Article content

This is part 4 of Alia Dharssi’s series, Workers Without Borders. To see the series in its entirety, click here.

For Brazilian pediatrician Iraj Khalili Nasrabadi, one of the hardest parts of flipping burgers in a Calgary McDonald’s in 2015 was hearing news of rural Albertans desperate for family doctors.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Skilled immigrants wasting their talents in Canada Back to video

He would have gladly served them if given the chance.

After arriving in Canada in 2010, Nasrabadi passed three medical exams required to work in Canada and spent 18 months shadowing a Canadian doctor. He also became a Canadian citizen.

But he hadn’t secured a residency – the last step for becoming a doctor in Canada – after three years of applying to programs across the country, even though he had 16 years of experience as a doctor in Brazil.

“You cannot use your skills, your talent, your experience,” said Nasrabadi, who decided to become a pediatrician as a 10-year-old in Iran, but studied medicine in Brazil after the Baha’i community to which he belongs was persecuted during the Iranian Revolution.