Canada Caregivers Programs

The Canada Caregivers Programs are a great way to come to Canada and get permanent residence or work temporarily. There are several different types of Canadian Caregivers Programs and each one has different requirements.

The Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot give you the option to come to Canada to become a permanent resident or work temporarily if you meet the eligibility requirements, and have a valid job offer.

If you have at least 2 years of work experience in the Live-in Caregiver Program and are already working in Canada with an LCP work permit, you can apply for permanent residence through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

You may be able to apply for a temporary work permit if you are not eligible for permanent residence as a caregiver, under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

There are also programs such as the Caring for Children Program and Interim Pathway for Caregivers which ended on June 18, 2019, but the IRCC will continue to process applications submitted before the closing dates.

Page Contents

• What are Canadian Caregivers Programs?
• What are the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot Programs?
• Eligibility Requirements for Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot Programs
• Application Process for Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot Programs
• What is the Live-in Caregiver Program?
• Eligibility Requirements for the Live-in Caregiver Program
• Application Process for the Live-in Caregiver Program
• What Happens After you Apply?
• How to Work Temporarily in Canada as a Caregiver?
• What is Maintained Status?
• Overview of Closed Programs for Caregivers
• How Can IAS Help?
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Home Child Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot are special five-year pilot programs that allow qualified caregivers and their family members to come to Canada. They can become permanent residents if they meet certain conditions.

If you’re a caregiver who has been offered work in Canada or has experience working in the country, you may be able to apply for permanent residence through one of these pilot programs.

You may be eligible for one of these programs if you have worked full-time in one of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) jobs in Canada as a home childcare provider (NOC 4411) or a home support worker (NOC 4412).

The application process will vary depending on how much work much qualifying experience you have:

• No work experience.
• Less than 24 months of full-time work experience.
• More than 24 months of full-time work experience in the last 36 months.

Through these pilot programs, you will get an open work permit to come to Canada and work temporarily. This work permit does not need a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and lets you get the work experience you need to be eligible for permanent residence.

If you are a caregiver in Canada, but not a home child care provider or home support worker, you can continue to work as long as your work permit is still valid. However, this work experience will not count toward your eligibility for permanent residence.

Note that the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) only process up to 5,500 applications each year under the caregiver pilots:

• 2,750 applications for the Home Child Care Provider Pilot.
• 2,750 applications for the Home Support Worker Pilot.

If your application is incomplete or submitted after the limit has been reached, IRCC will return it to you along with your processing fees.

The application process for the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot Program vary based on the work experience you have. However, you will need to prove that you have the minimum language skills in English or French by taking a language test and then prove that you meet the minimum educational requirements by submitting an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA).

To assess your English or French skills, you will need to clear Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) for English or Niveaux de compétence Linguistique Canadien (NCLC) for French. A CLB 5 in English or NCLC 5 in French is the minimum requirement for all four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

To apply for an ECA, you need a completed post-secondary education credential of at least 1 year. If you don’t have a Canadian education credential, you can have your foreign education credential assessed to show that it’s equal to a completed Canadian post-secondary education credential of at least 1 year.

If you have little or no work experience, you may be asked to provide a genuine and valid full-time job offer made using Offer of Employment IMM 5983 from a Canadian employer. In addition to describing the job and duties, an offer of employment must also tell you about your duties. These duties must match the lead statement for an eligible occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions in the NOC.

The application process will vary depending on whether you’re applying from inside or outside Canada.

If you are applying from outside Canada, you will have to provide a valid job offer, and fill out the following forms on the Permanent residence portal:

• Generic Application Form for Canada (IMM 0008)
• Schedule A – Background/Declaration (IMM 5669)
• Additional Family Information (IMM 5406)
• Supplementary Information – Your travels (IMM 5562)

You will also need to submit a photo for each person on your application. Additionally, you may be required to take two medical examinations as part of the process for becoming a home childcare provider or home support worker. IRCC will send you instructions on when and how to get your medical exam done.

As part of the application, you will have to pay fees which will include the processing fees for you and anyone included on your application, the Right of Permanent Residence Fee (RPRF), work permit processing fees, and biometrics fees.

