Canada Permanent Residency for Caregivers – Application Guide

The Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot programs give in-home caregivers the opportunity to become permanent residents once they have 2 years of eligible work experience in Canada. It also allows your family members to come to Canada to work or study while gaining work experience.

You can also search for other options for caregivers in Canada. Caregivers already in Canada may also have the opportunity to apply for permanent residency through the recently announced temporary residency to permanent residency pathway for essential workers.

How to obtain Canada Permanent Residency for Caregivers

Among the requirements to meet:

a) You must maintain your temporary resident status

You must always have a valid temporary resident status while working in Canada. Either:

• extend your work permit before it expires or
• change its conditions before it expires

b) Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot

You may be able to apply for permanent residence through these Programs if:

• you meet the eligibility requirements, and
• have a job offer to work in one of these occupations

Through these pilots, you will obtain an open work permit to come to Canada and work temporarily. This work permit:

• you are restricted to the occupation (so you must work in that specific occupation)
• you do not need a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)
• allows you to gain the work experience you need to be eligible for permanent residence

If you recently worked as a family child care provider or support worker, your experience may count toward your eligibility for permanent residence.

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Requirements

Applicants must be evaluated against the pass/fail selection criteria below, based on the information and documents provided in the application. Applicants must meet the following criteria to be approved:

• education
• command of the official language

Additionally, applicants must provide proof of any of the following:

• at least 24 months of qualified Canadian work experience
• a job offer  and  the ability to do the job
  
  a) Education

The applicant must provide evidence that they have any of the following items completed:

• Canadian Post-Secondary Education Credential (or higher) for one year in Canada
• Foreign educational credential  and  an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report issued by an organization designated by IRCC
  
  b) Language
• CLB 5 in all 4 skills minimum.

Foreign credentials

For applicants with a foreign educational credential, the ECA report must

• indicate that the credential is equivalent to a completed one-year Canadian post-secondary (or higher) education credential
• be less than 5 years old on the date of receipt of the application
• have been issued on or after the date the ECA organization was designated by the IRCC

c) Qualified Canadian work experience

The applicant will be assessed for qualifying Canadian work experience once proof of this requirement has been submitted. 

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The assessment will take place in advance of your initial permanent resident application or after the issuance of an open work permit with occupancy restriction through one of these pilots.

Applicants without 24 months of experience

Applicants who are eligible but do not have  24 months  of qualifying Canadian work experience at the time of their application for permanent residence will receive an occupation-specific open work permit. 

Within 36 months of issuance of the occupation-specific open work permit, the applicant must demonstrate that they have obtained at least 24 months of full-time authorized work experience. 

Any qualified work experience claimed must have been obtained within 36 months of the issuance of the occupation-specific open work permit.

Applicants with 24 months of experience

For applicants  with at least 24 months  of qualified Canadian work experience at the time of application, they will need to submit their proof of qualified work experience in advance of their application for permanent residence.

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The applicant must demonstrate that she has obtained a total of at least 24 months of full-time authorized work experience in Canada, in the 36 months prior to the time of application.

d) Qualified work

Full-time work means at least 30 hours of paid work per week. To qualify, an applicant must have gained work experience in an eligible occupation listed in the National Occupational Classification (NOC):

• Family child care provider pilot  applicants   must have qualifying work experience as family child care providers (NOC 4411). Applicants must have provided in-home care for children under the age of 18, either in their own home or in the employer’s or child’s home.

For the periods of work experience stated on the application, all applicants must demonstrate that they have done both of the following:

• the actions identified in the opening main statement of the NOC description
• a substantial number of the core functions, including all essential functions, listed in the NOC description

Interruptions in work experience

Applicants do not have to be employed at the time they apply for permanent residence through the Family Child Care Provider Pilot Program or the Home Support Worker Pilot Program.

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Canadian work experience does not need to be continuous to qualify, but the required 24-month period of employment does not include

• any extended absence from Canada (including time worked for an employer outside of Canada)
• periods of unemployment
• prolonged illness
• parental leave

A reasonable vacation period will be counted toward meeting the work experience requirement. For example, a 2-week period of paid vacation within a given 52-week period in which the applicant was involved in qualifying work would qualify, whether that vacation period was taken in Canada or outside of Canada.

Periods of self-employment or periods of employment during which the applicant was in full-time education will  not  be included in calculating the period of qualifying work experience.

