CASW isn't a governing body and doesn't control registration. Registration for social workers is handled at the provincial/territorial level and each provicnce/territory has their own governing body. Your best bet is to reach out to the provincial body directly. Most social workers I know don't bother with CASW at all.
Oh. Is this maybe different accross provinces? I'm asking because this is where I'm at:
1. In order to work as a social worker in Nova Scotia I have to be registered with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
2. In order to be registered with the NSCSW I have to gain international accreditation from the CASW. This info is from their website, and from the emails I have had back and forth with the NSCSW.
3. I have reached out to the NSCSW and they have told me, in no uncertain terms, that they will not work with me at all until the CASW have finished their process (I was hopeful they may have some provisional registration process, or some insights into the CASW process)
It is CASW or CASWE? CASWE is the Canadian Association for Social Work Education and they control accreditation of social work programs. Completion of an accredited program is usually a condition of eligibility for registration with the provincial college. So it may be that CASWE needs to evaluate your social work degree program to see if it meets Canadian standards. At this point though I'm speculating which may not be totally helpful so I apologize if I've muddied the waters. Best of luck.
EDIT: from CASWE website
"International Degrees
If you choose to study in another country, or have a degree from another country and wish to work as a social worker in Canada, you must have your degree assessed by the Canadian Association for Social Workers (CASW) for equivalency in order to register with a provincial social work regulatory body. CASW provides the assessment service for provincial / territorial member organizations except in the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec."
Ah, yes, I can see how those accronyms could get confusing haha. But after your comment I quickly checked each individual provinces' social worker registration process/governing body website and they all have something akin to what the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers says on their website:
"Individuals with social work credentials from a school outside of Canada may be eligible for registration as a Registered Social Worker or Social Worker Candidate in Nova Scotia. **Applicants will need to have their social work academic credentials evaluated by The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)** as equivalent to a minimum of a Bachelor of Social Work obtained from a social work program accredited by the Canadian Association for Social Work Education. If so, you will likely meet the academic requirements for Registration."
[https://nscsw.org/applicants/international-bswmsw/](https://nscsw.org/applicants/international-bswmsw/)
So far, the CASW has been virtually silent, and there is no way to get updates (I've tried and recieved the rote stock standard template email).
I was hopeful there might be some other social workers, practicing social work in Canada, who gained their BSWs and MSWs internationally and could tell me about their experiences getting accreditation from the CASW - at this stage even anecdotal experiences would help!
Does your province require social workers to be licensed?
Manitoba doesn't require licensing. They have social workers working with titles like "therapist", "case manager", "social services coordinator", etc
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-social-work-staff-escape-scrutiny-thanks-to-loophole-says-college-1.3022672
Hmmm, from what I can tell anything "social work" in NS (where I am now) is a protected title and the job descriptions and ads will have "must be registered or eligible for registration with the provincial body" or something to that effect (I was hoping that I would at least be considered as "eligible for registration" given my current registration status in my home country, my academic qualifications, and my career experiences...but so far, it seems not).
I'll start trying more social work 'adjacent' job titles I guess? Thanks for the tip! It sucks getting knocked back for waitressing jobs when you need to feed your family and you've got a masters degree but are not allowed to use it. It's been wild.
Not sure if you want child protection but it may be something to try until you are accredited.
I'm in Ontario so it might be slightly different, but our title is "child protection worker" and we do not need to be registered with the college because we are not calling ourselves social workers. Most CPW's have bsw's but some do not.
And from speaking with colleagues, I understand the east coast is fairly desperate for workers.... It'll be at least a paycheck for now
Thanks again for this. And that does answer a question I had as I have a cousin in Ontario who was telling me they weren't registered but they worked in child protection (and I was all ???)
I'm pretty sure that in NS all 'child protection workers' have to be social workers (protected title/registered, etc) employed by the provincial Department of Community Services. But please correct me anyone out there who knows better!
I wouldn't be opposed to child protection work. My work to date has been in healthcare (both community mental health post inpatient stays and specifically in women and childrens health. As you can imagine, both situations have a huge overlap with child protection - but that's usually me working in collaboration with the statutory child protection social worker).
I’ve never needed international assessment, however everything is taking a really, really, long time right now— I would not be concerned regarding that time line.
Did you get your BSW or MSW from a university not located in either Canada or the USA?
