Nurses and Healthcare Workers: Your 2026 Path to Canada from Bangladesh

Key takeaways

• Healthcare and social services is one of Canada's renewed Express Entry categories for 2026.
• Check IRCC's official invitation rounds for current healthcare-category invitations and cut-offs. An earlier draw does not predict your result.
• For 2026, IRCC raised the work experience needed in an eligible occupation to 12 months.
• Immigration and nursing licensure are two separate processes. You can become a permanent resident before you are licensed, but you cannot work as a nurse until a provincial regulator licenses you.

Track 1: immigration (getting permanent residence)

• Check your occupation. Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and many other health roles have appeared on IRCC's healthcare category list.
• Meet an Express Entry program's full requirements before relying on a healthcare category. Under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, work history, language, education, selection factors, funds and other conditions all need checking.
• Take a test accepted for the immigration program. English options include IELTS General Training, CELPIP-General and PTE Core; French options include TEF Canada and TCF Canada. Nursing regulators may require different evidence.
• Create your Express Entry profile and wait for a healthcare or general draw.
• Consider provinces. Saskatchewan lists healthcare among its priority sectors. An accepted nomination through an Express Entry-linked provincial stream can add 600 CRS points; other provincial streams follow their own process.

Track 2: licensing (working as a nurse)

• Start with the regulator for your intended province and nursing designation. Many internationally educated nurses use NNAS, but it is not a universal route for every jurisdiction or applicant.
• You then apply to the nursing regulator in the province where you will work. The regulator decides what extra education or assessment you need.
• Your regulator determines the examination, education, language and registration steps for the nursing designation you seek. Do not assume one exam is the rule for every Canadian jurisdiction.
• Regulators may ask for their own language test results, separate from your immigration test.

Plan immigration and professional registration separately. You can investigate licensing while preparing an immigration profile, but check the correct regulator's route before paying an assessment fee.

Mistakes to avoid

• Paying an unlicensed agent who promises a "guaranteed nursing job in Canada." No one can guarantee that.
• Listing the wrong NOC code, which can disqualify you from the healthcare category.
• Experience letters that do not show hours, duties and dates in the format IRCC needs.

FAQ

Can nurses from Bangladesh immigrate to Canada? Yes. Nurses who meet Express Entry requirements can be invited through healthcare category or general draws.

Do I need a Canadian nursing license before applying for PR? No, but you need one to work as a nurse in Canada.

How much work experience do I need? At least 12 months in an eligible occupation for the 2026 healthcare category, plus your program's own requirements.

Get your NOC code, work letters and language plan checked before you spend money on tests. Book a healthcare-worker assessment (consultations available online, worldwide).

General information, not legal advice. Not affiliated with IRCC, NNAS, any nursing regulator or any government. No outcome or job can be guaranteed.