More than 12,000 immigrants have moved to Saskatchewan this year alone. But moving here from other countries brings its share of challenges, especially when it comes to work experience. Many who leave their home countries as lawyers and doctors end up here working in the service industry.

Milan Jovic has been cutting hair for more than a decade. In Serbia, he even owned his own barber shop. He moved his family to Saskatoon five years ago, and wound up back in hair school. "My goal in my life is to open my own business, just like what I was doing before. ButI don't have any certificate finished here in Canada, so that's the main reason why I'm at Marca College."

It's a familiar story for many new Canadians. Professionals, some with master's degrees, come to Canada for a better life, but their qualifications aren't recognized here. Ken Yuzik of Comfort Cabs sees it every day. "A lot of our drivers, a far greater percentage, are far more educated that I ever would have imagined."

Arshad Mehood, from Pakistan, has a masters in agriculture, and still finds it difficult to get a job in the heart of the prairies. He works as a driver for Comfort Cabs. Likewise, Waseem Kamram has his masters in geology, but says here, he'd have to spend thousands of dollars for classes to work in the field.

"After 16, 17 years of education and stuff, here am driving, you know, a taxi," says Kamram.

Mehood says it's just too expensive for most immigrants to go back to university and get the relevant degree. He says the government needs to look into a training center or a more realistic credential check specific to immigrant professionals.

"14 sectors are working diligently to ensure that credential recognition and qualifications are more easily recognized, and where there are gaps, that those gaps be more easily identified and where education can be made available," says Saskatoon MLA Rob Norris.

While the province is working on it, the situation isn't so bleak for tradespeople like Jovic. he says he's actually enjoying the training and feels he's become a more well-rounded stylist. According to the college, incentives for taking post-secondary education in Saskatchewan couldn't be better.

Janice Istace, the school's director, is also a member of the scholarship and bursary committee with Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration. "60 per cent of their tuition is granted, scholarshipped or bursaried back to them. So there is no better time to train for post-secondary education than there is right now."

But there are thousands in the province wishing the same incentives and shorter training periods existed for professionals, prompting a call to the government to cut the red tape.