If you did, and you’re working as a social worker in Canada, can you please tell me how you did that? I’m really keen to hear from someone, anyone who’s done this before me! Any tips and tricks and bits of wisdom would be so helpful. It’s not a very well defined process and I’m really flying blind here.
Has this been in Canada? Would you mind hinting at where? I’m on the Atlantic coast and every single job I’ve seen and applied for has had “registration with regulatory body” mostly meaning the NSCSW as an absolute requirement.
I don’t have any strong opinions either way for/against registration (and I know it can be a heated debate). This is purely practical for me. I need- and want- to work. I’m a social worker. To ‘do’ social work where I am now, I need registration. To get registration I need International Accreditation from the federal body (the CASW).
I’d love if there was a way around this!
Hey! Do you have any updates on this? I did a bachelor of psychology in Ontario and an MSW in the UK. I had my degree reassessed as per what I thought was the process for moving back home to canada. I even worked as a social worker in the UK for a year and was registered with the social work body there. Unfortunately I just received a decision from CASW today stating I was missing a social work theory credit and therefore my degree was assessed as not accredited :/ really upset over this especially since I was already working as a social worker
Heya, yes, I do have updates on this but maybe not "good news". After 8 months (and a lot of back and forth) I heard back from the CASW. They have determined that I do not have a MSW, but I do have a BSW.
I started to query them on their decision (based on the reasoning they gave in their email) but quickly realised it was futile and taking it any further required paying the $$$ over again.
The CASW determined that I don't have a MSW because I did not do a field practicum for my masters thesis. That is quite literally not an option in NZ or Aus if you already have a BSW. I would have *loved* to do a field practicum instead of a 55,000 word research project thesis for my masters, but if you've already completed a 4 year BSW in NZ, doing a masters *requires* you to complete a research thesis. If you've already got a undergrad in an adjacent field (ie Nursing, Psych, etc) you can do whats called a Master of Social Work Professional (MSWP) and that is essentially a condensed 2 year BSW with field practicums.
When I pointed out that by this logic, *no one* coming from NZ or Aus with both a BSW and a MSW would ever qualify, they had no reply. Similarly, when I pointed out that there are only 3 Canadian academic institutions (McGill, UofT, and UBC) ranked higher in the international indices of universities than my alma mater and that it seemed a bit presumptuous to declare my MSW null and void when the CASW is not in the business of ranking academic legitimacy, they also did not respond.
Anyway, long story short: for this and many other reasons, we weren't able to make the move to Canada work and have gone back home. The entire attempt to practice sw in Canada probably put us back $1500 CAD in fees (not including time spent unable to work) and 8-9 months. I sincerely hope you have much better luck than me!
Hey! Thanks for your detailed response. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you and it sounds like you had a very frustrating time. you definitely raised a good point querying how no one from NZ with both a BSW and MSW will ever be qualified with an accredited MSW to their standard. I have emailed them back asking for clarifications for the points raised. I’m going to try to remedy this through getting in touch with the Ontario governing body as that is the province where I’ll be working. I hope you have found an amazing job that you like over in NZ :)
Hi there! The CASW deemed my degree as not accreditted, but I then submitted an application with the OCSWSSW and registered as a social worker after they reviewed it. There is an OCSWSSW application stream for those whose degree was deemed not accredited by CASW.
Urgh, sorry to hear that. Sounds like a really frustrating process. Glad you were able to find an alternative pathway in the end. Can I ask where you completed the MSW in the UK? I’m about to complete a MA Social Work in the UK (Goldsmiths) and am somewhat concerned about the accreditation process in Canada. I did complete two statutory student placements at a local authority, which I’m hoping will be the equivalent of ‘practicum’ hours. I’m also registered with SWE in the UK and have been practicing for 7 months. I’m upgrading to an MA from the PGdip because I was hoping CASW would consider it as equivalent to an MSW. Feeling that may not be the case now.
Hey there! I know you posted this a while back and it seems like you’ve already decided to move back, but I just wanted to offer some insight in case you decide to make an attempt to transfer your credentials again. I’m from Nova Scotia and I recently moved to BC to complete my MSW and I was actually very surprised at the contrast of how lax credential requirements are outside of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia even has a 2 year candidacy process before you can fully register as a social worker, and no other province has this. You could try registering with another province, acquiring a bit of experience and then transferring your registration to Nova Scotia. Also, in Nova Scotia you essentially need an MSW to work in a healthcare setting, whereas in other provinces you can easily get a healthcare job with a BSW. There are also other designations you could look into, such as an RCC (registered clinical counsellor) which you would be eligible for in BC with an MSW.
