Getting Your Professional Licence in Ontario: The Experiences of International and Canadian Applicants

Getting Your Professional Licence in Ontario: The Experiences of International and Canadian Applicants
Presentation of Research Findings

Prepared by: R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd.
Prepared for: Office of the Fairness Commissioner

• The objectives of the Getting Your Professional Licence in Ontario study were to provide:
  • A comprehensive picture of domestically and internationally trained individuals (DITIs), including their demographic profile, countries of origin, and their employment status
  • An understanding of the information, supports, and programs that are available to DITIs, and the perceived effectiveness of these resources
  • An understanding of the experiences of DITIs in the registration process
  • An understanding of the challenges facing DITIs

• Focus Groups
  • 5 focus groups (Toronto, Ottawa, London)
  • 40 participants in total
• Survey
  • 2,442 completed the survey in its entirety
  • 3,784 began the survey but did not complete it
    • These responses were counted in overall results
  • 37 professions were represented
    • Subgroups for analysis
      • Healthcare
      • Non-healthcare
      • Engineers

• 76% of DTIs were currently employed in their profession, while less than half (44%) of ITIs were employed in their field
• 26% of ITIs were unemployed, this is three times higher than DTIs
• 28% of ITIs earned less than $25,000 a year

• 60% of DTIs and 25% of ITIs had obtained a Licence
• Nearly half (47%) of ITIs had started or were working on the licensing process

• The main reasons given by ITIs who did not continue with the licensing process were that it was long, complicated and expensive
• This was true for engineers as well, but to a lesser degree

• 58% of DTIs took then less than 1 year to obtain their licence compared with 21% of ITIs
• It took 1-2 years for 50% of ITIs to obtain their licence

• Three main reasons why professionals were denied licensing:
  • Did not complete or pass the accreditation exams
  • Educational qualifications were not recognized
  • Work experience was not recognized

• Over three-quarters of applicants knew how to begin the process and what was expected of them in terms of fees and qualifications
• Focus group participants noted there were often too many sources of information on licensing for a profession
• Professionals expressed sentiments of confusion on which source of information was the authoritative source

• 78% of DTIs and 73% ITIs got their information from the regulatory body website
• For DTIs, communication with regulatory bodies (46%) and friends and family (29%) were the next most cited sources
• ITIs relied more on friends and family (38%) followed by communication with the regulatory bodies (28%)
• ITIs used more sources of information than DTIs, this included government websites (13%), Health Force Ontario (6%), GEO (1%) and immigrant serving agencies.

• Percentage that indicated it was easy to get information Varying base

• 97% of DTIs and 87% of ITIs sought the services of the regulatory body to get their qualifications assessed
• 96% of DTIs and 92% of ITIs indicated that the regulatory body had informed them about the required documents

• Three main requirements
  • Canadian Work Experience
  • Additional Education
  • Language Skills for ITIs

• 49% of DTIs were required to take more than 10 courses, compared to 15% of ITIs
  • This may have been due question interpretation; DTIs may have counted the courses they were required to take throughout their training, while ITIs may have only counted the extra courses required to get licensed in Ontario

• Challenges
  • Did not have the Canadian work experience
  • Lack of job/volunteer opportunities
  • Getting requested documents, references and proof of credentials
  • Time management
  • Financial burden

• 28% of ITIs had less than 6 months of work experience

• Almost a third of ITIs (29%) indicated no bridging program was available

• Reasons why professionals asked for an appeal:
  • Re-evaluation of exams
  • Unfair outcome
  • Lack of explanation about results
  • Reduce the number of exams/courses
• Reasons given by regulatory body why appeal was unsuccessful:
  • Original exam score was upheld
  • Work experience did not meet requirements
  • Failure to pass exams
• Reasons why professionals didn't ask for an appeal:
  • Time, cost and difficulty of the process
  • Low success rates of appeals
  • Tried other alternatives, for example, acquired work and academic experience
  • Fear of negative consequences
  • Gave up on the process

• A majority of DTIs and ITIs found information from regulatory bodies, exam preparation resources and support from peers and family members useful

• There appears to be adequate information about the licensing process available from multiple sources. However, it is not always clear to applicants how to access this information and whether it is reliable.
• Internationally trained participants experience more difficulty finding information about licensing requirements than do domestically trained.
• The existence and purpose of bridging programs are not well understood.

• Internationally educated individuals get mixed messages from different levels of government.
• Internationally trained applicants need to be better informed, prior to arriving in Canada, about the importance of having all their required documents.
• The length, complexity and cost of licensing processes are frustrating for both Canadian trained and internationally trained individuals.
• Government grants or loans to pay for education appears to be more accessible by domestically trained than by internationally trained candidates.

• Internationally trained applicants appear to be less prepared for examinations than those educated in Canada.
• The requirement of some regulatory bodies for Canadian work experience is perceived as a particularly difficult challenge by internationally trained applicants.
• Appeal processes, where they exist, are poorly understood.