Immigrate to Canada as a Dietitian – Complete Guide
Remarkable and beautiful outcomes await you right now should you choose to immigrate to Canada as a Dietician. This is because dieticians are among the skilled workers who are highly sought after in Canada.
As we speak, the demand for dieticians in Canada is on the rise, designated as an in-demand occupation in the Canadian NOC List with the code 3132.
If you are a qualified dietician, you are indeed eligible to immigrate to Canada and eligible for full permanent residency to as high as Canadian citizenship under the Express Entry programs.
Who is a Dietician?
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition.
In addition to conducting medical nutrition therapy, for instance, designing an enteral tube feeding regimen for clients or arresting the effects of cancer cachexia.
Most dietitians are employed in hospitals, therefore, attend to patients offering specific nutritional assessment and intervention as requested by a doctor or nurse.
Thus, if a patient has lost the ability to swallow or requires artificial nutrition due to an intestinal failure, dieticians provide the nutrition regimen and monitor such cases.
Consequently, dietitians are the only regulated healthcare professionals certified to assess, diagnose, and treat such cases.
In addition, in the United Kingdom, the dietitian occupation is a ‘protected title.’ This means identifying yourself as a dietitian without appropriate education, registration and certification is prohibited by law.
What are the primary duties of a dietician?
The following are some of the duties of Dietitians and nutritionists:
- Dieticians create, prescribe, and monitor nutrition and food preparation and service regimens in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, company cafeterias, and other institutions where their services are required.
- Give nutrition guidance, interpret prescriptions and offer consultation services to health professionals, dietetic interns, individuals, government, community groups, and the media.
- Monitor the nutritional status of individuals and assist in preventing or treating bad nutrition effects.
- Develop, Plan, assess and conduct nutrition sensitization programs by developing educational materials for various clients.
- Work on a self-employed basis or as a team member offering patients nutritional requirements. In addition, they plan, carry out and monitor standard and therapeutic diet programs to maintain and promote general health.
- They conduct research, analyze recent scientific nutritional studies, and monitor the program’s effectiveness in improving the diet value, taste, appearance, and food preparation.
- Dieticians within the industry work in the creation, analysis, and evaluation, in addition to marketing of food and nutritional products, likewise as company reps supplying products and products-related information to health professionals.
- Relate with health professionals, government, and community groups to provide consultation in areas of nutrition interpretation, intervention, and policy
- Supervise the tutoring and training of dietetic interns.
- Dietitians and nutritionists can specialize in any of the following areas:Â
- Administrative dietetics,
- Clinical dietetics,
- Community dietetics,
- Public health nutrition
- Research dietetics.
Additional information
Dietitians and nutritionists can grow and progress in their careers to management positions depending on different experiences.
Illustrative examples of the dietician occupation in Canada
- administrative dietitian
- administrative nutritionist
- clinical dietitian
- community nutritionist
- consultant dietitian
- dietitian
- dietitian-nutritionist
- nutrition specialist
- professional dietitian (P.Dt.)
- nutritionist
- private practice dietitian
- public health dietitian
- public health nutritionist
- registered dietitian (RD)
- research dietitian
- therapeutic dietitian
- therapeutic nutritionist
What Qualifications do you need to Immigrate to Canada as a Dietitian?
Dietician Employment requirements in Canada
- Dietitians must have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in dietetics, nutrition, or a related field like food and nutritional science or biochemistry with supervised practical training.
- You must register with a regulatory body; this is a requirement in all provinces in Canada for dietitians.
- Be a member of the national association of Dietitians of Canada.
- If you are a nutritionist, you would usually require the same education and training as a dietitian.
- Registration with a regulatory body is necessary for nutritionists in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Alberta (you must be registered as a dietitian-nutritionist).
- Nutritionists can also be registered as a member of the national association, Dietitians of Canada, or in a provincial regulatory body, as long as they have the same education and practical training as dietitians.
Exclusions in the Dietician job category in Canada
These include the following:
- Dietary technicians
- Directors of dietetics
- Food service supervisors
- Home economists
These various job titles and roles in which a Dietitian can be recognized are all eligible to apply to the NOC category of 3132.
Requirements to Immigrate to Canada as a DietitianÂ
Firstly, in your desire to immigrate to Canada as a dietician, you must undergo the process of calculating your Canada Immigration points for Express Entry using the Canadian Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).