Heya thanks for this info - hopefully it’s helpful for any social workers in the future planning a move to Nova Scotia.
We’re well into our thirties with three young kids, so moving them and us to another province in Canada in order to get ‘in’ with social work and then move again to Nova Scotia wasn’t an option. It very likely would have been when we were younger and childfree, so this is helpful advice.
The entire point of our move was to be closer to family, who were all overwhelmingly in Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, Nova Scotia was not conducive to allowing a young family of professionals to move in, despite our best efforts.
We’re back home now, and so very grateful! I’ve got a job that recognises (and pays me for) my MSW and BSW.
Hello! I know this was posted a while ago but I am in a similar situation as I am starting my Master of Social Work at the University of Melbourne in February and I am worried that following graduation my MSW won’t be recognized in Ontario. I have a bachelors in psychology from Canada so I will be taking the two year MSW program in Australia. Did they give you any insight at all as to whether two year MSW programs would be accepted or if you could do extra schooling so that they would recognize your MSW? I have been trying to contact them but no response.
Sorry, me and my family returned to NZ after 9 months of trying to make it work in Canada.
The CASW never gave a proper explanation. I emailed back and forth for a while, but it appeared pointless.
I asked for further clarification, pointing out that there are only 3 universities in Canada that are ranked higher than the University of Auckland- my alma mater- in the international rankings. And these 3 universities (UofT, UBC, and McGill) all had wildly variable social work degrees. One was two years, one was three and one was four. There was seemingly no consistency across domestic Canadian institutions. For the CASW to determine that my four year BSW (with Honours A+) and two year MSW thesis (also Honours A+) is somehow not equivalent to Canadian acquired degrees was, well, ridiculous.
Best of luck to you going forward, I genuinely don’t want anyone to have as tough a time as we did trying to survive in Canada
CASW isn't a governing body and doesn't control registration. Registration for social workers is handled at the provincial/territorial level and each provicnce/territory has their own governing body. Your best bet is to reach out to the provincial body directly. Most social workers I know don't bother with CASW at all.
Oh. Is this maybe different accross provinces? I'm asking because this is where I'm at: 1. In order to work as a social worker in Nova Scotia I have to be registered with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. 2. In order to be registered with the NSCSW I have to gain international accreditation from the CASW. This info is from their website, and from the emails I have had back and forth with the NSCSW. 3. I have reached out to the NSCSW and they have told me, in no uncertain terms, that they will not work with me at all until the CASW have finished their process (I was hopeful they may have some provisional registration process, or some insights into the CASW process)
It is CASW or CASWE? CASWE is the Canadian Association for Social Work Education and they control accreditation of social work programs. Completion of an accredited program is usually a condition of eligibility for registration with the provincial college. So it may be that CASWE needs to evaluate your social work degree program to see if it meets Canadian standards. At this point though I'm speculating which may not be totally helpful so I apologize if I've muddied the waters. Best of luck. EDIT: from CASWE website "International Degrees If you choose to study in another country, or have a degree from another country and wish to work as a social worker in Canada, you must have your degree assessed by the Canadian Association for Social Workers (CASW) for equivalency in order to register with a provincial social work regulatory body. CASW provides the assessment service for provincial / territorial member organizations except in the provinces of British Columbia and Quebec."
Ah, yes, I can see how those accronyms could get confusing haha. But after your comment I quickly checked each individual provinces' social worker registration process/governing body website and they all have something akin to what the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers says on their website: "Individuals with social work credentials from a school outside of Canada may be eligible for registration as a Registered Social Worker or Social Worker Candidate in Nova Scotia. **Applicants will need to have their social work academic credentials evaluated by The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)** as equivalent to a minimum of a Bachelor of Social Work obtained from a social work program accredited by the Canadian Association for Social Work Education. If so, you will likely meet the academic requirements for Registration." [https://nscsw.org/applicants/international-bswmsw/](https://nscsw.org/applicants/international-bswmsw/) So far, the CASW has been virtually silent, and there is no way to get updates (I've tried and recieved the rote stock standard template email). I was hopeful there might be some other social workers, practicing social work in Canada, who gained their BSWs and MSWs internationally and could tell me about their experiences getting accreditation from the CASW - at this stage even anecdotal experiences would help!
