As a caregiver, you have options to come to Canada to become a permanent resident or work temporarily. As of June 18, 2019, you may be able to apply for permanent residence through the Home Child Care Provider Pilot or Home Support Worker if you:
- Meet the eligibility requirements, and
- Have a job offer to work in one of those occupations
- Or have Canadian work experience in eligible caregiver occupation
Through these pilots, you’ll get an open work permit to come to Canada and work temporarily. This work permit:
- Is occupation-restricted (so you have to work in that specific occupation only)
- Home Child-Care Provider Pilot (HCCPP) Category A1 – NOC 4411 restricted open work permit is issued for 3 years starting from the date the work permit is issued at the point of entry (POE) or in Canada under the paragraph R205(a), code C90. Special program code CARE 4411.
- Home Support Worker Pilot (HSWP) – Category A2 NOC 4412 restricted open work permit is issued for 3 years starting from the date the work permit is issued at the POE under paragraph R205(a), code C90. Special program code CARE 4412.
- Does not need a LMIA – Labour Market Impact Assessment
- Also, lets you get the work experience you need to be eligible for permanent residence.
If you recently worked a home child care provider or support worker, then your experience may count towards your eligibility for permanent residence.
Applicants under the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot can apply from within or outside Canada. Applicants may also apply with or without at least 24 months of qualifying work experience.
- Applicants applying without 24 months of qualifying work experience are issued an occupation-restricted open work permit once they pass select eligibility and admissibility requirements.
- Applicants who have 24 months of qualifying work experience, and who meet all the other eligibility requirements, may be eligible for a bridging open work permit.
Accompanying family members (spouses and dependants) are eligible to accompany the principal applicant to Canada. Work permit and study permit applications for accompanying family members must be sent along with the PA’s permanent residence application.
On June 18, 2019, Ministerial Instructions (MI) were issued to allow officers to refuse to process certain LMIA-required work permit applications received under the TFWP (Temporary Foreign Worker Program) from caregivers applying from overseas, as long as the LMIA application has been received on or after June 18, 2019 by ESDC (Employment and Social Development Canada).
Interim Pathway For Caregivers:
- This Interim Pathway for Caregivers will open again for 3 months starting July 8, 2019
- If you need to send your language test results or Educational Credential Assessment for an application you already submitted, follow the instructions on the Government of Canada website
Live-In Caregiver Program
- Is closed to new applicants.
- Only apply for PR through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) if you have at least 2 years of work experience in the program and:
- You’re already working in Canada with an LCP work permit, or
- You were approved for your first LCP work permit based on a Labour Market Impact Assessment submitted to Employment and Social Development Canada on or before November 30, 2014.
Refusal to process labour market impact assessment (LMIA) required work permit applications for caregivers received on or after June 18, 2019
- June 18, 2019 – Ministerial Instructions were issued to allow officers to refuse to process certain LMIA-required work permit applications received under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program from caregivers applying from overseas.
- Officers must not process applications for new LMIA-required work permits made by foreign nationals under subparagraph 200(1)(c)(iii) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) if all of the following criteria apply:
- The intended occupation is in National Occupational Classification (NOC) 4411 (excluding foster parents) or 4412 (excluding housekeepers)
- The applicant is outside of Canada
- The applicant is making an initial work permit application (that is, they do not currently hold a valid work permit)
- The applicant is destined to a job location outside Quebec
- The accompanying LMIA application has been received by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) on or after June 18, 2019.
- LMIA-required work permit applications for caregivers received by IRCC that meet the above criteria are not processed. The applicant is notified of the refusal to process, and the associated work permit processing fee is returned.
- Applicants who do not meet the above criteria, which, in general, includes in-Canada applicants, are not subject to the refusal to process. They can obtain a work permit with a valid LMIA under the TFWP on or after June 18, 2019.
- Applicants who intend to work as foster parents under NOC 4411 or do exclusively housekeeping duties under NOC 4412 also fall outside the scope of these Ministerial Instructions.
- In these circumstances, officers should use the special program code “LSP” and Case Type code 53.
- Refusal to process applies only when all of the following apply:
- The applicant’s job location is outside Quebec.
- The foreign national is overseas.
- The foreign national has no valid work permit.
