Registration Overview: What registration process applies to me?

You must be registered with the College of Occupational Therapists of Manitoba (COTM) before you begin any type of work as an occupational therapist in Manitoba.

There are two processes for applying to the College of Occupational Therapist of Manitoba.

Process 1: You are currently registered with a regulatory organization in Canada

You may be able to apply under the Labour Mobility Support Agreement (LMSA)* (see Further Reading). To complete this process, you must:

1. Submit a completed COTM Application for Registration form
2. Complete the top section of the COTM Labour Mobility Support Agreement Confirmation Form and the Regulatory History Form and send them to your current regulatory organization(s). The organization(s) will add the required information, and forward the completed form to COTM. The documents that are on file with your current regulatory organization will be forwarded to COTM.
3. Provide COTM with a current criminal record check, proof of professional liability insurance and evidence of pending employment.

*The Labour Mobility Support Agreement is an agreement established by the occupational therapy regulators in Canada. It provides a framework to allow the regulatory organizations to comply with the Agreement of Internal Trade. The agreement facilitates the mobility of qualified occupational therapist within Canada. In essence, if you are currently registered to practice occupational therapy in Canada, you should be able to be registered in a similar registration category (if one exists) in Manitoba, without having to re-establish your eligibility.

REQUIRED FORMS:

Process 2: You are currently not registered to practise in Canada

You must apply for registration with COTM, and provide all of the evidence required to prove that you meet the eligibility requirements for occupational therapy practice in Manitoba.

COTM has 3 registration phases:

1. Phase 1 - establishing academic eligibility can be completed up to 3 years before you complete the registration process. You must apply to ACOTRO to complete the SEAS process SEAS – Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (acotro-acore.org).
2. Phase 2 - establishing professional eligibility can be completed up to 6 months before you complete the registration process.
3. Phase 3 - establishing employment eligibility is the final step in the registration process.

If you want to begin the registration process before you come to Manitoba, you can complete Phase 1.

If you are in Manitoba and hope to find employment soon, you can complete Phases 1 and 2 at the same time.

If you already have an offer of employment in Manitoba, you can complete all 3 phases at the same time.