Physicians and veterinarians
Specialists in surgeryNOC 31101, TEER 1
NOC 31101 (Specialists in surgery) is TEER 1.TEER 1
Occupations that usually require a university degree
- Express Entry
- IRCC counts TEER 0 to 3 work for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class, so work in NOC 31101 sits inside that range.
- 2026 categories
- IRCC's 2026 category lists include NOC 31101 in the Healthcare and social services occupations and Physicians with Canadian work experience categories.
- Median wage
- $419,180 a year across Canada, from Job Bank's 2025 wage release (2023-2024 data).
- Provincial programs
- Each province sets which occupations its streams take. From our registry: OINP Ontario Workforce Priority stream, status Open, verified November 12, 2026.
How to read this code
- Broad category
- The first digit is the broad occupational category, the widest grouping in the NOC.
- TEER
- The second digit, 1, is the TEER category: TEER 1.
- Group
- The first four digits, 3110, are the minor group: Physicians and veterinarians.
- Occupation
- All five digits, 31101, are the unit group, the occupation itself: Specialists in surgery.
Also called: cardiac surgeon, general surgeon, neurosurgeon, obstetrician-gynecologist, ophthalmologist
This page shows the official duties for NOC 31101, where its TEER sits in immigration rules, and the wages Job Bank reports. It describes the rules. It does not decide anyone's case.
What the job involves
Statistics Canada text, quoted word for word. IRCC compares your duties with this description, not your job title.
Lead statement
Specialists in surgery perform and supervise surgical procedures. Specialists in surgery usually work in hospitals. Residents in training to become specialists in surgery are included in this unit group.
Example job titles
- cardiac surgeon
- general surgeon
- neurosurgeon
- obstetrician-gynecologist
- ophthalmologist
- orthopedic surgeon
- orthopedist
- otorhinolaryngologist
- pediatric surgeon
- plastic surgeon
- thoracic surgeon
- urologist
- vascular surgeon
Main duties: check yours
IRCC's rule for the Federal Skilled Worker Program: you must have performed "the actions in the lead statement" and "most of the main duties listed". Tick the duties you do. The count helps you compare. It is not a decision.
Verify on canada.ca(opens in a new tab)This group covers more than one job. Compare yourself with the duties under the job closest to yours.
Lead statement: not ticked. Main duties ticked: 0 of 7.
The rule asks for the lead statement and most of the main duties. IRCC gives no number for "most", and an officer decides.
Few ticks? Read "Classified elsewhere" below: it names the codes for jobs that sit close to this one.
Your ticks are kept in this browser only, so they are here when you come back. Nothing is sent. "Clear ticks" erases them.
If your duties look different
Statistics Canada names the jobs that belong in a different NOC. If one of these sounds more like your work, open that code and compare.
Classified elsewhere
- 31201Chiropractors (See 31201 Chiropractors)
- 31110Dental surgeon (See 31110 Dentists)
- 31102General practitioners and family physicians (See 31102 General practitioners and family physicians)
- 21110Immunologist (See 21110 Biologists and related scientists)
- 30010Managers in health care (See 30010 Managers in health care)
- 31209Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating (See 31209 Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating)
- 31303Physicians assistants, midwives and allied health professionals (See 31303 Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals)
- 31100Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (See 31100 Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine)
Usual employment requirements
- A bachelor's degree or in Quebec, completion of a college program and one year of pre-medicine university studies is usually required.
- Graduation from an approved medical school and specific specialty training are required.
- Completion of the certifying examinations of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and licensing by the provincial or territorial licensing authority are required.
- Five to six years of specialty residency training are required.
- Two years of subspecialty training may also be required.
Where TEER 1 sits in immigration rules
Each row gives the rule, then what it means for this occupation. The programs set many other conditions too, so read the official page before you act.
Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class
The rule: both programs count work experience only in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3.
What this means: NOC 31101 is TEER 1, so work in it is inside that range. The TEER is one condition, not the whole test. Both programs also set how much work you need (at least 1 year, or 1,560 hours), when you did it, and minimum language results.
Federal Skilled Trades Program
The rule: this program goes by NOC group, not by TEER alone. IRPR s. 87.2 lists Major Groups 72 (less Sub-major Group 726), 73, 82, 83, 92 and 93 (less Sub-major Group 932), Minor Group 6320 and Unit Group 62200, other than a restricted occupation.
What this means: NOC 31101 is not in one of the listed groups, so work in it is not skilled trade experience under this program.
Express Entry category-based selection, 2026
The rule: IRCC publishes a closed list of NOC codes for each category. NOC 31101 is on these 2026 lists:
- Healthcare and social services occupations
- Physicians with Canadian work experience
What this means: A category round can invite only people who are already eligible for an Express Entry program and who have at least 12 months of full-time work (or the same amount part-time) in a listed occupation in the past 3 years. The work does not need to be continuous.
