The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, issued the first Express Entry invites for skilled entrants with work experience in health care professions on June 28, 2023. As there has been a serious lack of trained Healthcare Workers in the field. To meet the expanding need for competent healthcare professionals, Canada’s healthcare system primarily relies on immigration. The Healthcare and Social Assistance industry had 143,695 job opportunities in the fourth quarter of 2022, making it the sector with the most openings in the country. With a 6% job vacancy rate, it is clear that there is a high need for healthcare experts. To solve this issue, the Canadian government has implemented category-based selection for Express Entry candidates, with a focus on Healthcare Jobs in Canada and has segregated 35 jobs as occupations in demand in the healthcare sector under this category for Express Entry draws.
According to Statistics Canada, employment openings in health and social support reached an all-time high of 150,100 in the third quarter of 2022, following three years of workforce shortages in most health vocations. Although the industry has a low unemployment rate in general due to its public character, the present unemployment rate has been unusually low in recent years (below 2%), highlighting the significant labor shortage in many health vocations. According to Employment and Social Development Canada’s Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS), health care will employ more than 2.5 million people by 2031 (up from 2.2 million in 2021). 38 of the 58 occupational groups that had shortages between 2019 and 2021 were structural (long-term) and focused in health—37 of 38 will continue to encounter long-term shortages through 2031. The need for health care services will be boosted further by population ageing, the recovery from the pandemic’s backlog in “non-essential” treatments, and the universal dental care program , which will boost employment demand in the health care industry.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the category draw based on Healthcare occupation the profile of the candidate must have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of full-time, continuous work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in at least one of the occupation listed in the occupation list in Canada or abroad. The profile of the candidate must also meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round. Healthcare Occupation list of 2023
| OCCUPATION | NOC CODE |
|---|---|
| Audiologists and speech language pathologists | 31112 |
| Chiropractors | 31201 |
| Dentists | 31110 |
| Dieticians and nutritionists | 31121 |
| Education counsellors | 41320 |
| General practitioners and family physicians | 31102 |
| Instructors of persons with disabilities | 42203 |
| Kinesiologists and other professional occupation in therapy and assessment | 31204 |
| Licensed practical nurses | 32101 |
| Massage therapists | 32201 |
| Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations | 33101 |
| Medical laboratory technologists | 32120 |
| Medical radiation technologists | 32121 |
| Medical sonographers | 32122 |
| Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates | 33102 |
| Nurse practitioners | 31302 |
| Nursing co-ordinators and suprveisors | 31300 |
| Occupational therapists | 31203 |
| Optometrists | 31111 |
| Other assisting occupations in support of health services | 33109 |
| Other practitioners of natural healing | 32209 |
| Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating | 31209 |
| Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment | 32109 |
| Paramedical occupations | 32102 |
| Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants | 33103 |
| Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals | 31303 |
| Physiotherapists | 31202 |
| Psychologists | 31200 |
| Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses | 31301 |
| Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists | 32103 |
| Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine | 31100 |
| Specialists in surgery | 31101 |
| Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies | 41301 |
| Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists | 32200 |
| Veterinarians | 31103 |