Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

An education assessment is not a licence

IRCC's help centre says an Educational Credential Assessment done for immigration does not license you to practise a regulated profession in Canada.

Last checked: October 19, 2026
Source: IRCC Help Centre, ECA and licensing
Audience: Permanent residents, Temporary workers

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What we could verify

An ECA for the Federal Skilled Worker Program does not mean your experience or your professional credentials are recognized for work.
You still have to get the licence.
Each province and territory regulates professions. Licensing is done by their regulatory bodies.
IRCC tells you to contact the regulator in the province where you plan to work, and to do it early.
An Express Entry profile is not an invitation to apply, and it is not permission to work in a regulated job.

People arrive with a WES or other ECA report and assume the nursing college or the engineering association will accept it as the licence. IRCC's own answer is no. The ECA was for immigration points. The profession is a different process, run by the province.

Keep the ECA. A regulator or an employer may want it as one document among several. Then open the Foreign Credential Recognition Tool and contact the body it names. If someone offers to 'convert' the ECA into a licence for a fee, that is not a government service.

Who it is for

Anyone who completed an ECA, or who was told they need one. The help-centre answer is about recognition for work, separate from your immigration file.

How to act on it

Read the help-centre answer, then contact the provincial regulator for your occupation. Do not wait for IRCC to forward the ECA to that regulator. They will not.

Also in jobs and credentials

Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials

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CICIC explains who is allowed to recognize your studies or your occupation, and points to its directory of occupational profiles by province and territory.

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Foreign Credential Recognition Tool

A Job Bank search that tells you whether your occupation is regulated in a province or territory, who to contact, and what else you could do while you wait.

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Employment and Social Development Canada

Foreign credential recognition

If your job is regulated or a compulsory trade, the province or territory decides whether your training is equivalent. Canada publishes the process, the lookup tool, and loans of up to $30,000 for the fees.

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