The Canadian government department Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced that it is making the path for permanent residence “simpler” for international medical doctors to support a “stable health care system” for Canadians.

The reiterated announcement issued on Monday by the Canadian government comes as cardiologists and heart surgeons in Quebec have continued speaking out against a shortage of staff and how delays directly linked to it had resulted in deaths. “Eighty people have died in the last year, year and a half, waiting for their (heart) surgery,” said Dr Bernard Cantin, president of the Quebec Association of Cardiologists, as per CBC.

In November 2025, a new report released by the public policy think tank SecondStreet.org revealed that at least 23,746 patients died in Canada while waiting for surgeries or diagnostic procedures between April 2024 and March 2025.

The concerning issue of staff shortage particularly shot into focus when Indo-Canadian Prashant Sreekumar passed away in an Alberta emergency room in December 2025 after he was made to wait 8 hours to see a doctor about his chest pain.

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IRCC announces simpler pathways to PR for foreign doctors

The official government announcement foregrounded that the “simpler” path to Canadian PR for international medical doctors would be facilitated by offering doctors: “5 options to get permanent residence through Express Entry and regional, provincial and territorial programs” and “faster 14-day work permit processing for medical doctors nominated by a province or territory, so they can work while waiting for permanent residence.”

IRCC also emphasised that medical doctors can even included their family members in their application.

But to work as a medical doctor in Canada, the aspiring professional must first get their foreign credentials assessed and get licensed as a medical doctor in Canada through a provincial or territorial regulatory authority.

According to the official Government of Canada website, “The foreign credential recognition process is to verify that education, skills, and job experience obtained in another country are equivalent to the standards established for the profession or trade in the province or territory of work.”

Meanwhile, the Medical Council of Canada’s website states common steps on the pathway to licensure include: completing a language test, creating a physiciansapply.ca account to give you access to important services like a source verification of your medical credentials, verification of your medical credentials, passing the MCC Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Part I and passing the NAC Examination.

Here, MCCQE Part I is Canada’s national standardised exam assessing candidates at a level expected of a student about to graduate with a medical degree in Canada. On the other hand, the NAC exam is the country’s standardised exam that assesses international medical students’ and international medical graduates’ readiness to enter supervised training in Canada.

Back in January as well, the High Commission of Canada in India issued the same announcement via its official social media channels. The update dates back to December 2025, when Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Lena Metlege Diab, announced three new immigration measures that sought to simplify the path to permanent residency for international doctors.

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At the time, the government introduced the new “Physicians with Canadian work experience” Express Entry category, which mandated that applicants must have at least 12 months of full-time continuous work experience in Canada within the last three years. The experience must also fall under a single eligible occupation. Occupations at the focus of the category are: general practitioners and family physicians, specialists in surgery and specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine.

The decision also reserved 5,000 PR admissions for provinces and territories to nominate licenses doctors with job offers. Lastly, the new rule doubled down on expediting work permit processing in just 14 days, allowing applicants to work while their PR applications are being finalised.

Canada vs US on the international doctors issue

The move made by the Canadian government sharply contrasts the US’ immigration crackdown targeting the ‘specialty occupations’ non-immigrant work visa category H-1B. Among several changes made to policies associated with the US visa type, the Donald Trump administration introduced an additional hefty $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications.

With the decision sending shockwaves through the US health care system, elected officials, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Global Nurse Force and Union Coalition have collectively continued to argue that hospitals severely depend on H-1B visa sponsored doctors.

Against the contextual backdrop of the US’ visa crackdown, Canada’s new announcement has similarly drawn mixed reactions on social media.

However, Dr Joss Reimer, former president of the Canada Medical Association, highlighted the need to tackle a shortage in physicians by not only recruiting more professionals but also retaining those already in Canada.

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“When we’re talking about the doctor shortage, we always need to be thinking about recruitment, training, but also retention,” she told the Canadian news outlet CBC. “One of the things we heard from them that was a struggle was any sort of path to permanent residency,” she said. “If we really do want to retain the doctors already here, we need to listen to them and make sure that we’re providing them with the services they need to be able to keep providing services to Canadians.”

While the Trump administration is focussed on doubling down on the ‘America First’ agenda, Dr Reimer highlighted Canada continues to face a substantial shortage of family physicians. “We’re 23,000 family physicians short in this country. So we need to be doing a lot of other things at the same time,” she said.