New Express Entry Category for Doctors Highlights Ongoing Gaps for Other Skilled Professionals

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced another targeted measure—this time creating a dedicated Express Entry category for international doctors with at least one year of recent Canadian work experience. Invitations under this new category are expected to begin in early 2026.

While this may streamline permanent residence for many physicians already working in Canada, the announcement underscores a broader issue: Express Entry remains inaccessible for most executives, senior managers, business leaders, and other highly skilled professionals who cannot reach competitive Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores, especially once they are over age 35.

What the New Measures Do

According to IRCC, the changes include:

• A new Express Entry category for international doctors with one year of Canadian work experience in the last three years, in eligible medical occupations.
• 5,000 reserved federal admission spaces for provinces and territories to nominate licensed physicians with job offers—separate from existing PNP allocations.
• Expedited 14-day work permit processing for nominated physicians.
• A continued focus on targeted labour measures within a larger “International Talent Attraction Strategy.”

Eligible occupations include family physicians, general practitioners, specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, and specialists in surgery.

These measures respond to well-documented shortages in the health sector, including the fact that millions of Canadians report not having a regular primary care provider.

A Targeted Fix That Leaves System-Wide Problems Unaddressed

The targeted category for doctors follows other occupation-specific and sector-specific draws introduced over the last two years. As more reserved categories are layered onto the system, it becomes increasingly clear that Express Entry no longer functions as a comprehensive, occupation-neutral, points-based system.

For many of our firm’s clients—senior executives, directors, entrepreneurs, and experienced professionals—Express Entry is effectively closed:

• CRS scores remain unattainable for applicants over 35, regardless of education, experience, language ability, or global leadership roles.
• Canadian Experience Class invitations have stalled, and even those with years of Canadian work experience often fall short of current cut-offs.
• Targeted draws seldom include managerial or executive occupations, despite ongoing shortages in high-level leadership across multiple industries.
• Provincial programs are increasingly oversubscribed, and many jurisdictions are operating under heavily constrained nomination allocations.

The new doctor-specific category highlights the contrast: when the government wants to facilitate a profession, it creates a dedicated pathway. Most other skilled professionals, however, continue to face steep systemic barriers.

Provincial Nominee Programs Still Carry Heavy Burden

The announcement also emphasizes that credential recognition and licensing for doctors fall under provincial jurisdiction—one reason the federal government is allocating an additional 5,000 nomination spaces for physicians.

This reinforces a trend we see across the immigration landscape: the Provincial Nominee Program is being used to solve federal selection problems, even as provinces struggle with limited spaces and unpredictable allocations.

What This Means for Employers and Applicants

For healthcare employers:

• The new measures may simplify recruitment and retention of international physicians already in Canada.
• Faster work permit processing for nominated doctors may reduce administrative delays.

For non-medical professionals:

• The structural challenges remain unchanged.
• Executives, managers, and professionals over 35 should not expect meaningful CRS improvements under current policy settings.
• Alternative pathways—PNP streams where available, employer-driven programs, work permit strategies, and, in limited cases, international agreements—remain essential.

Analysis

The new doctor-specific stream may help address documented gaps in the health sector. However, the broader Express Entry system continues to struggle with fairness and accessibility—particularly for experienced professionals with significant global expertise who are excluded solely due to age-related CRS penalties or lack of targeted categories.

Until the federal government reforms the underlying points system, Express Entry will continue to operate as a fragmented patchwork of narrowly defined pathways, leaving many of Canada’s most highly skilled professionals without a viable route to permanent residence.