You get the CRS Points when you meet the following general requirements (amongst other conditions).
- Your age at the time of application
- Educational Qualifications
- Language proficiency (English/French ability)
- Your partner’s skills, training, and qualification
- Work experience
In addition, to providing you with the necessary CRS points, these criteria also add to your overall Immigration Points score, which must equal or exceed a total of 67 to be eligible for immigration in the Express Entry program.
Specific Requirement to Immigrate to Canada as a dietician
- You must register with a regulatory body. This is a requirement in all provinces in Canada for dietitians. Nutritionists also must register as a member of the national association, Dietitians of Canada, or a provincial regulatory body, as long as they have the same education and practical training as a dietitian.
Pathways to immigrate to Canada as a Dietitian under the NOC code
All occupation on the Canada NOC List is designated an immigration code. Thus the code for those looking to immigrate to Canada as a Dietitian is 3132. This is the same as the NOC Code for Nutritionists.
As a dietician who wants to immigrate to Canada, the express entry process is not the only option for a Dietitian to immigrate; you also have other immigration pathways to secure your Canada Visa from the start.
Firstly, as a dietitian, you are eligible to submit an application for Canada Immigration in the various Canadian Government Immigration programs as a result of the demand for Dietitians in Canada being so great,
Thus, the occupation has been included on the targeted occupations list, commonly referred to as the National Occupation Code in Demand List (NOC list). Therefore, the Dietitian NOC code is 3132
Likewise, note that the Canada Express Entry is not a visa class by itself. However, it is just a method (or database) that Canadian Immigration employs to choose the right candidates for a Canadian Permanent Residency Visa. Nevertheless, as an applicant looking to immigrate to Canada as a dietician, you can look at the following:
Therefore, as a Dietitian, you are qualified to make an Express Entry for Canada Residency as long as you have the right skills, work experience, and qualifications from your home country.
How do I get to immigrate to Canada as a Dietician?
This mainly happens through a CIC draw of the top candidates from the Express Entry pool. After that, they are issued an Invitation to Apply based on how many Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points they have.
The total Comprehensive Ranking Score is 1200. Meanwhile, if you have an offer of employment in Canada or a provincial nomination certificate, this will grant you an impressive 600 points.
Therefore, when you score the minimum required points or above on your Express Entry CRS, you have an excellent chance to immigrate to Canada as a Dietician without a Job Offer or Provincial Nomination.
However, if you score less than the minimum points, your next best option will be through a Provincial Nomination pathway. Likewise, you can immigrate by securing a Job Offer in Canada.
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Steps to Immigrating to Canada as a Dietician
Upon receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA) from Canadian Immigration from your Express Entry application status, you have no more than 60 days to lodge a formal application.
Therefore, you shouldn’t lodge an Express Entry application unless you already know your points by verification through the various testing, education equivalence certificates, and skilled worker assessments provided by Canadian immigration.
Similarly, it would be best to do these assessments before getting any points for them. Likewise, because your express entry profile will only be valid for one year, it is, therefore, vital that you present the best possible points from the beginning.
Before lodging your express entry, ensure your qualifications and certificates are verified by immigration.
Dietitian Jobs in Canada
The Dietitian code 3132 in the NOC list has been in-demand for years, and this presents opportunities across Canada.
If you qualify as a new and skilled Permanent resident of Canada, you get a full-time job from the get-go. Additionally, dietitian Jobs in Canada usually are better paying than in the UK, Europe, and Asia.
Likewise, Canadian employment law supports the work-life balance. The Canadian industry body for Dietitians is the Canadian Association of Dietitians.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to immigrate to Canada as a Dietitian without a job offer?
Yes, you can. However, this is only possible if you have an excellent total CRS score on your Express Entry application and meet the 67 immigration point benchmark qualification for the Canada Federal Skilled Worker Visa.
Though, in general, there’s no minimum CRS score required to make an application for a Dietitian Canada Express Entry profile.
However, securing a job offer will award you an instant CRS boost of 200 points. Thus, it’s wise to begin this process as soon as possible, including job hunting.
Conclusion
immigrating to Canada as a dietician can give you your best life yet. This is because there is so much to gain when you come to Canada, and even more so, being a dietician in Canada, you have the opportunity to become a permanent resident in Canada, aside from other immediate benefits that will accrue to you.
Read also: Immigrate to Canada from Yemen.