The underutilization of immigrant talent costs Canada nearly $50 billion annually— approximately 2.5% of GDP––undermining productivity, global competitiveness, and longterm growth (Agopsowicz & Billy-Ochieng, 2019). Despite a highly selective immigration system that prioritizes educational attainment and professional experience, skilled newcomers are persistently unable to access jobs aligned with their training and qualifications, while employers continue to face critical skills shortages (Young, 2022). This dual inefficiency affects not only individual households or firms, but also the national economy at large. Canada’s economic future depends on reversing this trend. Immigrants have accounted for 84% of Canada’s labour force growth over the past decade and nearly 98% of total population growth between 2022 and 2023 (IRCC, 2024; Statistics Canada, 2022). The OECD (2024) ranks Canada as having the most educated population in the world. Yet systemic barriers to credential recognition and the undervaluing of international education and experience limit the transferability of human capital across borders. At the heart of the issue is the absence of tools for recognizing and assessing the full range of immigrants’ competencies, including both soft and experiential skills (Chiswick & Miller, 2009; Picot & Sweetman, 2005; Sanromá et al., 2015). Although newcomers must obtain Educational Credential Assessments (ECAs), these are rarely used by employers (Banerjee et al., 2021). Canada also lacks mechanisms to verify essential soft skills—communication, adaptability, and teamwork—critical for workplace integration (Sharpe, 2020). Despite recent investments in foreign credential recognition, most programs focus on certification or digitization without addressing how to make diverse skills and experiences visible and verifiable. SMEs, in particular, struggle to assess international qualifications due to limited HR capacity (Fernando et al., 2016). Addressing these barriers is critical for boosting productivity. Education–occupation mismatches alone cost between $20,000 and $25,000 per household each year and narrowing the immigrant–Canadian-born earnings gap over five years could yield a $16 billion boost to national wealth (Young, 2022). These missed opportunities are particularly costly in a context of technical disruption, an aging population, and declining fertility rates (Fostik & Galbraith, 2021). As AI reshapes job requirements and occupational standards, stronger systems are needed to verify and contextualize competencies. It is no longer just what someone has learned, but how their combined skills—technical and soft—can be matched to opportunities in a changing labour market.