migrating to Canada as a pharmacists

An Overview of the Immigration of Pharmacists to Canada

Pharmacy is one of the most popular and lucrative disciplines in Canada. About 70% of people who graduate from Canadian universities work in pharmacies. There are two ways to work in this field. Either the pharmacist has obtained his/her degree from a reputable university in Canada or he/she has graduated from a reputable university in another country.
You will need to provide 4 important documents to get a pharmacist license and work permit:
• Bachelor’s degree in basic sciences
• A bachelor of Pharmacy
• One year of internship in government-approved institutions
• Passing the Canadian National Board Exam
In order to migrate to Canada by having a degree in pharmacy, if the applicant for working in Canada has studied in a country other than Canada, he/she will be required to go through the process of degree equivalency in Canada. Also presenting the required English or French language certificate is necessary. Finally, the applicant can enter the Canadian labor market after passing the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada.

In the Comments section, you can also ask your questions and answer them in a short time.

Topics reviewed in this article:

• The steps of the process of degree equivalency for people who have a Pharmacy degree in Canada
• The income of Pharmacists in Canada

The steps of the process of degree equivalency for people who have a Pharmacy degree in Canada

There are some steps for the pharmacists to migrate to Canada and work as pharmacists in Canada and their degree equivalency, which in this section we will talk about them. For people who have a pharmacy degree, the process of degree equivalency in Canada consists of 5 steps:

• Must attend one of Canada’s top 10 universities.
• Participate in the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC)
• Participate in a one-year internship program
• Being fluent in one of the French or English languages ​​or both
• All of the steps that have been mentioned above must be approved by the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities.

Students who are in Canada in order to continue their studies in pharmacy in Canada must take the pcat test, which this test has 192 multiple questions and a score of about 200 to 600. The questions of this test do not have a negative score and the duration of the test is about 4 hours. The topics of these questions are in the fields of mathematics, basic science and student comprehension. Students with a score of between 431 to 443 will be among the top students and can apply for admission to one of the top 10 universities which are introduced below. Of course, it should be noted that only for 3 of these universities students are required to take the pcat test.

These top 10 universities are:

The next step is to take the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC). At this part before registering for the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada, applicants are divided into three categories:

• US graduates whose graduation documents must be approved by ACPE USA.
• Canadian graduates who must have obtained their degree from the top 10 universities on the list.
• International graduates whose degree must be approved by PEBC.

The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada consists of two parts:

The first part includes the MCQ test, in which applicants’ ability to apply knowledge is assessed.

The second part is the OSCE test, which tests the applicant’s ability to solve problems that are related to pharmacy.

Finally, by passing this exam, applicants can become a member of the Canadian Pharmacists Association.

The next step is to take an internship course in Canada, which will take approximately 2,000 hours or 36 months.

Presenting a French language certificate or an IELTS 6.5 and finally carefully checking the applicant’s conditions and issuing provincial licenses, which are different in each province are among the steps of the migration of pharmacists to Canada.

The income of Pharmacists in Canada

After successfully taking the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada and also completing the internship program, the applicant can work in Canada in various medical or educational fields. Of course, keep in mind that the working conditions of pharmacists who migrate to British Columbia is not very different from the working conditions of pharmacists in Quebec or the working conditions of pharmacists in Ontario, but pharmacists need to get a work permit in each province. The income of pharmacists varies according to your work experience as well as the province where you work, but on averages is about $ 95,000 a year.