Optometrist to Canada: the OEBC route, step by step
Canada's route for an overseas-trained optometrist: FORAC credential assessment, the IGOEE, bridging where needed, the OEBC exam, then a province.
Canada’s optometry route is one of the longest chains of steps in our registry. A credential assessment, an evaluating exam, possibly a bridging programme, a national entry-to-practice exam, and only then an application to a province.
Our registry rates it Hard, and we would rather you knew that on the first page than the last. This post sets out every link in the chain, in the order the national bodies give it, so you can judge the whole before you commit to the first.
The bodies in the chain
The Federation of Optometric Regulatory Authorities of Canada, FORAC, runs the national route for internationally graduated optometrists, through its Canadian Optometric Evaluation Committee, COEC. The Optometry Examining Board of Canada, OEBC, sets the entry-to-practice exam. The regulator in your chosen province registers you. The route covers every province and territory except Québec.
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
Credential Assessment is the first of several steps you must take before you may apply for registration to practice optometry in any province or territory in Canada (*except Quebec).
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
The yardstick: a Canadian course
COEC assesses your education against a specific reference: the University of Waterloo’s optometry course descriptions. Read them before you do anything else. They are the closest thing to a published answer key for the credential assessment.
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
Further along, the OEBC exam is built on its own competency model: domains, key and enabling competencies, and entry-to-practice indicators, set out in its exam blueprint.
Source: oebc.ca · Exam Blueprint · 2026-10-04
Link by link
1. Check the academic criteria
FORAC sets academic criteria for eligibility to apply for the evaluating exam. Check yours against them first.
2. A WES course-by-course report
You obtain a World Education Services ICAP package with a course-by-course evaluation, sent by WES directly to FORAC.
3. English, if your degree was not taught in it
If your optometry programme was taught in English, and your institution confirms it, you do not need a test. Otherwise, FORAC accepts IELTS General at an overall average of 7.5 with no score below 7, PTE at an overall average of 80 with none below 70, or CELPIP General at an average of 9 with none below 8.
4. Credential assessment
You submit the application to FORAC’s credentialing office. COEC assesses it and recommends to the regulator in your destination province.
COEC credential assessments result in recommendations to provincial regulators on whether applicants should be considered eligible to apply for IGOEE.
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
5. The IGOEE
If you are favourably assessed, you receive a referral number and sit the Internationally Graduated Optometrist Evaluating Examination, administered by the Touchstone Institute.
6. Bridging, where required
Where required, you complete the Advanced Standing Optometry Preparatory Program at the University of Waterloo. Applicants who score exceptionally well on the IGOEE may challenge the OEBC exam directly.
7. The OEBC exam
You pass the national entry-to-practice exam, which tests against the competency model in the OEBC blueprint.
8. A province
You contact the optometric regulator in your destination province and apply for registration.
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
What FORAC asks you to send
- Form 5, the application for academic credential assessment
- Form 2, a release of information authorisation
- The WES credential evaluation report, sent directly by WES
- Official course descriptions, sent directly by your universities
- Official records of any further optometry-related education or training
- Your English test results, if you need them
- Certified translations, with the translator’s statement, for anything not in English
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
Notice how much of this goes directly from an institution to FORAC. You cannot hand it in yourself, so each of those requests has to be made early and followed up.
Course descriptions deserve particular care. COEC compares them with Waterloo’s, so a description that lists topics without hours, practical work or clinic time leaves the committee with less to compare. Ask your university for the fullest official version it can send.
If the assessment goes against you
COEC tells unsuccessful applicants where evidence is lacking. You may ask the original panel to review its decision, and then appeal to a COEC Appeal Panel, whose decision is final.
Source: forac-faroc.ca · Applying in English · 2026-10-04
Two gaps in what is published: FORAC’s and OEBC’s pages do not describe the IGOEE’s content or pass standard, and provincial registration documents vary by province. Ask the Touchstone Institute and your province directly.
Our registry rates the route Hard: a significant standalone exam or exam series, with real resit risk.
Source: oebc.ca · route as recorded and rated in our regulator registry · Sept 2026
The federal side
Optometrist is in the Express Entry healthcare category, under NOC 31111.
Source: canada.ca · Express Entry healthcare category · 2026-09-22
Permanent resident admission targets
Unit: admissions
| Category | All permanent residents | Economic class |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 485,000 | 281,135 |
| 2025 | 395,000 | 232,150 |
| 2026 | 380,000 | 239,800 |
| 2027 | 380,000 | 244,700 |
| 2028 | 380,000 | 244,700 |
These are Canada’s targets for permanent resident admissions, with the economic class shown inside the total; they are plans, not results, and they cover every occupation.
What to do first
- Read the University of Waterloo optometry course descriptions against your own syllabus
- Check FORAC’s academic criteria for the evaluating exam
- Ask your institution whether it will confirm in writing that your degree was taught in English
- Open a WES account and start the ICAP course-by-course evaluation
- Ask each university you attended how it sends official course descriptions abroad, and to whom
Sources
Every fact above was read on the named official page, or recorded in our regulator registry, on the date shown beside it. The full list of facts for optometrists is on our sources page, and how Canada’s colleges work is on the Canada regulators page.
Fees and timelines are not on this page. Choose optometrist and Canada in the Route Finder below to see yours.
Quick answers
The short version
Which documents do I need to prepare?
The regulator names: Form 5 – Application for Academic Credential Assessment; Form 2 – Release of Information Authorization; Credential Evaluation Report from WES (sent directly from WES); Official course descriptions sent directly from your universities; Official documentation on additional optometry-related education or training (if any); Official notice of English language test results (if required).
What is the application measured against?
The regulator names: University of Waterloo optometry course descriptions (COEC assessment criteria); OEBC Exam Blueprint – competency model (domains, key and enabling competencies, entry-to-practice indicators).
What English language evidence is needed?
Not required if the optometry degree programme was conducted in English (the institution must confirm the language of instruction); otherwise an English proficiency test must be passed and submitted with the credential assessment application.
What happens after the regulator decides?
COEC recommends to the provincial regulator whether the applicant should be eligible for the IGOEE; unsuccessful applicants are told where evidence is lacking. An applicant may request a review by the original assessment panel and then an appeal to a COEC Appeal Panel, whose decision is final.
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for a optometrist in Canada.
Province first, then the national exam body
Canada licenses province by province. Once your province is settled, we prepare the credential file for its college alongside what the national exam body asks for.
Every document, in the order the regulator reads it
Each item is checked against the regulator’s own list: names matched to your passport, hours in writing, copies certified by the person the list names.
One portal, and a person who answers
Upload your documents, see every stage of the file and message us in one place. The person who replies is the specialist preparing your file.
We prepare and file. The regulator decides.
Your application goes in from your own regulator account with every page prepared, and every query is drafted against the regulator’s exact question.
One specialist owns your file
The specialist who reads your documents builds the file and answers the regulator’s queries. You always know who has it, and you pay the regulator directly.
