Immigrate to Canada as a Pharmacist In 2023/2024
If you’re looking to immigrate to Canada as a Pharmacist you’re in luck! Pharmacists are in demand right across Canada and you may be able to secure a Canadian Permanent Residency Visa either with or without a job offer. If you are a Pharmacist and have been working as a Pharmacist you may qualify to immigrate to Canada.
Every occupation on the Canada NOC List is assigned an immigration code and the code for those looking to emigrate to Canada as a Pharmacist is 3131. This is also known as the NOC Code for Industrial Pharmacists.
No doubt you will have read online that having a job offer to move to Canada is a prerequisite to accessing the Express Entry process but as a Pharmacist, you also have other options to secure your Canada Visa from the start.
For starters, Pharmacists are eligible to apply for Canada Immigration under the Canadian Government’s Immigration program due to the demand for Pharmacists in Canada being so great they have included the occupation on the targeted occupations list, known as the NOC list (National Occupation Code In Demand List).
The code for Pharmacists on the NOC is 3131
This is great news for Pharmacists the world over hoping to live and work in Canada.
Express Entry for Canada is not a visa class at all, it is simply the method (or database) that Canadian Immigration uses to select the right candidates for a permanent residency visa and in that case, as a Pharmacist looking to immigrate to Canada we’ll be looking at the Federal Skilled Worker visa and Provincial Nominee program.
Pharmacists from all over the world are eligible to make an Express Entry for Canada Residency provided they have the right skills, experience, and qualifications in their home country.
Pharmacists looking to move to Canada to work under this NOC category 3131, might be employed under work titles including:
- clinical pharmacist
- community pharmacist
- dispensary department supervisor – hospital
- drug information pharmacist
- druggist
- health care institution pharmacist
- hospital druggist
- hospital pharmacist
- industrial pharmacist
- intern pharmacist
- pharmacist
- pharmacist consultant
- registered pharmacist
- retail pharmacist
All these roles held by a Pharmacist are eligible to apply under this specific NOC category of 3131.
Community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists
- Check prescriptions for proper dosage
- Compound prescribed pharmaceutical products by calculating, measuring and mixing the quantities of drugs and other ingredients required and filling appropriate containers with correct quantity
- Dispense prescribed pharmaceuticals to customers or to other health care professionals and advise them on indications, contra-indications, adverse effects, drug interactions and dosage
- Maintain medication profiles of customers including registry of poisons and narcotic and controlled drugs
- Ensure proper preparation, packaging, distribution and storage of vaccines, serums, biologicals and other drugs and pharmaceuticals
- Order and maintain stock of pharmaceutical supplies
- Advise customers on selection and use of non-prescription medication
- Renew existing prescriptions in limited circumstances
- May adapt the formulation, regimen, duration or route of administration of medication
- May supervise and co-ordinate the activities of other pharmacists, pharmacy assistants, pharmacy technicians and other staff.
Industrial pharmacists
- Participate in research for the development of new drugs
- Formulate new drug products developed by medical researchers
- Test new drug products for stability and to determine absorption and elimination patterns
- Co-ordinate clinical investigations of new drugs
- Control the quality of drug products during production to ensure that they meet standards of potency, purity, uniformity, stability and safety
- Develop information materials concerning the uses, properties and risks of particular drugs
- Evaluate labelling, packaging and advertising of drug products
- Promote pharmaceutical products to health professionals.
Whilst the above is meant as a general guide do take our free online visa assessment for further information and be sure to list out your skills and qualifications in detail.
Emigrate Canada has a dedicated Health Industry Workers desk that only represents Health Industry Workers to immigrate to Canada. They understand your profession and can talk your language when it comes to explaining your immigration pathway and the route to securing a Canada Visa for you (and your family).
Employment requirements
- A university degree in pharmacy and a period of supervised practical training are required.
- Licensure is required in all provinces and territories for community and hospital pharmacists.
The first stage in your Canadian immigration process is to calculate your Canada Immigration points for Express Entry using the Canadian Comprehensive Ranking System.
As well as providing you with important CRS points these for Pharmacistsalso count towards your overall Immigration Points score which must equal or exceed a total of 67
Take our free online visa assessment for an up-to-date report on whether you have enough points to immigrate to Canada as a Pharmacist from both an Express Entry and Immigration points perspective.
Once you receive an ITA (Invitation to apply) from Canadian Immigration as a result of your Express Entry application you’ll only have 60 days in which to lodge a formal application so under no circumstances should you lodge an Express Entry application ‘claiming’ to have certain points without first having all of your points verified through different testing, education equivalence certificates, and skilled worker assessments.
Once you are invited to apply for your Canada Visa you cannot go back and have these things verified retrospectively, they must be done before you claim any points for them, and given that your express entry profile is only valid for one year it makes sense to present the best possible case right from the start.