Province strengthens supports for international credential recognition (flickr.com)

Media Contacts

Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills

Media Relations
250 508-5030

Backgrounders

Foreign credential recognition in B.C.
  • Many immigrants arrive in B.C. with valuable education, experience and skills. Internationally trained professionals need to have their qualifications recognized by a professional regulatory authority to work in their chosen profession.
  • The process of having education, skills and work experience from outside Canada assessed against Canadian standards is often referred to as foreign credential recognition.
  • Professional regulatory authorities serve an important role in B.C. for health, safety and consumer protection. In B.C., more than 50 regulatory authorities are responsible for assessing and recognizing professional qualifications for approximately 235 regulated occupations.
  • The Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills invited people in British Columbia to share their views on the credential recognition process and identify barriers via an online survey from April 19 until May 26, 2023.
  • Information was gathered from virtual roundtables where more than 120 people provided their perspectives and experience with foreign credential recognition. In addition, more than 1,300 responses to the online survey were submitted.
  • In 2022, more than 150,000 people immigrated to B.C.
  • Over the next decade, 387,000 newcomers are expected to enter the B.C. workforce, filling 38% of the one million job openings expected by 2033.
  • Almost all these jobs will require occupation specific training or post-secondary education, including:
    • bachelor, graduate or first professional degree – 36%;
    • diploma or certificate – 29%;
    • apprenticeship – 12%; and
    • high school or occupation specific – 20%.