Applicants without 24 months of qualified Canadian work experience

Applicants who do not have at least 24 months of qualifying Canadian work experience must also provide proof of the following:

• a job offer
• the ability to do the job

job offer

Note:  If the applicant has provided proof of at least 24 months of eligible Canadian work experience on their initial application, a job offer is not required.

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• from a single Canadian employer
  • The employer cannot be an embassy, ​​high commission or consulate in Canada.
  • The employer may comprise more than one person (eg, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but must be a single employer (ie, a single CRA business number).
• for a position outside the province of Quebec
• for full-time employment (full-time means at least 30 hours of paid work per week)
• not temporary
• in a home child care provider or home support worker occupation
• genuine and likely to be valid when the applicant obtains the initial open work permit specific to the occupation

Determine if a job offer is real

Proof that a job offer is valid and genuine may include, but is not limited to,

• a proven need for a caregiver (for example, proof of a school-age child or a person with medical needs in the home)
• the fact that the salary specified in the job offer is aligned with the prevailing salary in the province where the work will be carried out
• the fact that the employer has the financial capacity to pay the wages specified in the job offer
• in the case of a living arrangement, the fact that reasonable accommodations are provided (for example, a private room)

To assess the validity of the job offer, officers may request more information from the employer and use the information provided in the job offer. 

For example, officers can assess whether the employer can pay the caregiver the salary outlined in the job offer or whether there is a genuine need for a caregiver by examining

• financial information provided by the employer
• caregiver’s salary
• the composition of the household declared in the job offer

Ability to do the job

Note:  If the applicant has provided proof of at least 24 months of eligible Canadian work experience on their initial application, their ability to perform the job does not need to be assessed.

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Applicants who  have not  obtained at least 24 months of qualified Canadian work experience must demonstrate that they can perform the work described in the main statement of the NOC occupational description.

• NOC 4411 if applying for the Family Child Care Provider Pilot Program
• NOC 4412 if applying for the home support worker pilot program

Support documentation

When evaluating an applicant’s ability to perform the job, officers may refer to the supporting documentation provided in the application. This may include, but is not limited to

• proof of relevant previous work experience (paid or unpaid), for example:
  • employer reference letters
  • employment records
  • employment contracts
  • pay stubs
• copies of relevant educational or training credentials, which may include diplomas or certificates
• a copy of the applicant’s most recent work permit in Canada (if they have been working in Canada).

Application process.

a) Eligibility for processing

All applications for permanent residence under the In-Home Child Care Provider and In-Home Support Worker pilot programs must be submitted to the Edmonton Case Processing Center (CPC-E) in Alberta.

A maximum of 2,750 complete applications per year will be processed in each pilot, as authorized by the Ministerial Instructions. 

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Applications must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) and in the application package to be considered complete and suitable for processing. All complete applications received before pilots expire will be processed.

b) How the process works

Applicants under the Home Child Care Provider or Home Support Worker pilot programs may apply with or without 24 months of eligible Canadian work experience.

Officers screen applicants based on established criteria. If the applicant is eligible, the permanent residence application is placed on hold and the applicant receives an open work permit with occupancy restriction. Dependents are also eligible to accompany the primary applicant and may obtain open study or work permits. 

When applying for permanent residence through one of these pilots, applicants must submit a work permit application for themselves and work or study permit applications for any accompanying dependents along with their application for permanent residence.

Once an open work permit with occupancy restriction is issued, the primary applicant must obtain 24 months of eligible full-time Canadian work experience. 

To remain eligible in the program, this must happen within 3 years of your occupation-specific open work permit being issued. 

Applicants must submit proof of obtaining this work experience within 3 years of the issuance of their open work permit with occupation restriction.

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Once the proof is received, the application for permanent residence is withdrawn. An officer will assess whether the applicant meets the work experience requirement and ensure that the applicant is still admissible to Canada.

Requests that do not proceed.

As of June 18, 2019, new applications for work permits to work as in-home caregivers are no longer being processed if:

• you are applying from outside of Canada
• you are applying through the  TFWP
• you will work outside Quebec and
• your employer applied for an LMIA on or after June 18, 2019.

closed programs

• Caring for Children
• Caring for People with High Medical Needs
• Interim Pathway for Caregivers
• Live-in Caregiver Program

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 and:

• you are already working in Canada with an LCP work permit, or
• you were approved for your first LCP work permit based on a Labor Market Impact Assessment submitted to Employment and Social Development Canada on or before November 30, 2014

If you have work experience in Canada as a caregiver but do not qualify for any of the above options, you may be eligible to immigrate to Canada through a different program.

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