Mistakes Doctors make when applying for Express Entry

Here are a few common mistakes I have seen when consulting with EE applicants who are Doctors: 

Getting the wrong ECA 

Did you know that if your Primary Occupation in your EE profile is as an architect, doctor or pharmacist, you must use a designated professional body to obtain your Education Credential Assessment (ECA)? 

You must get an ECA report for your primary medical diploma from the Medical Council of Canada if your primary occupation is: 

If you have a different primary occupation, another designated organization like WES, ICAS, IQAS, U of T Comparative Education Service or BCIT International Credential Evaluation Service can do your assessment. 

Accidentally including a Canadian spouse as an accompanying in your EE profile 

If your spouse or common-law partner is a Canadian, then they are not an accompanying spouse for the purpose of your EE application. Keep in mind that Canadians are already Canadians, so they are not included as an applicant in your Express Entry profile, but they do need to be properly declared. Your Canadian family members are also taken into account in terms of the settlement funds that you need to show if you are applying under the Federal Skilled Worker category. Make sure to read my article, “If my spouse is Canadian, should they be listed as accompanying or non-accompanying in my EE profile?” 

Thinking you are eligible for CEC when you might not be 

Internships don’t count 

Interns and full-time students in Canada cannot claim high-skilled Canadian work experience. Even if an applicant is on a co-op or internship work permit, they still cannot claim their paid work as Canadian high-skilled work experience to qualify for CEC. They must obtain proof of completion of their studies, stop working entirely, and then submit their PGWP before they might be able to work while awaiting their PGWP. Make sure to read my article, “Can students be working after the end of studies in Canada?” 

Self-Employment in Canada doesn’t usually count 

Only people who are employed in an employee-employer relationship with a Canadian employer can usually claim Canadian high-skilled work experience in their EE profile. Private Canadian clinics or medical facilities often engage foreign physicians in Canada as independent contractors under fee-for-service arrangements. If you are self-employed in Canada, you would not normally be able to claim Canadian work experience under section 87.1(3)(b) of the IRPR and under section 15 of the Ministerial Instructions Respecting the Express Entry System.  

Note that self-employment is allowed when claiming foreign work experience points, but make sure that you have properly counted the number of paid hours of work each week. For self-employed medical practitioners who worked outside Canada, it can sometimes be complex to prove that you worked and were paid for at least 30 hours/week, especially if you had many private clients. The onus is on the applicant to provide proof of hours of paid work.  

The onus is also on the applicant to properly check the box on their EE profile under work experience. Forgetting to specify that your work experience is actually self-employment could lead IRCC to say you misrepresented. Misrepresentation carries a 5-year bar for inadmissibility. However, because of a public policy in place from April 25, 2023, if you are a Doctor and meet certain requirements, you may be in luck.  

Temporary Public Policy to facilitate the issuance of permanent resident visas for physicians providing publicly funded medical services in Canada 

Physicians who have accumulated at least one year of full-time (or equivalent part-time) work experience in Canada within the three years prior to their application, in one of these 3 specific NOC codes: Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (NOC 31100)​, Specialists in surgery (NOC 31101)​, or general practitioner and family physician (NOC 31102) can now include self-employment periods in their qualifying work experience, including work experience that was remunerated for publicly funded medical services. 

Here is what the Public Policy says: 

Based on public policy considerations, when processing an application for a permanent resident visa, delegated officers may grant an exemption from the provisions of the Regulations listed below if the officer is satisfied the foreign national (principal applicant) meets the following conditions: 

… 

The foreign national: 

2.a. Was invited to apply for a permanent resident visa through Express Entry on or after April 25, 2023 and made an application under section 70 of the Regulations 

i. as a member of the CEC described in section 87.1 of the Regulations; or 

ii. as a member of the PNP described in section 87 of the Regulations. 

b. Has acquired in Canada, within the three years before the date on which their application for permanent residence, one year of full-time work experience, or the equivalent in part-time work experience, including work experience that was remunerated for publicly funded medical services, 

i. as a specialist physician (NOC 3111) or general practitioner (NOC 3112) under NOC 2016; or 

ii. as a specialist in clinical and laboratory medicine (NOC 31100), specialist in surgery (NOC 31101) or general practitioner and family physician (NOC 31102) under NOC 2021. 

IRCC’s EE webpage under CEC describes this exemption for physicians and refers to the above temporary public policy, saying if foreign national physicians: 

• were invited to apply for permanent residence through Express Entry on or after April 25, 2023, and submitted an application 

• have work experience in providing publicly funded medical services in Canada (such as fee-for-service work) and 

• aren’t eligible because they’re self-employed 

We now count this work experience as Canadian work experience. When you create your EE profile, to make it possible for your work experience to count as Canadian work experience, do not check the “Self-employed work” checkbox under Work experience in Canada. 

Claiming a job offer in error 

The Temporary Public Policy also allowed some doctors to claim arranged employment points even when the employment was not continuous, and for a duration of at least a year after PR. However, it only applied: 

• If the offer of employment was from a provincial or territorial government, a government agency, a government-appointed agency or a health care-providing organization, and  

As of March 25, 2025, IRCC removed CRS points for job offers. Interestingly, having a job offer may still be very important if a person is trying to meet minimum eligibility points under the selection factor grid or if they want to be exempted from showing settlement funds. Make sure to read my article, “Can I claim a job offer in my Express Entry application?” (*Updated post March 25, 2025.)

Be careful if you are working on a Post-Doctoral Fellow or Medical, or Dental Residents, or Medical Research Fellow work permit 

Claiming the correct NOC code and job duties in your EE profile can be difficult if you are already employed in Canada on an LMIA-exempt work permit. You must ensure that your job duties and pay, and location of work and employer of record all accord with your Canadian work permit and the Employer Portal Job offer that was submitted before you obtained your work permit.  

Note that IRCC usually issues the Post-doc fellow work permit like this: 

• For post-doctoral fellows who are employed by a Canadian university or educational institution, the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code should be 41200 – University professors and lecturers. 

• For post-doctoral fellows who are employed by a Canadian entity that is not an educational institution, their field of specialization should be used.  

Note that Medical Research fellows can be publicly funded, but other people who are issued a work permit under LMIA exemption code C45 for Medical/Dental residents must have been offered a residency position that was not publicly funded in Canada.  

Therefore, who your employer is and how you are paid, and whether you were working with authorization, is all relevant when an officer assesses your EE application, and you must be correct in what you claim. 

Confused? Make sure to get proper legal advice 

If you have any doubts about what you are putting into your EE profile or in your electronic Application for Permanent Residency after an ITA, we recommend that you book a consultation! The stakes are too high to make mistakes.