Canadian Immigration and Work Permit Options for Caregivers
Caregivers play an important role in Canada's economy and society. Due to its aging
population and low birth rate, Canada provides numerous immigration and work permit
pathways to caregivers. This CanadaVisa page provides an overview of these pathways.
Table of Contents
•Overview
•Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home •Support Worker Pilot
•Work Permit Pathways for Caregivers
Overview
Canada has a long history of welcoming caregivers to support its economy and society. One
of the reasons why Canada has a leading immigration system is it is always looking to
modernize its immigration policies and programs. In this spirit, Canada has reformed its
caregiver pathways for permanent residence in recent years. It currently operates two pilot
programs for caregivers who wish to obtain permanent residence. The pilots also give
applicants the opportunity to obtain temporary work permits while they wait for permanent
residence. The first is called the Home Child Care Provider Pilot. The second is called the
Home Support Worker Pilot.
Each program accepts a maximum of 2,750 principal applicants, for a total of 5,500 principal
applicants, per year.
Note that effective April 30, 2023, the amount of work experience required in Canada for a
caregiver to qualify for permanent residence is being reduced from 24 months to 12 months.
The work experience change will be retrospective for caregivers who have already applied.
Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot
Both the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot offer permanent
residence to caregivers who meet the following criteria:
•Effective April 30, 2023, have at least 12 months of full-time qualifying work experience in
the 36 months before submitting your application;
•Language tests results showing a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 5;
•One year of Canadian post-secondary education or the foreign equivalent; and
•Pass an admissibility check (health, criminality, and security).
Qualifying work experience
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) outlines the following information on
its work experience criteria for the pilots:
•Effective April 30, 2023, you need to have at least 12 months of full-time work experience
within the 36 months of applying to a pilot
Canadian Immigration and Work Permit Options for Caregivers
•The work experience must fall under National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes
4411 or 4412
•Your work experience must be in one of these jobs, it cannot be a mix of both jobs
•You need to demonstrate your job matched the NOC job description and you completed
most of the main duties
•Your work experience does not need to be 12 months in a row. It just needs to be 12
months total
•Full-time work is defined as at least 30 hours of paid work each week
Caregivers with work experience in NOC 4411 (excluding foster parents) may be eligible for
permanent residence through the Home Child Care Provider Pilot:
•You must care for children below the age of 18 in your home or your employer's home
•You do not need to live in your employer's home to be eligible
•Work experience as a foster parent does not count
Caregivers with work experience in NOC 4412 (excluding housekeepers) may be eligible for
permanent residence through the Home Support Worker Pilot:
•You must have taken care of someone who needs help from a home support worker. This
can have taken place in your home or in your employer's home
•You do not need to live in your employer's home to be eligible
•Only home support workers can be eligible under NOC 4412
•Experience as a housekeeper does not count
Language Levels
You must take an IRCC-designated English or French language test and obtain a CLB or
NCLC 5 in all four language skills: writing, reading, listening, and speaking.
Education
You must have completed a post-secondary educational credential of at least 1 year. This
can be Canadian or foreign education. If it is foreign education, you must obtain an
Educational Credential Assessment (ECA).
Admissibility
IRCC completes admissibility checks on permanent residence applicants to ensure new
immigrants do not pose a risk to the health and safety of Canadians. Each applicant has
different documents they need to submit depending on their background. IRCC specifies its
requirements in its application guide. Depending on your background, you may need to
submit:
Canadian Immigration and Work Permit Options for Caregivers
•Biometrics
•Medical exam
•Police clearance certificate
It is important to carefully read IRCC's application requirements to understand what
documents you personally need to submit.
Work Permit Pathways for Caregivers
You may be eligible to obtain a work permit if you are applying to one of the pilots and/or you
are currently residing in Canada. The work permit rules are as follows:
Open Work Permits for applicants to the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home
Support Worker Pilot
IRCC classifies applicants under these pilots into two categories. The categories depend on
whether the applicant has obtained 12 months of eligible Canadian work experience under
NOC 4411 or NOC 4412.
•Category A (If you have between 0-23 months of eligible Canadian work experience): If you
do not yet have 12 months of NOC 4411 or NOC 4412 work experience in Canada, you
need to apply for an occupation-restricted open work permit when you submit your
permanent residence application under either pilot. If you meet all permanent residence
eligibility criteria you will receive a work permit restricted to NOC 4411 or NOC 4412 to allow
you to come to Canada as a temporary resident so you can obtain 12 months of work
experience within three years. The three-year period starts the day the work permit is issued.
Category B (if you have already completed 12 months of eligible Canadian work experience
under either NOC 4411 or NOC 4412): You are not required to apply for an
occupation-restricted open work permit when submitting your permanent residence
application under either pilot. You are eligible to apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit
(BOWP) with or after your immigration application is submitted. The BOWP application will
not be processed until IRCC assesses your permanent residence eligibility.
Your spouses and dependants are eligible to join you in Canada and obtain open work
permits themselves.
In-Home Caregivers Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) Stream
Families can hire foreign caregivers to assist children, seniors, or persons with certified
medical needs, when there are no Canadians and permanent residents available to do the
job. The caregiver must provide care on a full-time basis (at least 30 hours per week) and
work in the private household where the care is being provided.
The caregiver can assist with children under 18 years of age in roles such as NOC 4411.
They can also assist with seniors that are 65 and over, and people with disabilities or serious
illness. They can serve in roles such as NOC 3012, NOC 3233, and NOC 4412.
Canadian Immigration and Work Permit Options for Caregivers
Families submit a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application to the Canadian
government and get it approved. The foreign caregiver can then apply to get a work permit
from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
It is important to note however that work permits to caregivers under NOC 4411 and 4412
will only be issued under the following conditions:
•Caregivers who will be working in any province or territory except Quebec must be residing
in Canada for IRCC to process their work permit. IRCC will refuse to process the work permit
if you are living overseas.
•Caregivers who will be working in Quebec can be residing in Quebec or overseas. IRCC will
go ahead and process the work permit so long as eligibility criteria is met.
SITES TO LOG-IN:
https://www.visaplace.com/canadian-immigration/work-permits/caregiver/
https://www.immigratione.com/caregivers-options-for-residence
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/care
givers.html
