ICC Calls for Fair Licensing Act to Fix Foreign Credential Recognition in Canada

The paper, Ready to Contribute, was published in June 2026 and authored by immigration policy researcher Kareem El-Assal. The paper presents hard numbers. It argues that the problem with how Canada handles foreign credential recognition (FCR) isn’t a lack of awareness or effort. It’s a lack of enforcement. 

If you’re a trained professional moving to, or already in Canada, potential changes to the foreign credential recognition system may help you find more suitable employment and enter the workforce faster.

Key Takeaways

• About 26 percent of degree-holding newcomers are overqualified for their current jobs, compared with about 11 percent of Canadian-born workers. 

• Only 41 percent of internationally trained physicians and 37 percent of internationally trained nurses are working in their respective fields in Canada. 

• The report proposes a federal Fair Licensing Act modelled on the Canada Health Act, which would tie federal funding to provinces meeting enforceable licensing standards. 

• The proposed Fair Licensing Act would fix credential recognition across all professions and all provinces at once, unlike previous reform efforts. 

The Consequences of Credential Recognition Barriers 

The chances of finding work quickly after arriving in Canada have improved in recent years. Statistics Canada data shows that 64.8 percent of recent newcomers found a job within six months of arrival. But finding a job and working in your profession are two different things. Overqualification or underemployment is highest among recent newcomers, and declines over time. 

Almost 26 percent of degree-holding newcomers are overqualified for their current jobs, roughly 640,000 people, compared with about 11 percent of the Canadian-born population. The result is a system where foreign-trained physicians work as security guards and engineers drive for ride-share apps — while Canada simultaneously faces critical shortages in both of those professions. 

The credential recognition process is what sits between those two realities for many regulated professionals. Before a doctor, nurse, engineer, or tradesperson trained abroad can practice in Canada, they must have their credentials assessed and validated by a provincial licensing body. There are roughly 500 of those bodies across the country, each with its own rules and timelines. 

According to the ICC paper, one of the most common barriers is the requirement for Canadian work experience before a licence is granted, even in cases where a licence is required to obtain Canadian experience. The Ontario Human Rights Commission declared this practice discriminatory in 2013, yet it remains in use. Other barriers include re-credentialing costs that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and assessment timelines that can stretch over multiple years. 

The foreign credential recognition (also called foreign qualification recognition or FQR) process is often also discriminatory. RBC research found that when you compare medical and dental graduates who trained in Canada with those who trained abroad, the employment gap disappears entirely when you account for where they got their degree. In other words, internationally trained doctors and dentists are underemployed not because their skills are weaker, but because their credentials are treated as less valuable. 

Fair Credential Recognition Impacts the Economy and Public Services

The credential gap is not just a career issue for the professionals experiencing it. It has practical consequences for the services Canada is struggling to provide. 

Eliminating FQR barriers could, according to the report’s calculations, potentially add 27,000 nurses and nearly 16,000 physicians to Canada’s workforce. These numbers are significant if you consider that6.5 million Canadians lack access to a family doctor.  

In construction, 700,000 skilled tradespeople are set to retire by 2028, just as Canada needs to roughly double its rate of housing construction to meet demand. Many of the workers needed are already in Canada, working in jobs that don’t match or use their skills. 

RBC estimates that foreign qualification recognition barriers and related employment challenges cost Canada as much as $50 billion in lost economic potential annually. 

How Foreign Credential Recognition Currently Works in Canada 

Foreign credential recognition is the process of having your international education, work experience, and qualifications assessed against Canadian standards before you can work in a regulated profession. 

Regulated occupations are controlled by provincial law to protect public interests. You cannot work in these fields without a licence from the relevant provincial body. Medicine, nursing, engineering, accounting, and many skilled trades all fall into this category. 

The challenge is that licensing in Canada is not handled by one central authority. Provinces and territories have jurisdiction over professional licensing, which means the rules for the same profession can vary significantly depending on where you want to work. A nurse or engineer licensed in Ontario cannot automatically practice in British Columbia. 

There are roughly 500 self-governing licensing bodies across the country. Each sets its own standards, timelines, and assessment criteria. Provincial governments can regulate these bodies and prohibit discriminatory practices, but oversight is difficult in practice. Existing fairness legislation in most provinces sets out standards for how licensing bodies should behave, but compliance with those standards is rarely enforced. 

For internationally trained professionals, that fragmentation means navigating a process where the rules are often unclear and costs are high. Moreover, timelines are long, and often span years. 

Some FCR Reform Efforts Have Been Made, But Without Much Success 

The credential recognition problem is not new, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Governments at both the federal and provincial levels have made repeated attempts to fix it. A Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications was introduced in 2009. Nine out of ten provinces have passed some version of fairness legislation requiring licensing bodies to be transparent and objective.  

In July 2025, British Columbia introduced restrictions preventing licensing bodies from requiring Canadian work experience for internationally trained professionals who are in good standing with an overseas licensing body and have at least two years of practice in their field. Ontario has passed legislation along similar lines.  

Some provinces have also introduced supervised practice models that allow internationally trained health professionals to demonstrate competency while gaining Canadian clinical experience. These are genuine improvements. But they apply to specific professions in specific provinces, and uptake has been inconsistent.  

The federal government has invested $295 million through its Foreign Credential Recognition Program since 2015 and assisted approximately 40,000 professionals. 

More recently, IRCC has been working with ESDC and provincial partners on a Foreign Credential Recognition Action Group, and the government set a goal of supporting around 32,000 internationally trained professionals through 58 new agreements in 2026-27. 

The Ready to Contribute report acknowledges all of that. Its argument is that none of it has moved the needle because it depends on voluntary compliance. The overqualification rate among newcomers has continued to rise despite decades of effort. 

What a Fair Licensing Act Would Do 

The report proposes a federal Fair Licensing Act modelled on how the Canada Health Act works. Health care falls under provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government uses financial transfers to set national standards that provinces must meet. The same model could apply to professional licensing. 

Under the proposed legislation, provinces that comply with national licensing standards would receive federal funding through a Canada Fair Licensing Transfer. Those that don’t comply would not. Another suggestion the report makes is using Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) allocations as an additional lever, with provinces that make meaningful progress on credential recognition potentially receiving higher nomination quotas. 

The key difference from what already exists is that the legislation would be legally binding and financially material, covering all professions in all provinces at the same time. 

What This Means for You 

At this time, nothing. The Fair Licensing Act is only a proposal. It does not exist in law, and legislation of this scope requires political will, federal consultation, stakeholder buy-in across 13 provinces and territories to pass. 

However, the paper shows a potential way to solve the widespread foreign qualification recognition problem. It offers a model for how federal action could improve FCR at a scale that one-off provincial reforms have not been able to reach. Whether that happens, and on what timeline, remains to be seen. 

For now, if you are a regulated professional planning to work in Canada, you will still need to follow the requirements set by your provincial licensing body. It’s a good idea to start that process as early as possible. You may be able to access support through bridging programs or FQR loans where available.