A national program is offering a helping hand for local immigrants who have run into difficulties to working in their desired field.
The Immigrant Access Fund (IAF), which provides low-interest micro-loans for immigrants looking to upgrade or update their credentials, has recently begun to expand into Atlantic Canada. The organization, which previously focused on the Prairies and Ontario, has provided 12 loans in the Atlantic provinces since the beginning of 2017. The program, which began in Calgary in 2004, currently provides 1,507 active loans for skilled immigrants looking to apply their foreign work experience to jobs in Canada. Immigrants and refugees can apply for up to $10,000 to defray the cost of licensing and training required to work in their field.
A 2016 report by the Conference Board of Canada found that 524,000 immigrants living in Canada were under-employed due to difficulties in getting their international credentials recognized.
Rupert Go arrived in Nova Scotia from the Philippines in January of this year. The 32-year-old trained nurse has drawn a $5,000 loan from the IAF, which he says will help him obtain his practical nursing credentials in Canada. He hopes to be working in the field within two years.
“I am doing self-study because I can't afford to go to a review center or class,” Go said.
Go said his nursing experience helped him successfully gain permanent residency under the express entry immigration program. The program allots points to potential immigrants based on language proficiency, work experience and skills that are in demand in the labour market in Canada. He initially hoped to reside in Manitoba, where his wife, a medical technologist, had been living. But he learned that the demand for nurses in Nova Scotia was greater. The two have since settled in Halifax.
"This is the only place that was still open for healthcare providers,” Go said, referring to the province’s immigration programs.
“I applied for a separate thing for Manitoba, but the influx of nurses was too great. So they blocked my application."
Despite the value placed on his experience in his application for permanent residency, Go said he would have had trouble with the costs associated with credential upgrades in Canada without the IAF loan.
It’s a common problem among many immigrants who arrive in Canada with skills that are in demand.
"If somebody comes here as an immigrant or a refugee, they use up a lot of the money that they come with just getting settled. They end up maybe taking a survival job in the meantime," said Mary-Ellen Armstrong, who works as the IAF’s national director of marketing.
IAF CEO Claudia Hepburn said the program could help the Atlantic region find much-needed healthcare staff. Over half of loan recipients work in the healthcare field.
"We know that retention of skilled immigrants is a big issue for Atlantic Canada,” Hepburn said.
“We think that the IAF service can really help Atlantic Canada with its goal of attracting and retaining skilled immigrants."
Armstrong said credit is often out of reach to many recent immigrants. This provides a barrier to many working in fields in which they have valuable experience.
"They might not have a Canadian credit history, or they might not have Canadian collateral. Sometimes they might not have any current income," Armstrong said.
Prince Edward Island may not be experiencing these issues to the same degree as other provinces. The IAF has so far only had two P.E.I. applicants receive loans.
Craig Mackie, executive director for the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers, said the organization has not seen a large demand for services assisting recent immigrants in upgrading their credentials.
“It comes up every now and then but it's not a regular issue," Mackie said.
The P.E.I. Provincial Nominee Program has focused significantly on attracting an entrepreneurial class of immigrants.
But another recent arrival on the Island said she has seen many colleagues struggle to obtain the needed credentials in their field.
Ufuoma Odunsi, a physician from Nigeria, moved to P.E.I. with her husband and children, hoping the Island would offer a better quality of life.
"We picked P.E.I. because it was a family-friendly province. I just thought it was going to be safe and a good place," Odunsi said.
Odunsi had read about shortages of family physicians on the Island and believed her skills would be in demand.
However, once she arrived, she found that the credentialing process for physicians was more complicated than she thought.
“They said I needed to have two years of medical experience practice in Canada,” Odunsi said, referring to the requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of P.E.I.
“So that means I have to go out of the province, get something, work for three years and come back into the province if I want to work in the province."
Nonetheless, Odunsi is currently planning on taking her National Assessment Collaboration exam within the next six weeks. She has been able to take out a $10,000 loan to assist with the cost of the exams.
Odunsi believes that the P.E.I. government has a greater role to play in retaining qualified immigrants on the Island.
"What is the province doing to retain people they are bringing in? People are leaving," Odunsi said.
"I know many people have landed just when I did and I know how many have left."
