Factors Influencing Foreign Qualification Recognition for Migrant Health Professionals in Australia, Canada and New Zealand

This paper assesses the extent to which health professional migration to Australia, Canada and New Zealand has transformed in the recent decade, in terms of scale, source countries, and migration mode. Within this context it defines major challenges associated with foreign qualification recognition (FQR), including growing government and stakeholder pressure to improve migrant health professionals’ recognition and early employment outcomes. A range of innovative strategies are next described, based on Australian medical and nursing sector case studies. Finally the growing engagement of regulators in qualification recognition reform is examined, at a time when the question increasingly asked is whether regulatory bodies have the agility to facilitate 21st century labour migration flows. Key learnings are highlighted, of potential policy relevance to a wide range of immigrant-receiving countries which recruit migrant health professionals.