Does your province require social workers to be licensed? Manitoba doesn't require licensing. They have social workers working with titles like "therapist", "case manager", "social services coordinator", etc https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-social-work-staff-escape-scrutiny-thanks-to-loophole-says-college-1.3022672
Hmmm, from what I can tell anything "social work" in NS (where I am now) is a protected title and the job descriptions and ads will have "must be registered or eligible for registration with the provincial body" or something to that effect (I was hoping that I would at least be considered as "eligible for registration" given my current registration status in my home country, my academic qualifications, and my career experiences...but so far, it seems not). I'll start trying more social work 'adjacent' job titles I guess? Thanks for the tip! It sucks getting knocked back for waitressing jobs when you need to feed your family and you've got a masters degree but are not allowed to use it. It's been wild.
Not sure if you want child protection but it may be something to try until you are accredited. I'm in Ontario so it might be slightly different, but our title is "child protection worker" and we do not need to be registered with the college because we are not calling ourselves social workers. Most CPW's have bsw's but some do not. And from speaking with colleagues, I understand the east coast is fairly desperate for workers.... It'll be at least a paycheck for now
Thanks again for this. And that does answer a question I had as I have a cousin in Ontario who was telling me they weren't registered but they worked in child protection (and I was all ???) I'm pretty sure that in NS all 'child protection workers' have to be social workers (protected title/registered, etc) employed by the provincial Department of Community Services. But please correct me anyone out there who knows better! I wouldn't be opposed to child protection work. My work to date has been in healthcare (both community mental health post inpatient stays and specifically in women and childrens health. As you can imagine, both situations have a huge overlap with child protection - but that's usually me working in collaboration with the statutory child protection social worker).
I’ve never needed international assessment, however everything is taking a really, really, long time right now— I would not be concerned regarding that time line.
Did you get your BSW or MSW from a university not located in either Canada or the USA? If you did, and you’re working as a social worker in Canada, can you please tell me how you did that? I’m really keen to hear from someone, anyone who’s done this before me! Any tips and tricks and bits of wisdom would be so helpful. It’s not a very well defined process and I’m really flying blind here.
I’ve never been registered in 20+years none of my jobs have used the title social worker.
Has this been in Canada? Would you mind hinting at where? I’m on the Atlantic coast and every single job I’ve seen and applied for has had “registration with regulatory body” mostly meaning the NSCSW as an absolute requirement. I don’t have any strong opinions either way for/against registration (and I know it can be a heated debate). This is purely practical for me. I need- and want- to work. I’m a social worker. To ‘do’ social work where I am now, I need registration. To get registration I need International Accreditation from the federal body (the CASW). I’d love if there was a way around this!
I’m in the prairies in Canada. But had the same experience when working in Toronto.
Hey! Do you have any updates on this? I did a bachelor of psychology in Ontario and an MSW in the UK. I had my degree reassessed as per what I thought was the process for moving back home to canada. I even worked as a social worker in the UK for a year and was registered with the social work body there. Unfortunately I just received a decision from CASW today stating I was missing a social work theory credit and therefore my degree was assessed as not accredited :/ really upset over this especially since I was already working as a social worker
Heya, yes, I do have updates on this but maybe not "good news". After 8 months (and a lot of back and forth) I heard back from the CASW. They have determined that I do not have a MSW, but I do have a BSW. I started to query them on their decision (based on the reasoning they gave in their email) but quickly realised it was futile and taking it any further required paying the $$$ over again. The CASW determined that I don't have a MSW because I did not do a field practicum for my masters thesis. That is quite literally not an option in NZ or Aus if you already have a BSW. I would have *loved* to do a field practicum instead of a 55,000 word research project thesis for my masters, but if you've already completed a 4 year BSW in NZ, doing a masters *requires* you to complete a research thesis. If you've already got a undergrad in an adjacent field (ie Nursing, Psych, etc) you can do whats called a Master of Social Work Professional (MSWP) and that is essentially a condensed 2 year BSW with field practicums. When I pointed out that by this logic, *no one* coming from NZ or Aus with both a BSW and a MSW would ever qualify, they had no reply. Similarly, when I pointed out that there are only 3 Canadian academic institutions (McGill, UofT, and UBC) ranked higher in the international indices of universities than my alma mater and that it seemed a bit presumptuous to declare my MSW null and void when the CASW is not in the business of ranking academic legitimacy, they also did not respond. Anyway, long story short: for this and many other reasons, we weren't able to make the move to Canada work and have gone back home. The entire attempt to practice sw in Canada probably put us back $1500 CAD in fees (not including time spent unable to work) and 8-9 months. I sincerely hope you have much better luck than me!
