Yes, but in Canada a nurse practitioner (NP) licence sits on top of a registered nurse (RN) licence, so you plan for both. Permission to immigrate, for example as a permanent resident (PR, allowed to live in Canada permanently), comes from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal immigration department. Permission to work as an NP comes from the nursing regulator of the province or territory where you will practise: Job Bank, the federal jobs site, says NPs must register with a regulatory body in all provinces and territories. One does not give you the other. The RN licence is the foundation. The BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) says you must qualify for RN licensure before it considers your NP application, and in Ontario only members of the Extended Class of the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) may call themselves nurse practitioners.

Getting licensed as a nurse practitioner in Canada

Job Bank says NPs usually need a master's degree in nursing, or advanced primary health care nursing education, plus several years as an RN, and it names NP regulators by province. For the NP part, the Ontario and B.C. colleges below assess your education themselves. The National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS), which checks the documents of nurses educated abroad and calls itself the first step towards becoming a nurse in Canada, names its services for RNs, licensed practical nurses and registered psychiatric nurses. Our nurse page explains the RN steps.

• Ontario. CNO's guide for NP applicants, including those educated abroad, asks you to be eligible for its RN class (or registered as an RN elsewhere in Canada, in a US state or in a jurisdiction CNO approves), to have completed an approved NP program, to show recent advanced practice, to prove your English or French, and to pass an NP registration exam and an NP jurisprudence exam on the rules for nursing in Ontario. It also needs proof that you are a citizen or permanent resident, or hold authorization under Canada's immigration law to practise nursing in Ontario. Since 1 July 2026, the registration exam has been the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Licensure Exam (CNPLE), a national four-hour computer exam, and you have three chances to pass it.
• British Columbia. For NPs educated outside Canada and the United States (US applicants follow separate instructions), BCCNM's page for internationally educated NPs says that to be eligible to apply you must be licensed as an NP in another country, have been educated and registered in the adult, family or pediatric stream, hold a master's-level nursing degree, show that your education matches Canada's entry-level NP competencies, have passed a recognized written exam, and have practised at least 900 hours as an NP in the last three years or finished your education in that time.
• Alberta. The College of Registered Nurses of Alberta says its NP candidates have several exam options, depending on their program, and it expects the first Alberta candidates to write the new national exam in 2028.

Immigration routes for nurse practitioners

Express Entry is the online system through which IRCC handles skilled workers' applications for PR. You create a profile, it gets a points score, and IRCC invites the top-ranking candidates eligible for each round. Our Express Entry guide explains the process.

Nurse practitioners are on the list IRCC uses for its healthcare rounds, which are open only to people with recent work in listed jobs. To count, you need at least 12 months of full-time work (or the same amount part-time) in one listed job within the past three years, in Canada or abroad. Registered nurses have their own line on that list, so months as an RN and months as an NP do not add together. Our guide to category rounds explains what these rounds change.

Provinces and territories can also nominate people for PR, and our provincial nominee guide explains how. These provincial routes name NPs:

• Alberta: the Dedicated Health Care Pathway lists nurse practitioners, names the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta as the body for proof that you can practise, and needs a job offer from an Alberta health employer.
• Saskatchewan: the Health Talent Pathway includes NPs. The province's nominee program must approve your job offer before you apply, and you must be eligible for Saskatchewan licensing.
• British Columbia: NPs are on the jobs list for the Health Authority stream, which covers health workers employed by a B.C. health authority.

Can I work as a nurse practitioner while my licence is pending?

In British Columbia, possibly, under provisional NP licensure, which BCCNM may grant while you finish outstanding requirements such as the NP exam. It is optional, and it depends on a B.C. employer arranging for a B.C.-licensed NP or physician to monitor your practice; that person must supervise any test ordering and prescribing. You use the title "Nurse practitioner (provisional)", must pass an approved written NP exam within two attempts, and must meet every condition within one year. If you have already failed an NP exam twice, provisional licensure is not open to you. BCCNM also lets you send your NP application while your RN application is being processed, so the two assessments can run side by side.

A common mistake nurse practitioners make

Stepping away from NP work while you plan the move. The Ontario and B.C. colleges look for recent practice in the role. BCCNM asks for at least 900 hours as an NP in the last three years, unless you finished your NP education in that time. CNO asks for recent experience in an advanced nursing practice role, which most applicants show by completing an approved NP program within the past three years or with evidence of clinical NP work. A long break while you wait for exams or immigration papers can leave you short, so keep practising where you are licensed until your application is in.

First steps

1. Look up NP regulators by province in Job Bank's list.
2. Start the RN part early, for example through BCCNM's application steps or the RN requirement in CNO's NP guide.
3. Check which NP exam your regulator accepts, such as CNO's CNPLE.
4. Keep a record of your NP hours for the last three years, the period BCCNM looks at.
5. Compare your recent work with IRCC's healthcare list before you create a profile.