For Physicians with Canadian work experience, those 12 months must be in Canada.
Being on a list does not mean a round will be held. IRCC says it may not need a category round when enough top-ranking candidates are invited through general or program-specific rounds.
IRCC page modified October 16, 2026, checked November 12, 2026.
Atlantic Immigration Program
The rule: the program takes job offers in TEER 0 to 4 from designated employers in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The job must be full-time and non-seasonal.
What this means: A TEER 1 offer must last at least 1 year from the day the person becomes a permanent resident.
Provincial Nominee Programs
The rule: each province and territory sets its own requirements and streams, including which occupations and TEER levels a stream takes.
What this means: Check the stream's own page for this NOC code. One example from our program status registry:
Program status: OINP Ontario Workforce Priority stream: Open
The stream has launched and the expression of interest portal opened on August 4, 2026. It covers skilled workers with a qualifying job offer in any NOC occupation, plus self-employed physicians.
Verified November 12, 2026 · Official source
Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)
The rule: an employer, not a worker, applies for an LMIA, and ESDC assesses each job offer. The wage offered, compared with the provincial or territorial threshold, puts the job in the high-wage or low-wage stream.
What this means: Service Canada refuses to process low-wage applications for jobs in census metropolitan areas where unemployment is 6% or higher. Some sectors are exempt, such as primary agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, and nursing and residential care. ESDC updates the list of areas each quarter. When this page was checked (September 26, 2026), the ESDC page showed the list for July 10 to October 8, 2026; open the ESDC page for the list in force today. A separate pause covers low-wage jobs in Montréal and Laval.
Wages in Canada
The wages Job Bank publishes for NOC 31101, for Canada as a whole and for each province and territory.
- Low
- $144,482
- per year
- Median
- $419,180
- per year
- High
- $766,730
- per year
Job Bank shows this occupation at a yearly rate, because hourly pay does not describe it well.
What this means: half of the people in this occupation earn less than the median and half earn more. Pay changes with the province, the employer and your experience.
Median by province or territory
| Province or territory | Median (per year) |
|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $434,053 |
| Prince Edward Island | $530,709 |
| Nova Scotia | $418,516 |
| New Brunswick | $421,734 |
| Quebec | $397,319 |
| Ontario | $403,957 |
| Manitoba | $457,991 |
| Saskatchewan | Not published |
| Alberta | $508,561 |
| British Columbia | $441,788 |
| Yukon | $403,299 |
| Northwest Territories | Not published |
| Nunavut | Not published |
Reference period 2023-2024. Data source: Canadian Institute for Health Information and Canadian Medical Association - custom tabulation. ESDC Job Bank wages, release revised 2025-11-19. (opens in a new tab)
Search jobs for NOC 31101 on Job Bank(opens in a new tab)ClearToEnter is not affiliated with Job Bank or ESDC.
Related occupations
Codes in the same NOC group as 31101, the closest first.
Questions about this code
What is the TEER of NOC 31101?
NOC 31101 (Specialists in surgery) is TEER 1: occupations that usually require a university degree. In NOC 2021, the second digit of a code is its TEER: in 31101, it is 1. Every job title in this unit group, such as cardiac surgeon, shares that TEER.
Is NOC 31101 eligible for Express Entry?
IRCC counts work experience in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class. NOC 31101 is TEER 1, so work in it sits inside that range. IRCC's 2026 category lists include NOC 31101 in the Healthcare and social services occupations and Physicians with Canadian work experience categories. The Physicians with Canadian work experience category counts only work done in Canada. The TEER is one condition: the programs also set how much work counts and minimum language results, and IRCC decides each case.
What is the median wage for NOC 31101?
Job Bank reports a median wage of $419,180 a year for NOC 31101 across Canada. The low figure is $144,482 and the high is $766,730. Medians by province and territory run from $397,319 in Quebec to $530,709 in Prince Edward Island. The figures come from Job Bank's 2025 wage release (Canadian Institute for Health Information and Canadian Medical Association - custom tabulation, 2023-2024).
What job titles are under NOC 31101?
Statistics Canada lists 13 example job titles for NOC 31101, including cardiac surgeon, general surgeon, neurosurgeon, obstetrician-gynecologist and ophthalmologist. The title alone does not set the code: IRCC compares your duties with the lead statement and main duties on this page.
Can an employer hire for NOC 31101 through an LMIA?
An employer, not a worker, applies for an LMIA, and ESDC assesses each job offer, including the wage. For low-wage jobs, Service Canada refuses to process applications in census metropolitan areas where unemployment is 6% or higher, with some exemptions.
Next steps
Read the rules behind this page, then compare pathways.
Guides
The law
Compare pathways for this occupation
The Pathway Explorer lists each major program and its published criteria. Take NOC 31101 and its TEER with you.
NOC 2021 Version 1.0: Statistics Canada and ESDC.