The Canadian business community, which has been calling for the acceleration of foreign credential recognition to ease skilled worker shortages, applauded the Government of Canada’s recognition of this issue as a priority in its Throne Speech.

Foreign qualification recognition is an important step in the newcomer settlement process.  It verifies that education, skills, and work experience obtained outside Canada are in line with the standards established for Canadian workers.  The process involves many stakeholder groups including professional regulatory organizations, educational institutions, industry councils, non-government organizations, and providers of foreign credential recognition services.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada runs the Foreign Credential Referral Office (FCRO), which provides in-person foreign credential referral services for internationally-trained newcomers at 320 Service Canada centres across the country and has implemented overseas orientation sessions as well.  The FCRO website, which offers information about occupations in various locations in Canada (local labour market, job duties, skill requirements, wage rates, etc.) has seen a lot of traffic in its first year of operations, as has its dedicated phone service.

More..