The application fee is 1,085 $CAN, which includes the processing fee of $570 and the right of permanent residence fee of $515. If you want to apply for a work permit, you will need to pay for it separately.

Before you submit your application, make sure that you’ve completed and answered all questions and signed any forms that need to be signed by hand. Do not forget to include your processing fee receipt as well as all the supporting documents. If your application is incomplete, it will be rejected by the IRCC.

The Live-in Caregiver Program is a pathway to permanent residence in Canada. Applicants must have at least two years of full-time employment as a caregiver, and they must also meet other requirements to apply for the LCP program.

The Live-in Caregiver Program provides Canadian employers with access to skilled workers in the areas of healthcare, home support, and child care. It allows applicants who are currently working in these fields to obtain permanent residence in Canada.

The Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) is closed to new applicants. You can only apply for permanent residence through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) if you have at least 2 years of work experience in the program, or if 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.

To qualify for the Live-in Caregiver Program, you must have at least 24 months or 3,900 hours of full-time paid work experience in an occupation on the National Occupational Classification (NOC) list within the four years before you apply.

You can also include up to 390 hours of overtime in your calculation, and you don’t have to work all the hours at once—you can spread them out within a minimum of 22 months.

When calculating your work experience, you can’t count any time when you weren’t working. This includes periods of unemployment and extended time outside Canada. For example, if you leave Canada for longer than the period of vacation time allotted in your employment contract, that period does not count.

As the Live-in Caregiver Program has closed to new applicants, employers can only hire a caregiver through the program if they are able to find an employee who is currently working in the program and looking for a new employer.

They also need to apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) that shows that the caregiver has agreed to live in their home.

To be eligible for the Live-in Caregiver Program, you and your employer are required to sign a written employment contract. The signed contract will ensure that both you and your employer have a clear understanding of what you will be expected to do as a live-in caregiver.

When you apply for immigration, an immigration officer will check that you filled out the application forms correctly and that all the necessary documents are attached. If your application isn’t complete, it won’t be processed and will be sent back to you. You can check the status of your application online using this link.

Once your application is approved, you will receive a letter from the government of Canada that lets you know you are eligible to work in the country. Make sure you bring the letter with you when you travel to Canada. When you arrive in Canada, you will get your actual work permit from a Canadian government office.

If you have been approved for permanent residence and you are already in Canada when you receive IRCC’s decision, you will be contacted by them. You will need to do a short interview with an immigration officer to confirm your identity. You can schedule an appointment at one of the IRCC offices in Canada or go to a Canadian “port of entry” (border crossing) and bring your Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) and your PR visa (if you received one).

If you don’t qualify to become a permanent resident through the caregiver program, you may be able to work temporarily in Canada through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

If you meet the following requirements, you may be eligible for this program:

• You’re in Canada and eligible to apply for a work permit from inside Canada.
• Your employer applied for an LMIA before June 18, 2019.
• Your job is located in Quebec.

In some cases, you can’t apply for a new work permit that requires an LMIA:

• Your employer applied for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) on or after June 18, 2019, and you are applying for a work permit outside of Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and plan to work in a province or territory other than Quebec.
• You apply for a work permit at a port of entry on or after April 22, 2022.
• You’re in Canada as a visitor and apply for your first work permit on or after April 22, 2022.

If you’re a caregiver currently working in Canada, you may be eligible to extend your work permit by applying for a Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) extension. Your employer will first need to get a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) before applying for the extension.

Maintained status in Canada is a special status that allows individuals to remain in Canada while awaiting the final decision of their immigration application. Maintained status is meant to provide a temporary alternative to those who cannot leave the country while waiting for their application to be processed.

If you are in Canada on a work visa and have applied for permanent residence, you may be eligible for maintained status. You can apply for this status by completing an application with IRCC and providing proof that you have applied for permanent residence. You will then be given a letter of reference to present to your employer, who can then permit you to remain in Canada while waiting for your application.

The process can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months, depending on the province you live in. If your application is denied, you will be expected to leave the country.