Most of us know someone like this: a nurse with fifteen years of experience in Lagos who works as a personal support worker in Brampton, or a doctor from Ibadan who drives Uber in Mississauga while studying for exams. Canada says it needs these people, and it does. Getting their papers approved is only part of the problem.

The new research

In a piece published on October 7 in The Conversation, a migration and labour-market researcher draws on surveys and interviews with Nigerian-trained health workers in the Greater Toronto Area, compared with health professionals working in Lagos and Ibadan. The argument is simple: credential recognition and professional integration are different things.

Credential recognition asks whether your training meets Canadian standards. Integration asks whether you end up working in your field, using your skills, getting promoted and staying in the profession.

The national data show the gap. In 2021, only 57.7% of employed, internationally educated health professionals in Canada worked in health occupations. More than four in ten were working outside the field they trained for.

Getting your licence opens the door. Building a career afterwards is a separate challenge.

What the money is doing

Governments are responding. The 2025 federal budget proposed $97 million over five years, starting in 2026–27, for a Foreign Credential Recognition Action Fund focused on health and construction. Some programs now go beyond assessment to offer supervised practice, work placements and mentoring.

Those details matter. In the research, one Nigerian-trained nurse worked as a personal support worker because her Nigerian nursing qualification was a diploma rather than a degree, so it was not treated as equivalent. Her skills were the same either way; how her paperwork was categorised kept her out of nursing.

Your career playbook

1. Start the regulator process before you land. Many Canadian regulators accept applications from abroad. Starting early means you wait less once you arrive.

2. Look for bridging programs, not only exams. Supervised practice and placements often lead to jobs faster than studying alone.

3. Count adjacent roles as progress. Research coordinator, clinical educator, health navigator and public health roles can keep your skills current while your licence is processed.

4. Find people who have done it. Professional associations of Nigerian and African nurses and doctors in Canada exist because the system is hard to navigate alone.

Are you an internationally trained professional who made it back into your field, or is still trying? Tell us at stories@gathermedia.ca.