment under the National Nursing Assessment Service. Typically, this evaluation checks the credentials of IEN’s if they are equivalent to the Canadian standards. Also, they provide them with an Advisory Form to include within the application.
The NNAS requires the following:
- A Nursing Education Form
- Nursing Practice or Employment Form
- Nursing Registration Form
The third parties tend to send these forms. For instance, they will send the education forms to NNAS immediately from the educational institute where they acquired their education.
Quebec, along with the Northwest Territories, Nunavut Territories, and Yukon, don’t have the NNAS because they use separate assessment methods.
After the fee payment is made and the evaluation is complete, you must proceed to apply to the provincial regulatory body. This will help you get into the province you would like to practice in and fulfill any essential education or bridging programs to meet the license requirements of that province.
The role of provinces in the entire process
As an IEN, the biggest hurdle in getting the accreditation is the time taken to fulfill the assessments, applications, and essential coursework to get the licensing.
However, to solve this challenge, the provinces have taken various initiatives to expedite the procedure and get eligible nurses to work.
In May 2023, Nova Scotia brought forward a balanced approach for IENs from seven different countries. They’re as follows:
- Philippines
- India
- Nigeria
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- New Zealand
Those Nurses from the above countries who display good character and social standing will have the chance to register for licensing in Nova Scotia. In addition, they will not have to fulfill any other requirements except for qualifying for the national entrance exam.
Alberta also declared in February this year that it will invest more than $15 million in training and helping a rising number of IENs. The latest funding also comprises $7.8 million for students to gain up to $30,000 in bursaries.
The rest of the investment is to develop 600 additional seats for Nurse Bridging Programs in universities in Alberta.
British Columbia is currently compensating IEN’s application and assessment fees, costing over $3,700. Besides, Ontario launched various rules that came into existence in January. They’re as follows:
- Accessing health regulatory colleges to adhere to time limitations to form registration decisions.
- Restricting health regulatory colleges from asking for Canadian work experience for registration purposes. However, the exception will be the acceptance of the equivalent international experience.
- Accepting approved tests under IRPA to decrease the fake language proficiency testing for Canadian immigrants.
Measures taken by the NNAS
As of June 28, NNAS also launched a fast-track service for credentials for IENs. With the introduction of this new service, NNAS Advisory Reports will become official only within five business days of getting all the documents. Candidates who apply to the following regulatory bodies will become eligible:
- The College of Licensed Practical Nurses – NL
- The Nurses Association of New Brunswick,
- The College of Registered Nurses and Midwives – PEI,
- The Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses
- (CLPNM) The College of Licensed Practical Nurses- Manitoba
- The College of Registered Nurses – Saskatchewan
If you have questions related to the Canadian immigration process, you can access all relevant details through Make Home Canada’s immigration consultants. Please write to us at [email protected]