Highlights Of The New Pilot:
- PR Application and WP application must be submitted together to CPC Edmonton
- All supporting documents for both applications (including police certificates) must be submitted at the beginning
- IELTS or TEF results must be less than 2 years old
- ECA must be less than 5 years old
- IRCC will NOT issue a work permit to an applicant with LMIA for the two NOCs if applicant is outside Canada and is destined to any other province other than Quebec
Who Can Apply?
- Anyone who meets the eligibility criteria:
- Language level at Canadian Language Benchmark 5
- Education must be equivalent to at least one-year post-secondary diploma
- And admissibility criteria:
- Criminal, medical and financial admissibility (applies to all adult family members)
- If in Canada, must have a valid temporary resident status, be in implied status or be eligible for restoration of the temporary status.
- Outside Canada - Applicant Must
- Have a genuine job offer (prescribed form and supporting documents)
- Have an original of valid IELTS or TEF results and ECA document
- Submit PR application for every family member (even if unaccompanied)
- Submit WP application for herself and, if accompanying family members, application for a work permit for a spouse and study permit for children
- Appropriate fees for everything
- Inside Canada - Applicant Must
- May have (not required) LMIA based job offer
- May have the required 24 months (not required) previous experience that qualifies
- Have an original of valid IELTS or TEF results and ECA document
- Submit PR application for every family member (even if unaccompanied)
- Submit WP application for herself and, if accompanying family members, application for a work permit for a spouse and study permit for children
- Appropriate fees for everythings
- Due Fees
- Processing fee for PR application: $550 for each adult (over 22) and $150 for each child
- Processing fee for WP application: $155 plus $100 open work permit fee for each adult family member and $125 for a study permit
- Biometrics fee: $85 for each adult family member
- Complete applications for PR and WP
- No shortcuts
- If not complete, application will be returned
- Checklist not exhaustive
- Supporting documents – the same principles apply as in any other PR and WP application
- Only paper applications mailed to Edmonton
- Original language results and ECA certificate
- Original police certificates, the rest may be copies
- No upfront medicals
- 12 months processing time before WP is issued only if the application is complete and there is no issue with any of the supporting documents
- Only 2,750 PR applications will be processed in a year under each pilot
- An applicant with 24 months or more of eligible Canadian work experience must satisfy the following criteria:
- Meet the minimum language requirements
- Meet the minimum education requirements
- Meet the work experience requirement
- Be admissible to Canada
- Application without 24 months experience must satisfy eligibility and admissibility requirements upfront. Applicants must:
- Meet the minimum language requirements
- Meet the minimum education requirements
- Have a valid job offer
- Be able to perform the work
- Be admissible to Canada
- What experience qualifies
- Must match NOC 4111 or 4112
- May be combined – either or
- Any work done in Canada while having temporary resident status (PGWP, open WP, LCP, in-home caregiver, no restrictions)
- 24 months within the last 36 months
- NOC not relevant, job description is (NOC 2011)
- Applicants without 24 months of experience
- Will receive an occupation-specific open work permit
- Applicant must demonstrate that they have obtained at least 24 months of authorized full-time work experience
- Any qualifying work experience claimed must have been obtained within 36 months of the issuing of the occupation-specific open work permit was issued.
- All applicants must have had temporary resident status during the period of work experience acquired in Canada.
- Only authorized work will be counted towards the work experience requirement.
- The authorized work experience may be acquired under any combination of authorized work permits.
- IRCC will NOT issue a work permit to an applicant with LMIA for the two NOCs if applicant is outside Canada and is destined to any other province other than Quebec
- Applicant Categories
- Category A
- Defined as a group of applicants (outside or inside Canada) who have from 0 – 23 months of eligible Canadian work experience.
- Applicants under Category A must apply for an initial occupation-restricted open work permit at the same time as their application for permanent residence (APR). If all permanent residence requirements are met except for the work experience, an occupation-restricted open work permit is issued under NOC 4411 or NOC 4412 to allow caregivers to come to Canada as temporary residents and acquire the 24 months of work experience within 3 years.
- The 3-year period starts on the day the work permit is issued.
- Category B
- Defined as a group of applicants who have already completed the 24 months of eligible Canadian work experience under NOC 4411 or NOC 4412 (combined work experience under the 2 NOCs is not counted) upon applying for permanent residence under 1 of the 2 pilots.
- Applicants under category B are not required to apply for an occupation-restricted open work permit. Instead, they are eligible to apply for a bridging open work permit (BOWP) at any time (with or after their APR submission).
- However, their work permit application is not processed until an eligibility decision is made on their APR.
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