Talent Attraction

Key Messages

• We remain committed to attracting the best talent to help build our economy, while returning our overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is working closely with key federal partners including Health Canada, as well as provincial and territorial counterparts, to ensure that Canada can streamline the entry of candidates in occupations and industries that will support strong economic growth and high quality of life for Canadians.
• Improving access to health care is a priority for our government. Immigration will continue to be an important complement to the domestic workforce by providing labour that will help to address health care professional shortages.

Talent Attraction Strategy

• In response to the mandate commitment to attract the best talent in the world while keeping overall immigration rates at sustainable levels, IRCC is working to ensure that we attract the highly skilled international talent that we need to support our economy.
• IRCC is leading the development of the International Talent Attraction Strategy. Health care is one of the proposed priority sectors for the Strategy.
• The Department is assessing existing programming, tools and authorities to identify actions that can be taken to prioritize, target, attract and retain top international talent. These are people with the skills, education and experience that Canada’s labour market needs, and will complement the existing labour force and workforce development initiatives.
• These actions position immigration to best support the government’s main priorities, including building homes and infrastructure, supporting economic growth, productivity and innovation, and ensuring access to publicly funded healthcare.

Province and Territory Engagement

• IRCC is working to balance regional priorities with the government’s national objectives to reduce the non-permanent resident population to below 5% by 2027 and stabilize permanent resident admissions at less than 1%. This means working both bilaterally and multilaterally with provinces and territories (PTs).
• Continued collaboration with PTs will be essential to address key labour market gaps while managing infrastructure and service pressures—we consult PTs about their capacity issues and labour market needs during Levels consultations.
• IRCC has also consulted PTs throughout the summer on the development of the Talent Attraction Strategy. The table has covered PT interests in recruiting top-level talent to fulfill regional economic and labour market needs.
• In the Levels Plan that was recently released as part of the Budget, Provincial Nominee Program allocations have been increased to 91,500 for 2026. This will allow provinces to use these additional spaces to nominate candidates in priority occupations in their regions, including healthcare workers.

Settlement Services

• Foreign credential recognition (FCR) has been a longstanding barrier to labour market integration—especially in regulated occupations, such as healthcare.
• IRCC, alongside Employment and Social Development Canada, Health Canada, and provincial and territorial partners, is advancing a coordinated, pan-Canadian approach to streamline FCR, to align immigration with licensure and deliver earlier, targeted supports to help newcomers navigate the FCR process.
• IRCC promotes early information sharing on FCR through pre-arrival services, equipping newcomers with accurate and relevant guidance to support informed decision-making and a smooth transition into the labour market prior to their arrival in Canada.
• IRCC’s Settlement Program funds a network of over 500 service provider organizations across the country (outside of Quebec). These organizations provide information to newcomers, both pre- and post-arrival, to help them make informed decisions and find the supports they need to learn about life in Canada, improve their English or French skills, learn about the labour market and FCR processes, and build connections to their communities.
• Through direct communications and targeted settlement programming, newcomers are encouraged to connect with regulatory bodies as early as possible. This proactive engagement enables them to better understand licensing requirements and pathways to employment in their field.
• By facilitating early access to FCR information and regulatory connections, Canada strengthens its ability to attract and integrate top international talent—particularly in high-demand sectors such as healthcare—helping to meet labour market needs more efficiently.