Nurse practitioner in Canada: your Express Entry path, step by step

Your way into the Express Entry pool

Every invitation needs a profile in the Express Entry pool. You would usually qualify through:

• Federal Skilled Worker. Experience must be in a TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 job; this one is TEER 1.
• Canadian Experience Class. For skilled work experience already gained in Canada.

The healthcare draws

These draws rank only people with recent experience in one of the 37 listed health and social services jobs. The panel above shows the latest one and its cut-off. You need at least 12 months of full-time work (or the same part-time) in this occupation within the last 3 years. The months do not have to be in a row, and the work must match the NOC description of the job.

Getting licensed

Registration with a regulator is required for nurse practitioners everywhere in Canada. The Canadian Council of Registered Nurse Regulators says nurse practitioners are registered nurses who meet extra education, experience and exam requirements set by each provincial or territorial nursing regulator.

• Registered nurse first: the National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS) assesses internationally educated nurses for RN, LPN and RPN registration; it does not list NP as a separate profession, so it covers the registered nurse step. Its expedited reports are accepted by most nursing regulators.
• The new exam: the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Licensure Exam (CNPLE) launched in 2026, with its first window in May. The older Canadian Nurse Practitioner Exam stays available in some provinces.
• Ontario example: the College of Nurses of Ontario accepts an education assessment from WES, ICAS or ICES and still accepts NNAS expedited reports. It moved to a single NP class on 1 July 2026, and the CNPLE is its approved NP exam from that date.

What nurse practitioners earn

The panel above shows Job Bank's median hourly wage for nurse practitioners across Canada, with pay by province and region on Job Bank.