Dental Assistants Now Qualify For Express Entry Canada Immigration

Foreign-trained dental assistants can now immigrate to Canada through the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, which falls under the Express Entry system.

The change to the FSW which made that possible came on Nov. 16 last year, when Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) added 16 new jobs to its list of eligible occupations under that worker immigration program.

That increased the number of eligible occupations under the FSW on the same day the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 came into effect at the IRCC to 359.

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The 16 new occupations are all deemed to be jobs for which the worker must get a college diploma, an apprenticeship training of less than two years, or more than six months of on-the-job training.

The full list of newly-added jobs on the list of eligible occupations under the FSW includes:

• NOC 13102 Payroll administrators
• NOC 33100 Dental assistants and dental laboratory assistants
• NOC 33102 Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
• NOC 33103 Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
• NOC 43100 Elementary and secondary school teacher assistants
• NOC 43200 Sheriffs and bailiffs
• NOC 43201 Correctional service officers
• NOC 43202 By-law enforcement and other regulatory officers
• NOC 63211 Estheticians, electrologists and related occupations
• NOC 73200 Residential and commercial installers and servicers
• NOC 73202 Pest controllers and fumigators
• NOC 73209 Other repairers and servicers
• NOC 73300 Transport truck drivers
• NOC 73301 Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators
• NOC 73400 Heavy equipment operators
• NOC 93200 Aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors

Dental assistants, those diligent people who help dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists during the examination and treatment of patients and perform clerical functions in dental offices, are in hot demand in Canada. 

In the course of a regular day, a dental assistant will sterilize and maintain instruments and equipment, prepare dental instruments, fillings, compounds and various dental materials, take and develop X-rays, polish teeth and clinical crowns and apply fluoride and sealant, and make preliminary impressions for diagnostic casts.

They may also remove sutures, take and record vital signs, apply desensitizing agents, topical anaesthetic, anticariogenic agents and coronal whitening, fabricate, place, and remove temporary crowns and restorations, and apply and remove rubber dams.

Express Entry System Offers Dentists A Way To Recruit Qualified Foreign Nationals

Dr. Brian Barrett, executive director of the Dental Association of P.E.I., has reportedly said there is a shortage of dental hygienists and dental assistants and the healthcare sector is stymied on how to meet this challenge within Canada.

“The only way is to train a great many more and as it can’t be done very quickly, the problem will be here for several years. The average age is also increasing so more are also retiring so no fast fix is going to occur,” he said.

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If you are a candidate looking for a Canada job, or an employer looking to recruit foreign talent from abroad, immigration.ca can help. Access our expertise through our in-house recruitment enterprise www.skilledworker.com, “the leader in foreign recruitment”.

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Economic immigration through Express Entry, though, offers both a way for foreign nationals to get their permanent residence and for dentists to recruit qualified foreign nationals to fill positions now going begging in Canada.

Job Bank, the federal government’s job board, gives a ranking of moderate to good for the employment prospects of dental assistants across Canada for the next three years. The Indeed job website listed 1,491 jobs for dental assistants in mid-January.

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Job Bank data reveals the median annual wage for a dental assistant in Canada is $48,223.

Foreign nationals hoping to apply for permanent residence through the FSW must have one year of paid work experience within the last decade in jobs categorized as TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the NOC 2021 system.

Applicants under this program must also take a language test to prove that they possess sufficient language skills to successfully establish themselves in Canada. Language tests evaluate an applicant’s abilities with regards to:

• listening
• speaking
• reading
• writing

In order to be eligible for the FSW, an applicant needs to obtain at least the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7 in all categories and show that he or she has enough money to support him or herself and any relatives upon arrival in Canada.