Canada prides itself on a reputation of being a welcoming and inclusive country, promoting a collective pride in upholding a multicultural mosaic wherein a rich diversity of ethnicities, cultures and religions co-exist. A priority of the Canadian federal government is the attraction and retention of skilled foreign workers into the labour market, and social workers have been targeted for this government initiative. Alluring though this ideal picture may be, the experiences of forty-four migrant social workers who undertook their social work education outside Canada and currently practice social work in Canada suggest significant barriers on the levels of policy, organizational context and socio-cultural dynamics. On the level of policy, participants navigated processes for immigration, recognition of foreign credentials, and licensure with the provincial regulatory body. On the level of organizational context, participants faced a range of challenges in securing social work employment. On the level of socio-cultural dynamics, participants detail the many interactive subtleties experienced as they sought to "fit in" in order to connect with their new colleagues and communities. Analysis draws on the concepts of institutional and embodied cultural capital as the means though which social status is differentially available for these migrant social workers, based on the ascribed value of their citizenship characteristics, educational preparation, and practice experience. These forms of capital facilitate mobility by enabling access to opportunities and the tools to acquire status and entry to a particular class, that of the social work practitioner in Canada.

Canada is a culturally diverse receiving country for transnational migration, and social workers are among the professional migrants who arrive in Canada each year. This article draws on findings from a four-year, grounded theory study on the professional adaptation processes and experiences of migrant social workers (n = 66) in the Canadian context. Study findings highlight a range of internal (personal) attributes and external (contextual) elements that interact to serve as either protective or vulnerabilizing factors during the pre-employment phase of professional adaptation. The focus of this article is to describe the interactions of protective and vulnerabilizing factors associated with the experience of obtaining recognition of foreign credentials and securing employment as a social worker in Canada. The findings demonstrate that migrant social workers in Canada face significant barriers in these two pre-employment phases of professional adaptation. A range of research and policy implications is identified. In particular, we highlight the disconnect that exists between Canada’s migration-friendly policies, and the lack of organizational and governmental supports and services to facilitate successful labour market integration of migrant social workers.

Canada is promoted as a land of opportunity, with its natural beauty purportedly matched by the generosity of its people. Since 1994, Canada has been ranked in the top 10 places to live in the world, and in 2013 it placed third in the global ‘better life index’, recognised for its comfortable standard of living, low mortality rate, solid education and health systems, and low crime rate (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2013). It is a promising option for migrant professionals looking to leave their home countries for a variety of reasons related to social, political and economic conditions. This chapter reports on the experiences of 44 social workers who undertook their social work education outside Canada and migrated to Canada with the intent of continuing to practise social work. We bring analysis to three key areas experienced as problematic: policy, including immigration, recognition of foreign credentials, and registration with the licensing body; organisational context, including issues related to the search for employment and process of hiring; and socio-cultural dynamics, the more subtle relations required to ‘fit in’ and feelings of ‘difference’ in relation to one’s colleagues. The findings for each of these are discussed in detail below, drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986).

Successful management of a multi-site bilingual team-based grounded theory study requires overcoming key challenges associated with implementation of a large-scale, multi-faceted project. This article retrospectively reviews the methodological strategies employed during a multi-site bilingual team-based grounded theory study that investigated the professional adaptation experiences of migrant social workers in Canada. The article presents the strategies that the research team engaged to overcome numerous challenges and successfully work together across a variety of contexts and systems, including (a) provincial contexts, (b) languages, (c) university systems, (d) virtual spaces, and (e) epistemological perspectives. The findings highlight the importance of leadership and teamwork as central to successful project completion.

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