- Canada launched a new Express Entry category specifically for foreign-trained doctors already working in the country.
- Candidates must possess 12 months of Canadian work experience within the last three years to qualify.
- The policy aims to address physician shortages by fast-tracking permanent residency for licensed, locally active practitioners.
(CANADA) — Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced a new Express Entry category for foreign-trained medical doctors on December 8, 2025, aiming to steer permanent residence invitations toward physicians already working in Canada.
The new category targets foreign-trained doctors who have built up recent Canadian work history in eligible roles, as Canada tries to address doctor shortages by keeping licensed practitioners in local communities.
Under the category, candidates must have at least 12 months of Canadian work experience in eligible occupations within the past three years, with the first invitations issued in February 2026.
Eligibility centres on physician roles including general practitioners and family physicians, along with specialists in surgery and specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, in a move designed to capture a range of frontline and specialist care.
Canada linked the category to doctors who already hold Canadian licenses and credentials assessed by provincial or territorial regulatory authorities, tying immigration selection to people who have already cleared key professional gates.
The category sits inside Express Entry, Canada’s main system for selecting skilled immigrants for permanent residence. Express Entry ranks candidates through the Comprehensive Ranking System, a points-based model that has long determined who receives invitations to apply.
Category-based selection, introduced in 2023, adds another layer to that score-based system. Instead of inviting only the highest-scoring candidates overall, the government can run draws that focus on particular groups while still using score cutoffs.
For doctors, the core filter is Canadian work experience in an eligible physician occupation. The requirement is 12 months of full-time Canadian work experience in the past three years, and that experience need not be continuous.
Candidates still have to be in the Express Entry pool, where they receive a Comprehensive Ranking System score like other applicants. In a doctor-focused draw, immigration officials can issue invitations to apply to candidates in that category who meet the cutoff set for that round.
That distinction matters for applicants trying to plan their next steps. Being eligible for the doctor category does not by itself guarantee an invitation to apply, because invitations depend on meeting the draw’s cutoff score.
At the same time, the category approach can shift who gets selected compared with a general draw. A category draw can invite eligible doctors who meet the cutoff for that draw, even if they do not have the overall highest scores in the pool.
The doctor category also runs alongside another pathway: the Provincial Nominee Program, which lets provinces and territories nominate candidates to meet local labour needs. In the physician stream tied to the new push, provinces and territories receive 5,000 reserved federal spaces beyond regular allocations to nominate licensed doctors with job offers or letters of support.
For doctors nominated through that route, the federal government also tied in a faster work authorization step. Nominated doctors qualify for 14-day expedited work permit processing to work while permanent residence applications process, connecting provincial recruitment to quicker entry into the workforce.
The sequencing differs between the two routes. Express Entry category draws operate through the federal pool first, while the Provincial Nominee Program route begins with a province or territory’s nomination before the federal permanent residence stage moves forward.
Timing has become a practical concern for candidates who do receive an Express Entry invitation to apply. In the inaugural doctor draw in February 2026, invited candidates faced a firm deadline to submit their applications.
After receiving an Express Entry invitation, candidates must apply within 60 days. The window compresses document preparation and coordination with employers and regulators, especially for families gathering paperwork across borders.
Applications can include family members, allowing doctors to file together with a spouse or common-law partner and dependent children or grandchildren. That can shape how quickly applicants try to assemble supporting documents within the deadline.
Diab framed the change as an effort to match immigration selections to immediate workforce gaps while prioritizing people already serving patients. On February 18, 2026, she described the approach as part of “precision talent targeting” for urgent labour gaps, including doctors “already treating patients in our communities. We cannot afford to lose them.”
The doctor category is part of a broader shift in 2026 that widened the use of occupation-based groupings inside Express Entry while raising experience thresholds for other streams. The government added four new Express Entry groups alongside the doctor category.
Those groups cover researchers, including researchers, university professors and post-secondary research assistants, as well as certain senior managers spanning finance, healthcare, education, construction and transportation.
Another new grouping focuses on transport workers, including pilots, aircraft mechanics and inspectors, reflecting labour needs in aviation and related industries.
A separate group targets foreign military recruits, defined as candidates with 10+ years service, a 3-year Canadian Armed Forces job offer, and a 2-year post-secondary credential.
Each of those new groups, like the doctor category, requires 12 months Canadian experience in the past three years. The common requirement puts a premium on recent Canadian work history as a gateway to category-based invitations.
The 2026 update also changed the experience threshold for continuing categories in Express Entry. Categories covering French proficiency, healthcare and social services, education, STEM and skilled trades now require 12 months experience, doubled from 6 months.
For those continuing categories, the 12 months experience can be gained in Canada or abroad. That differs from the new groupings such as doctors, where the requirement is framed around Canadian work experience within the past three years.
Together, the changes illustrate how the government is using category-based selection to steer invitations, without abandoning the points-based foundation of Express Entry. Candidates still enter the pool, get ranked under the Comprehensive Ranking System, and must clear a draw-specific cutoff to receive an invitation.
In the case of doctors, Canada also underscored that immigration selection does not change the rules around who can practise medicine. Licensing requirements remain separate from permanent residence pathways, and the steps are unchanged by the new category.
All doctors, including Canadians, must pass MCCQE exams, secure CaRMS residency matching, and meet provincial licensing. Those processes govern competence, training pathways and supervision, and provincial and territorial regulators control the scope of practice.
That separation can shape expectations among candidates watching the new category. An Express Entry invitation, or even permanent residence status, does not itself authorize independent practice if a physician has not met the province or territory’s licensing requirements.
By tying the Express Entry category to doctors who already hold Canadian licenses and credentials assessed by provincial or territorial regulatory authorities, Canada focused on applicants who have already navigated that licensing environment. It also aimed the selection system at people who can keep working in the health system once their immigration status stabilizes.
The Provincial Nominee Program route reflects another lever in the same strategy, giving provinces and territories dedicated nomination spaces to retain or attract doctors they have identified as needed. The 5,000 reserved federal spaces beyond regular allocations create room for nominations that sit outside standard provincial quotas.
The expedited work permit processing of 14 days addresses a different pinch point: keeping doctors in place while permanent residence applications move through federal processing. For employers and health systems facing vacancies, that faster work authorization can matter even when permanent residence takes longer.
For applicants, the near-term practical question remains how draws will operate over time. Category-based invitations depend on draw cutoffs, and those cutoffs can vary from round to round within the Express Entry system.
The scale of invitations can also vary, because category draws are one part of a broader selection calendar that includes other categories and general draws. Since 2023, category-based draws have expanded, and they now account for over half of invitations.
Provincial participation adds another layer of variation for doctors considering the Provincial Nominee Program. Provinces and territories can differ in how they issue job offers or letters of support, and nominations begin at the provincial or territorial level before moving into federal processing.
The government’s message, through Diab’s February 18, 2026 remarks, emphasized retaining physicians already in the country and already providing care. “We cannot afford to lose them,” she said, tying the new category to the immediate needs of communities relying on those doctors.
