When John returned to Canada after spending a month and a half in the Philippines, he said he felt a mix of emotions.<\/p>\n
The Toronto nurse, whose real name we\u2019re withholding due to his ongoing immigration application, flew to the Philippines after falling out of status while exhausting avenues to become a permanent resident in April, despite almost two years of working at a hospital. <\/p>\n
His future, then, he said, was uncertain. But now, he is back in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got worried because I had to look again for a place to stay,\u201d said John. \u201cBut at that time I was really anxious, excited in a way, but I had told myself I\u2019m already there, so I was really ready to stay longer in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n
John, an international student graduate who obtained his licence as a registered nurse in Ontario in 2023, first shared his story with\u00a0OMNI News\u00a0earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) refused John\u2019s permanent residency (PR) application in 2024. IRCC also did not approve John\u2019s extension application for a work permit in February, leading to him losing his immigration status and being unable to work in the country.<\/p>\n
In the letter shown to and reviewed by\u00a0OMNI News\u00a0in April, John\u2019s PR application was refused because the immigration officer was not convinced that he met the one year of skilled Canadian work experience needed. The officer was also not satisfied that John performed the primary duties he declared for his employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcitement, anxiety, uncertainty, that time was really a rollercoaster for me,\u201d John said as he recalled the weeks after receiving the refusal letter. \u201cI was in a waiting game. I have uncertainties like when is this [going to] finish?\u201d<\/p>\n
Until one day, his situation took a turn when he received an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey emailed me that there\u2019s progress. There\u2019s a dialogue that they\u2019re trying their best, and I was surprised they hired an immigration specialist. Then at some point, I received a decision from immigration that I now have a work permit,\u201d he said, adding his employer eventually paid the compliance fee a few days before its deadline. \u201cI thought it wouldn\u2019t be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The developments prompted John to book a flight back to Canada within weeks.<\/p>\n
He credits the initiative of the Integrated Filipino Canadian Nurses Association (IFCNA), an advocacy group for internationally educated nurses, with prompting his employer to take action.<\/p>\n
About 60 internationally educated nurses share a similar story: IFCNA<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very rare case that an employer will reach out to you and ask you to come back,\u201d said IFCNA president Mark Gravoso when asked about the issues faced by internationally educated nurses (IEN).<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the initiatives, stories we shared, it opened a lot of opportunities for them to improve,\u201d he said. \u201cOur advocacy empowered them, like Nurse John and other IENs, to find their voice, to be seen, heard, and take their place with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gravoso said John is only one of many IENs who became registered nurses in Ontario but chose to leave the province due to problems with immigration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2024, a group of IENs, almost 60 of them, reached out to me asking me to advocate for them,\u201d Gravoso shared. He added originally it was fewer than 20 but, he \u201ctold them that with great numbers, I can advocate for you. One by one, they showed up, they spoke up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out they have similar challenges, which is immigration pathways. Their employers are not supporting them with the compliance fee and some documents, like a job offer,\u201d said Gravoso.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also found out the main issue is just some employers are having a hard time navigating the new system of [Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program] by the [Ontario] Ministry of Labour and Immigration, so they need a specific person to navigate this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to\u00a0OMNI News, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said, \u201cOntario is proud to lead the country with the largest healthcare workforce, and since 2018, we have registered over 100,000 new nurses, and we have another 30,000 nurses currently studying at one of Ontario\u2019s colleges and universities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo continue to support and grow our nursing workforce, we have removed financial barriers for nurses wanting to upskill and broken down barriers for internationally educated nurses so they can practice in Ontario faster, including removing lengthy education assessments and unnecessary requirements in the registration process while creating new pathways for internationally educated nurses to receive nominations through an updated Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our new employer portal, Ontario is cutting red tape and modernizing the OINP system, supporting healthcare employers to fill critical vacancies faster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough [OINP], Ontario has also nominated over 3,300 healthcare applicants in 2024 and is on track to nominate more than 3,800 in 2025, even with a reduced federal allocation, with health occupations making up about 35 per cent of all nominations this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
IEN registered nurses who experienced challenges in immigration: Where are they now?<\/p>\n
With scrubs folded and various items on his bed, John carefully puts his belongings into his backpack as he prepares for work, now as a full-time ICU nurse.<\/p>\n
IRCC is also currently processing his permanent residency application, another \u201cwait and see\u201d process for John. But this time, he said it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I learned that there\u2019s progress, I felt more comfortable and more at ease,\u201d John said. \u201cHelping the community through this kind of service,\u00a0I was really shaped by God to really serve and help people through this profession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Gravoso said he considers the developments a win for many IEN registered nurses whose immigration status was in limbo. He said some of them also found \u201cpeace of mind\u201d by taking opportunities outside of Ontario.<\/p>\n
Gravoso called on healthcare employers to listen to the needs of nurses in their units and provide support; for hiring managers to be transparent during the onboarding process about the support they can offer; and for IENs who have overcome this challenge to guide those still experiencing immigration concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an IEN myself,\u201d\u00a0Gravoso said. \u201cI believe in building a system where empowerment leads to action, and that action leads to long-lasting change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When John returned to Canada after spending a month and a half in the Philippines, he said he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-356537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}