Health Human Resources

Key Messages

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continues to prioritize applicants in healthcare occupations, to respond to critical labour force needs.
• Since 2023, IRCC has admitted as permanent residents over 27,000 principal applicants with experience in healthcare occupations through various economic programs.
• We also offer temporary work pathways that allow many healthcare workers to work on a work permit. These programs help employers to bring in extra capacity either temporarily, or allow workers pursuing permanent residency to work while they wait.
• We also support regional efforts to recruit foreign trained healthcare workers through regional programs and pilots, such as the Provincial Nominee Program, Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots.

Key Facts and Figures

Temporary Resident Pathways

• On September 30, 2025, 16,060 temporary workers had valid permits to work in a range of healthcare occupations.
  • 7,425 are work permit holders under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) (Labour Market Impact Assessment [LMIA] required), 57% of whom are nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates.
  • 8,635 are work permit holders under the International Mobility Program (IMP) (LMIA exempt) and the top three occupations include:
    • specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine,
    • nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates, and
    • registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses.

Permanent Resident Pathways

• Economic Programs: Between 2023 and September 2025, over 27,000 principal applicants with a primary occupation in one of the selected Healthcare occupations were admitted through economic programs.
  • 2023: Over 5,900 healthcare workers were admitted.
  • 2024: Over 11,700 healthcare workers were admitted;
  • 2025: As of September 2025, over 9,300 healthcare workers were admitted.
  • Among the top healthcare occupations admitted were nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates; registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses; dentists; general practitioners and family physicians; and pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants.
• Regional Economic Immigration Programs (Provincial Nominee Program, Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots): Between 2023 and September 30, 2025 nearly 11,300 workers were admitted in healthcare occupations through these regional economic programs.
  • 2023: Over 2,200 healthcare workers admitted.
  • 2024: Over 4,700 healthcare workers admitted.
  • 2025: As of September 30, 2025, the Department has seen over 4,300 healthcare workers admitted.
  • The top healthcare occupations admitted are nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses and pharmacists.

Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) [responsive only – decisions pending on future of program]

• Since its launch in 2019, there have been approximately 1,230 admissions (505 principal applicants, 725 dependents) to Canada through the EMPP.
  • Candidates have filled labour market needs across the country in in-demand sectors, including in healthcare, which account for 37% (187 principal applicants) of EMPP admissions.
  • Breakdown of principal applicants admitted through the EMPP to work in healthcare:
    • 2019 to 2023: 42 (principal applicants)
    • 2024: 86 (principal applicants)
    • 2025: 59 (principal applicants)
• Some of the key healthcare occupations supported through the EMPP are nurse aids and home support workers, with many newcomers working in long-term care homes across the country.
• Since most EMPP clients arrive with job offers they begin working quickly upon arrival. While they are primarily working as nurse aides and continuing care assistants in Canada, as foreign-trained healthcare workers they can begin the process to upskill and obtain credential recognition after arrival, often with the support of their Canadian employers.

Labour Shortages

• In the second quarter of 2025, there were 68,900 unfilled positions in health occupations— down 18,000 (−20.7%) compared to the same quarter in 2024. While this marks a notable year-over-year decline, vacancy levels remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic figures, which stood at 39,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
  • The number is also well below the peak of 96,575 vacancies recorded in Q3 (July to September) 2022. This persistent gap highlights ongoing labour shortages in a critical sector, with demand for health workers still far exceeding historical norms.^{Footnote 1}
• In 2025, Health Canada’s comprehensive evaluation found that labour shortages are particularly affecting nurses and primary care physicians.
  • Currently, there is a need for almost 23,000 more family physicians, 14,000 more licensed practical nurses, 2,700 more nurse practitioners, 28,000 more registered nurses, 500 more registered psychiatric nurses, 2,000 more occupational therapists, 2,600 more physiotherapists, and 1,700 more pharmacists.^{Footnote 2}

Background

Temporary Resident Pathways

• Highly skilled workers with a job offer under either the TFWP or the IMP, who are working in healthcare occupations, as well as their accompanying spouses, receive expedited processing under the Global Skills Strategy.
  • In September 2025, processing times for complete and straightforward work permit applications under the Global Skills Strategy averaged 23 days.
• Note: Under the IMP, this includes streams for truly temporary stays (where transition to permanent residency [PR] is not anticipated), such as medical residents on exchange programs, U.S. nurses who come to work on a temporary basis and obtain work permits under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, as well as for workers who are awaiting a decision on their PR application and are already in Canada.
• For regulated healthcare occupations, IRCC’s work permit processes already provides considerable flexibility to accommodate the licensing process and ensures that work permit holders have the required license to do the job for which the permit is authorized. For example:
  • A work permit can be issued without a license if the applicant can demonstrate they can receive their license to practice within four months.
  • Where longer training is needed, employers may offer a lower-level position allowing work in the sector while licensing is completed. Once licensed, the employer issues a new job offer and the worker applies for a new work permit reflecting the occupation they will practice.

Permanent Resident Pathways

• Immigration programs facilitate the entry of immigrants and migrant workers with experience in health occupations. For example:
  • Express Entry is supporting selection of healthcare workers through a dedicated category that prioritizes eligible healthcare occupations. The healthcare category was established in 2023 and remains in place.
  • Physicians who work in Canada’s healthcare system and wish to become PRs through the federal pathways are exempted from some of the immigration eligibility requirements. This allows more foreign national physicians to qualify for Canada’s permanent residence programs and for faster processing of their applications.
  • Healthcare workers can also come to Canada via a suite of regional economic immigration programs, which include the Provincial Nominee Program, Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots.
• The Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot—Home Support opened for intake in March 2025 for workers who are already in Canada. This Pilot replaced the 2019 Home Support Worker Pilot.
  • Home Support Workers provide personal care for seniors, persons with disabilities and convalescent clients.
  • The new pilot provides home support workers with a one-step permanent residence process that does not require in-Canada work experience—foreign work experience is accepted.
  • The Pilot has an intake cap of 2,750 principal applicants per year and it has been reached for the 2025 intake period.
  • In addition to private household employers, the pilot allows organizations that provide direct home care services (e.g. ongoing short-term or occasional home care) to hire workers, thus reducing pressures on long-term care services and improving the availability and affordability of home care services for more Canadians.

Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (PR program)

• The EMPP is Canada’s first complementary pathway, a hybrid program that provides refugees with an opportunity to come to Canada through economic programs. It was created to level the playing field for skilled refugees and other displaced people, by facilitating their access to economic immigration opportunities and opening a new pool of talent for Canadian employers to fill labour market needs.
• Some of the first candidates arrived in Nova Scotia in 2019 to work at a long-term care facility. This early example of success for the EMPP was anchored in provincial buy-in, the efforts of the Pictou County Regional Enterprise Network, and collaboration with employers and settlement organizations.
• The pilot currently has a large inventory of applications, with long processing times.