For many internationally trained professionals, obtaining professional registration in Alberta has long been a significant challenge. One of the most persistent barriers has been the requirement for Canadian work experience—a requirement that often created a frustrating cycle: no Canadian experience meant no licence, and no licence meant no opportunity to gain Canadian experience.
In 2025, Alberta took an important step toward addressing this barrier by amending the Fair Registration Practices Act (FRPA) through the Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act, 2025. This legislative change marks meaningful progress toward a fairer and more equitable registration system for internationally trained professionals. While the amendment does not remove every barrier to professional employment, it represents an important policy milestone that reflects years of advocacy by internationally trained professionals, community organizations, and partners.
What is the Fair Registration Practices Act?
The Fair Registration Practices Act governs how Alberta’s professional regulatory bodies assess and register internationally trained professionals. Although the Act does not directly evaluate foreign credentials, it establishes the standards that regulatory bodies must follow when making registration decisions.
The Act applies to more than 70 professional regulatory bodies, overseeing 170 regulated professions, occupations, and trades, including engineers, nurses, teachers, accountants, social workers, and many skilled trades. It requires registration processes to be:
- Transparent- applicants must know the requirements and criteria.
- Objective- decisions must be based on qualifications and competencies.
- Impartial- decisions must be fair and free from bias.
- Timely- regulators must process applications within established timelines and provide written reasons for decisions.
These principles help ensure applicants are assessed fairly based on their qualifications and competencies.
What Changed?
The most significant amendment is the removal of the Canadian work experience requirement for professional registration.
Previously, many regulatory bodies required applicants to demonstrate Canadian work experience before becoming licensed. This created unnecessary barriers for qualified internationally trained professionals seeking to enter their professions.
Under the amended legislation, regulatory bodies can no longer require Canadian work experience as a condition of registration, unless they receive ministerial approval based on public health or safety considerations. Instead, applicants must be assessed on their education, competencies, and professional qualifications, regardless of where they gained their work experience.
Why This Matters
For internationally trained professionals
This amendment removes a major systemic barrier that has prevented many qualified professionals from obtaining professional registration. It helps create fairer pathways into regulated professions, reduces unnecessary delays and financial hardship, and enables skilled newcomers to contribute their expertise sooner.
For Alberta’s economy
Alberta benefits when internationally trained professionals can fully use their skills and experience. Fairer registration practices make better use of talent already living in the province, strengthen a diverse workforce, support economic growth, and help address labour shortages across regulated professions.
How This Supports ActionDignity’s Policy Advocacy
ActionDignity has consistently advocated for two key policy changes:
- Recognition of foreign credentials.
- Removal of Canadian work experience requirements.
The amendment to the Fair Registration Practices Act represents a significant policy change in the right direction that advances ActionDignity’s policy focus areas. By requiring regulatory bodies to assess applicants based on their qualifications and competencies rather than Canadian work experience, the legislation promotes more equitable registration practices and strengthens accountability within Alberta’s professional regulatory system.
What Challenges Remain?
While this amendment is an important achievement, it does not eliminate every barrier faced by internationally trained professionals.
Applicants may still need to complete examinations, competency assessments, supervised practice, or bridging programs before becoming licensed. In addition, employers may continue to require Canadian work experience when making hiring decisions, even though regulatory bodies generally cannot require it for professional registration.
This means an important policy gap remains. Continued collaboration among governments, employers, regulatory bodies, and community organizations is needed to ensure internationally trained professionals have equitable access not only to professional registration but also to meaningful employment opportunities.
Invitation to Continued Collective Action
We request internationally trained professionals to learn about this policy update to help guide your professional registration process, and share your experiences to help improve the system. We also recommend community organizations and partners to share this information with internationally trained professionals and help newcomers understand their registration pathways.
ActionDignity is inviting you to join our Ethnocultural Grassroots Advocacy Group (Form of interest) and we will continue working alongside internationally trained professionals, ethnocultural communities, policymakers, employers, and partners to advance policies that remove systemic barriers, strengthen foreign credential recognition, and create fair employment opportunities for everyone.
Download our educational one-pager here
References:
Alberta King’s Printer (list of proclamation): Proclamations | Alberta.ca under the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act
Original Act – Fair Registration Practices Act – Open Government
Amended Act – SA 2019, c F-1.5 | Fair Registration Practices Act | CanLII