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Each year, many skilled newcomers arrive in Canada, eager to contribute to the workforce. Yet many face unexpected roadblocks when trying to integrate into the labour market – despite years of training, experience and expertise.
With record-high immigration levels, Canada depends on these skilled newcomers to fill critical labour shortages in fields like healthcare and technology. However, research by the Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) has identified critical gaps and challenges in Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) system.
For most newcomers, the FCR experience is often complex, slow and inconsistent, leading to frustration and potentially lost economic potential. In this blog, we explore the barriers within FCR and share how LMIC will use Design Thinking to engage with CERIC webinar participants to foster a meaningful and solution-driven discussion around this work during our design thinking workshop, Foreign Credential Recognition in Canada: Building Understanding Through Design Thinking, on Monday, June 2, 2025.
What is foreign credential recognition (FCR)?
FCR is a process of validating and equating international qualifications to Canadian standards – a process that varies across provinces, industries and regulatory bodies. While the intentions are clear, the current process often results in:
- Prolonged delays and high costs
- Unclear requirements
- Inconsistencies across jurisdictions
These challenges can prevent many skilled professionals from working in their fields, potentially delaying their entry into in-demand and shortage-prone fields like healthcare and other in-demand sectors. In non-regulated sectors, a lack of clear guidelines adds further confusion and ambiguity in the labour market.
The labour market impact
The impact of these challenges has significant consequences for Canada’s labour market. At both the individual and community levels, many newcomers may be unable to fully realize their economic potential and critical labour gaps remain unfilled despite newcomers having the (unrecognized) skills to fill these roles.
A lack of accessible, high-quality labour market information related to FCR compounds the issue. Key gaps in data and labour market information include:
- Experiential surveys
- Limited data on employment and mobility outcomes
- Inconsistent or inaccessible information about credentialing pathways
This prevents newcomers, employers and policymakers from making informed, strategic and evidence-driven decisions.
A call for innovation
The participants in our study were candid about the challenges they faced, but they were also very direct about the solutions they had in mind. For example, their suggestions included:
- Simplifying documentation requirements
- Improving the timeliness, clarity and transparency
- Adopting modern and accessible digital tools to help track FCR progress
- Providing pre-arrival information to help newcomers prepare
These suggestions point to a shared goal: a faster and more consistent FCR experience that works for everyone.
