Foreign medical or dental residents and medical research fellows – [R205(c)(ii) – C45]– International Mobility Program

In these instructions, “officer” refers to employees of both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with the following:

• Employer-specific work permits — General processing — International Mobility Program
• Conditions and validity period on work permits
• Public list of Employers who have been non-compliant

The Minister has designated the work performed by foreign nationals who have been accepted for a medical or dental residency or a medical research fellowship and are not funded by a Canadian public source as necessary for public policy reasons related to the competitiveness of Canada’s academic institutions, or economy under subparagraph 205(c)(ii) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). This designation was implemented on September 1, 2010.

On this page:

• Eligibility
• Documentary evidence
• Definitions
  • Medical residents
  • Publicly funded
  • Medical fellowship holders
• Global Case Management System (GCMS) fields to review in the offer of employment
• Work permit issuance in GCMS
• Previous updates

Foreign medical residents and fellows do not take away employment or training opportunities from Canadians, as these positions are specifically created for and funded entirely by foreign governments, in the case of residents. Foreign fellows support medical faculties with advanced clinical and research training due to ongoing shortages of Canadians available and interested in occupying such positions.

Eligibility

To be eligible under the administrative code C45, a foreign national must

• hold a medical degree equivalent to that of a Canadian Medical Doctorate (for example, MD, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Dental Medicine)
  • Prospective fellowships must also be recognized medical specialists who have completed residency training.
• be coming to Canada to
  • complete a residency at a Canadian hospital or in a clinical setting as part of their medical training (medical and dental residents)
  • continue specializing in some highly specific field of study to advance clinical or medical research (medical fellowships)
• be offered a residency position that is not publicly funded in Canada
  • Medical research fellows can be publicly funded
• pass an immigration medical examination

Documentary evidence

The following documents should be submitted with the work permit application:

• either
  • an offer of employment number generated by the Employer Portal when the Canadian institution submits the offer, or
  • the Offer of Employment to a Foreign National Exempt from a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) form [IMM 5802] if authorized by the Client Experience Branch or Immigration Program Guidance Branch to submit the form (see Alternate submission [IMM 5802] for details) with proof of payment of the employer compliance fee
• proof of a Medical Doctorate or medical degree and equivalency
• copy of the letter of eligibility for licensure from the relevant provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons, where applicable
• proof of completion of an immigration medical examination; proof is the printed “information sheet” from the panel physician who performed the medical exam.

Definitions

Medical residents

Foreign medical residents are holders of a medical degree equivalent to that of a Canadian Medical Doctorate (MD) who are coming to Canada to complete a residency at a Canadian hospital or in a clinical setting as part of their medical training.

In Canada, a Medical Doctorate is provided to those who have passed their coursework in the field of medicine or surgery from an accredited medical school. In Canada, the MD is technically considered an undergraduate degree.

The foreign medical degree may be directly equivalent (for example, MD, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Dental Medicine) or in some countries, such as the United Kingdom or Ireland, it may be referred to as a Bachelor of Medicine or a Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S).

Positions occupied by these foreign nationals are non-ministry (not publicly) funded positions that have been created by Canadian medical faculties with financial support from the country sponsoring the training of the foreign resident.

Publicly funded

The income offered to the foreign workers must not be funded by Canadian tax payers’ money or public means through a national or subnational Canadian government institution, as opposed to private institutions, private universities or foreign governments.

For example, foreign nationals can get a placement with the University of Ottawa (Canadian publicly funded institution) under C45 as long as their wages are not being paid by the University of Ottawa.

Examples with different types of institutions:

Examples of publicly funded universities:

• University of Ottawa
• Université du Québec à Montréal

Examples of private Canadian universities:

• Ambrose University College
• Canadian Mennonite University

As another example, certain foreign nationals are coming from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to work in Canada (University of Toronto) under the medical resident category. In this case, the University of Toronto is the employer, but the government of KSA provides the wages of those workers.

In situations where the wages may be partially Canadian funded (that is, 50% Canadian funding and 50% foreign institution funding), as long as the Canadian portion is not being paid by a publicly funded Canadian institution, the work permit may be issued if the foreign national meets all other requirements under this category.

Medical fellowship holders

Foreign medical fellows are holders of a medical degree equivalent to that of a Canadian Medical Doctorate (MD) and recognized medical specialists who have completed residency training and accept to continue specializing in some highly specific field of study to advance clinical or medical research. Foreign medical fellows doing clinical work/research are typically performing very specific clinical/research work in a hospital, clinical or research setting. These positions may be publicly or privately funded.

Global Case Management System (GCMS) fields to review in the offer of employment

Work permit issuance in GCMS

Under the Application screen, officers should enter the following information in the specified fields:

Previous updates

2023-01-30:

Operational Bulletin (OB) 230 - September 1, 2010 - New Labour Market Opinion (LMO) Exemption – Foreign Medical Residents and Medical Research Fellows (expired)