The number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada’s health care sector has risen sharply, from 3,200 in 2000 to 57,500 in 2022, with many going on to become permanent residents, according to a new Statistics Canada report.
The study, released Wednesday, found that TFWs are filling critical labour shortages in hospitals, nursing and residential care, and ambulatory health services. Growth accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the number of foreign workers in the sector jumped by 50 per cent in a single year, from 26,100 in 2019 to 39,300 in 2020.
Shifts in permits and subsectors
In the early 2000s, most foreign health workers held occupation-specific permits, particularly in hospitals. Since 2010, however, more have come through the International Mobility Program with open work permits. By 2022, only 16 per cent of TFWs in hospitals held health-occupation-specific permits. Nursing and residential care facilities saw the largest increases, where more than 80 per cent of TFWs worked without health-specific permits.
Foreign workers made up 4.9 per cent of staff in nursing and residential care facilities, 3 per cent in ambulatory health services, and 1.2 per cent in hospitals. In home health care, they represented nearly 8 per cent of the workforce.
Source countries and geography
India has overtaken the Philippines as the top source of temporary health care workers, accounting for about 15,000 in 2022. Filipino workers, once the largest group, numbered 6,100 that year. The workforce is concentrated in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, which together accounted for more than four in five TFWs in health care.
Pathway to permanent residency
Statistics Canada reported that 58 per cent of TFWs in health care from 2000 to 2022 obtained permanent residency by 2023. More recent cohorts transitioned at faster rates: while 63 per cent of those arriving between 2000 and 2004 became permanent residents within 15 years, the same rate was reached in just seven years for those entering between 2005 and 2014.
Women made up about three-quarters of the 105,000 foreign workers who gained permanent residency after working in health care between 2005 and 2023. Many obtained residency through economic streams, including the Provincial Nominee Program and Canadian Experience Class. In 2022 and 2023, more than a quarter gained residency under the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway introduced during the pandemic.
Retention in health care
The report found that two-thirds of TFWs who became permanent residents stayed in health care one year after their transition, and more than half remained five years later. Retention rates were highest among those who originally held health-occupation-specific permits, with more than 80 per cent staying in the sector after gaining permanent residency.
