Internationally Educated Applicants

In Ontario, there are two regulated titles respecting the practice of psychology. For the title psychologist, you require a doctoral degree in psychology. For the title psychological associate, you require a masters degree in psychology and at least four years of relevant, post-masters degree experience.

If your degrees are from a university outside Canada or the United States, you must have them evaluated to determine if they are comparable in academic level to degrees from a Canadian university. These evaluations may be arranged through:

World Education Services (WES)
2 Carlton Street, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario, M5B 1J3
Canada
Telephone: (416) 972-0070
E-mail: Canada@wes.org
Web: www.wes.org/ca

The evaluation must demonstrate that the degrees in psychology are at the required academic level in order for you to become registered. While the statement from the evaluation service will indicate to the College whether the academic credentials are comparable in academic level to degrees granted by a Canadian university, the College reserves the right to make a final determination of the level and will evaluate, in accordance with the College’s guidelines for academic credentials, whether the content of the degree(s) is primarily psychological in nature.

Steps in the College’s application process that can be completed outside of Canada

Applicants educated outside of Canada or the United States who are currently living outside of Canada, can complete part of the application process before moving to Canada or wait until they arrive to do so.

The following application steps may be completed before moving to Canada:

• Submission of the College’s application for registration as Psychologist (Supervised Practice) or Psychological Associate (Supervised Practice) along with the application fee;
• Submission of degree evaluation(s) from either Comparative Education Service (CES) or World Education Services (WES) and;
• Submission of the university transcript(s) sent directly to the College from your university.

If a university outside Canada or the U.S. is unable to send a transcript directly to the College, the College may accept a certified copy of the transcript the university issued to the applicant.  If the transcript and official university documents are in a language other than English or French, the applicant must arrange to have these documents translated by an official translator. Applicants are responsible for any fees associated with the translation of these documents.

Once you have arranged for the evaluation of your academic credentials and for your university transcripts, or a certified copy, to be sent to the College, you may proceed to the Becoming a Member page as the other steps in the registration process are similar for all applicants.

The Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration has published information relevant to internationally trained individuals interested in practising psychology. This information is available at http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/working/OI_HOW_WORK_PSYCH_CM.html. The Government of Canada has produced a search tool called "Working in Canada" to help individuals identify occupations in Canada for which they may be qualified is available at http://www.credentials.gc.ca/immigrants/factsheets/psychology.asp.
If you have further questions, you may contact the College:

Email: registration@cpo.on.ca
Telephone: (416) 961-8817
Fax: (416) 961-2635
Mail: The College of Psychologists of Ontario
          110 Eglinton Avenue West, Suite 500
          Toronto, Ontario, M4R 1A3
          Canada