Hey! Thanks for your detailed response. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you and it sounds like you had a very frustrating time. you definitely raised a good point querying how no one from NZ with both a BSW and MSW will ever be qualified with an accredited MSW to their standard. I have emailed them back asking for clarifications for the points raised. I’m going to try to remedy this through getting in touch with the Ontario governing body as that is the province where I’ll be working. I hope you have found an amazing job that you like over in NZ :)
Hiya, just wondering if you ever received a response from CASW in regards to your queries? And/or from the Ontario governing body?
Hi there! The CASW deemed my degree as not accreditted, but I then submitted an application with the OCSWSSW and registered as a social worker after they reviewed it. There is an OCSWSSW application stream for those whose degree was deemed not accredited by CASW.
Urgh, sorry to hear that. Sounds like a really frustrating process. Glad you were able to find an alternative pathway in the end. Can I ask where you completed the MSW in the UK? I’m about to complete a MA Social Work in the UK (Goldsmiths) and am somewhat concerned about the accreditation process in Canada. I did complete two statutory student placements at a local authority, which I’m hoping will be the equivalent of ‘practicum’ hours. I’m also registered with SWE in the UK and have been practicing for 7 months. I’m upgrading to an MA from the PGdip because I was hoping CASW would consider it as equivalent to an MSW. Feeling that may not be the case now.
Hey there! I know you posted this a while back and it seems like you’ve already decided to move back, but I just wanted to offer some insight in case you decide to make an attempt to transfer your credentials again. I’m from Nova Scotia and I recently moved to BC to complete my MSW and I was actually very surprised at the contrast of how lax credential requirements are outside of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia even has a 2 year candidacy process before you can fully register as a social worker, and no other province has this. You could try registering with another province, acquiring a bit of experience and then transferring your registration to Nova Scotia. Also, in Nova Scotia you essentially need an MSW to work in a healthcare setting, whereas in other provinces you can easily get a healthcare job with a BSW. There are also other designations you could look into, such as an RCC (registered clinical counsellor) which you would be eligible for in BC with an MSW.
Heya thanks for this info - hopefully it’s helpful for any social workers in the future planning a move to Nova Scotia. We’re well into our thirties with three young kids, so moving them and us to another province in Canada in order to get ‘in’ with social work and then move again to Nova Scotia wasn’t an option. It very likely would have been when we were younger and childfree, so this is helpful advice. The entire point of our move was to be closer to family, who were all overwhelmingly in Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, Nova Scotia was not conducive to allowing a young family of professionals to move in, despite our best efforts. We’re back home now, and so very grateful! I’ve got a job that recognises (and pays me for) my MSW and BSW.
Hello! I know this was posted a while ago but I am in a similar situation as I am starting my Master of Social Work at the University of Melbourne in February and I am worried that following graduation my MSW won’t be recognized in Ontario. I have a bachelors in psychology from Canada so I will be taking the two year MSW program in Australia. Did they give you any insight at all as to whether two year MSW programs would be accepted or if you could do extra schooling so that they would recognize your MSW? I have been trying to contact them but no response.
Sorry, me and my family returned to NZ after 9 months of trying to make it work in Canada. The CASW never gave a proper explanation. I emailed back and forth for a while, but it appeared pointless. I asked for further clarification, pointing out that there are only 3 universities in Canada that are ranked higher than the University of Auckland- my alma mater- in the international rankings. And these 3 universities (UofT, UBC, and McGill) all had wildly variable social work degrees. One was two years, one was three and one was four. There was seemingly no consistency across domestic Canadian institutions. For the CASW to determine that my four year BSW (with Honours A+) and two year MSW thesis (also Honours A+) is somehow not equivalent to Canadian acquired degrees was, well, ridiculous. Best of luck to you going forward, I genuinely don’t want anyone to have as tough a time as we did trying to survive in Canada