Canada’s Credential Barriers Challenge Iranian Medical Professionals

The promise of Canada as a “paradise for medical staff” often circulates among Iranians.

Common claims include abundant jobs, monthly salaries of $7,000 - $8,000, and easy citizenship for healthcare workers.

These enticing statements encourage medical professionals to leave their lives in Iran for what many believe is an ideal destination.

Reality presents a different picture. The process involves credential recognition in Iran, equivalency assessment in Canada, completing required university courses, professional licensing examinations, and language proficiency tests before tackling the competitive job market.

Mohammad, an Iranian pediatric specialist who divides his time between both countries, encountered these challenges firsthand.

“We had a lawyer specializing in healthcare professional immigration with offices in both countries,” he explains. “He made the immigration process seem extremely simple, though this was 15 years ago when conditions were considerably easier.”

Mohammad cannot practice medicine in Canada.

“They only recognize medical credentials from specific countries like Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., the U.K., Hong Kong, and South Africa,” he says. “For those of us with Iranian credentials, the process ahead is extremely difficult.”

He added that his immigration lawyer consistently avoided answering questions about employment.

Since he had a stable financial situation in Iran and did not intend to give up his medical practice there, he did not press further.

“One of my friends in Iran was a pharmacist. Now, he works in a pharmacy here. At our age, taking the challenging MCC exam and completing additional studies is really tough. Many have simply given up.”

A Year and a Half of Waiting - or the American Route

Not everyone is as financially fortunate as Mohammad, who still has a stable income from Iran. Mina, an Iranian nurse, immigrated to Quebec, Canada, about ten years ago with her husband, who also worked in the medical field in Iran.

Now living in Montreal, Mina tells IranWire: “Our immigration process was handled by a well-known lawyer who had a contract with Iran’s Nursing Organization, offering better discounts to its members.”

She explains: “The lawyer was good at securing our permanent residency. Our immigration process wasn’t too difficult, and despite currency fluctuations, it was much easier back then than it is now. But even then, we were given a lot of incorrect information.”

Mina adds: “We were misinformed about salaries and how to enter the job market. Here, a significant portion of your salary - around 40% - goes to taxes, licensing fees, and pension contributions. The more you work, the more you pay. If you have a full-time nursing job, up to 45% of your income is deducted for taxes, plus additional fees for licensing and retirement.”

According to Mina, their lawyer only told them about gross salaries, and they were unaware that their actual earnings would be much lower.

“For example, they told us we’d make $4,000 a month. We thought, ‘Wow, that’s great.’ But when we arrived, we realized we were taking home less than half of that. They also didn’t provide accurate cost-of-living estimates, which made things financially tough.

“Getting into the job market had its own challenges, and we were completely unprepared. Some of it was our own fault, but when you hire a lawyer who says they’ll handle everything, you expect them to inform you properly.

“There were multiple steps we didn’t know about. All we were told was to send our documents to the higher education authority here for credential evaluation. The lawyer helped with that, but we had no idea about the harder, more time-consuming steps ahead. They kept reassuring us that it was easy and that we wouldn’t face any problems.”

After arriving in Canada, they were met with a long, complicated process that took over a year and a half.

“We had to register with the Nursing Association, submit our evaluated credentials and work history, and wait for them to determine how many additional months of study we needed to match a Canadian nursing degree. Our lawyer never mentioned this. They just kept saying that Canada was a great place for nurses.”

Mina’s husband adds, “Had we known the full reality, we would have sent our documents from Iran, improved our English there, and prepared better. We didn’t realize how crucial language skills were for employment. Instead of wasting time on other things, we would have focused on language proficiency.”

Mina also talked about their struggles in the first year and a half after arriving in Canada.

“During that time, my husband took a general labor job. Fortunately, because we had permanent residency, we could receive government assistance. But people arriving in recent years on work visas have it much harder.”

Sahar has a PhD in Nursing from Iran and over a decade of experience, yet she had to leave Iran on a tourist visa a year and a few months ago to move to Toronto.

She explains that despite her qualifications, she had to apply for Canadian nursing registration through the New York State Board of Nursing in the U.S.

The long, complex credential recognition and licensing process in Canada led her to seek an alternative: getting her U.S. nursing license first and then using it to work in Canada.

“Despite all the advertisements, passing the exam isn’t easy. Especially if you come on a work visa, have children to support, and need an income. You have to find creative solutions.”

Even now, as a registered nurse, Sahar has not secured a full-time position in her field. Instead, she works at a long-term care facility for dementia patients. She explains that employment priorities in Canada favor citizens and permanent residents.

“In Canada, whether for school or work, priority is always given to citizens and permanent residents. Contrary to what they made us believe, Canada is not facing a massive nursing shortage. In recent years, medical schools have increased nursing student intake, and now all of them are graduating and getting hired first.”

‘With Five Years of Experience as a Radiologic Technologist, I’m Doing Service Jobs’

Everyone who spoke to IranWire about employment conditions for Iranian healthcare professionals in Canada said that the situation was much better a few years ago compared to the past year or two.

Ali, a graduate in radiologic technology from Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, arrived in Canada on a tourist visa through the Canadian government’s special program for supporting Iranians during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. Under this program, he secured a three-year work permit.

The initiative was launched following an order from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2022. Initially set to expire in February 2024, it was later extended until the end of February 2025, allowing eligible Iranians in Canada to convert their status to a temporary work visa.

Ali told IranWire, “My biggest problem is getting my degree released from Iran. You’ve probably heard about it - it’s really difficult now. They demand a huge sum for graduates of public universities, and there’s also the issue of the mandatory service period. I couldn’t complete it due to my circumstances in Iran, and now, no matter what I do, they won’t release my degree.”

With at least five years of experience as a radiologic technologist in Iran, Ali had built a strong professional foundation alongside his academic background.

“I did a lot of my own research, so I knew how hard it would be to enter the job market here. While social media pages try to make the process look easy, the Canadian government’s website and other official sources provide a much clearer picture. My advice is for people to read those and stay informed rather than relying on immigration lawyers’ social media pages.”

Despite knowing he wouldn’t immediately find a job in his field, Ali found life in Canada far more challenging than he had expected. “Based on what we generally hear about Canada, I thought life would be much easier. But it’s not - it’s much harder.”