The iSavta Team | 13.06.2019

If you are not a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, you need a permit to live and work in the country. If you are a caregiver, for now, you need to go through the same pathways as other types of workers.

What was the live in caregiver program?

The live-in caregiver programme was a very popular pathway for people to work as live-in caregivers in Canada and through this program, become permanent residents of the country.

The Canadian government has now stopped this programme because of reports of poor working conditions for people working as caregivers. Permits stopped being issued in 2014.

The government have stopped the program to try and create better conditions for workers.

Will the live-in caregiver program be replaced?

There are plans to put new live-in caregiver pathways into place. These new pathways should offer greater security and flexibility for workers. You may be able to apply to the new program once it is put into place if you meet the eligibility criteria.

You will need a work permit (see below) and 2 years’ work experience. More eligibility criteria may be released once the program is implemented.

You can find out more about the future pathways for live-in caregivers, as well as why the live-in caregiver program was stopped, in this news release. This website also has some interesting information.

At present, there is only a temporary pathway for caregivers – The Interim Pathway for Caregivers. This has specific criteria and is explained below. 

What now?

For the present, if you already have a live-in caregiver permit, you may still be able to apply for permanent residence, as will be explained below.

If you do not have a live-in caregiver permit, you will now not be able to get one, but you can apply for a live-in caregiver job and a normal work permit, and the new pathways may mean that you will be able to apply for permanent residence once these are put into place.

If you already have a live-in caregiver permit:

If you already have a work permit through the Live-in Caregiver Program, you can continue to be employed using that permit as well as extend the permit if you wish. You can also change employer or location on this permit.

If you need to extend your permit or change the conditions on your permit, you must do this at least 30 days before your permit expires. If your permit expires, you will need to leave Canada. 

For more information about how to make changes to your existing live-in caregiver permit, visit the Government of Canada website.

If you don’t have a live-in caregiver permit

Although the Live-in Caregiver Program has now closed its applications in Canada, there are other options available to you if you want to live and work in Canada as a live-in caregiver.

Options:

The Interim Pathway for Caregivers is a current, temporary pathway for qualified caregivers in Canada who are eligible to apply for permanent residence. This is a temporary pathway which replaces the live-in caregiver program. However, this pathway closes on 4^th June 2019.

You may be eligible if:

1. You have had 24 months of full-time, or 3,900 hours of authorised live-in employment in Canada.
2. You have had this experience within four years of arriving in Canada.
3. You also need to meet the minimum language and education requirements.

If you do not have a permit through the Live-in Caregiver program and you are either not eligible for the Interim Pathway for Caregivers or you have missed the cut-off date, you will need a different permit.

You must apply for a normal work permit. Work permits start at $155, and there are two different types of work permit.

1. An employer-specific work permit. This permit will specify who you are working for, your hours of work, and the location. Usually your employer will need to carry out certain steps before employing you, such as getting a Labour Market Impact Assessment. This means that the employer is allowed to hire foreign workers in Canada.

If you are looking for a job, it is worthwhile finding out if your prospective employer already has this documentation, because when you apply for your work permit, you will need both your job offer and the Labour Market Impact Assessment Documentation.

Your employer will need to give you a job offer.

You will need to prove that you are eligible for a work permit in Canada. You will need to prove the following:

• You will leave Canada after the expiry of your permit.
• You have enough money for you and your family to live on while in Canada.
• You do not have a criminal record.
• You do not endanger the security of Canada.
• You are in good health.
• You only plan to work for eligible employers.

You also may need to provide any other documentation required by Canadian immigration officers.

There are some further criteria depending on whether you are already in Canada or whether you are applying from outside of Canada. You can find more out about this here.

   2. An open work permit. This lets you work for any eligible employer in Canada, but you need to meet certain criteria to be able to get this permit.

You can find out which of these two permits you need by completing the information on this webpage.

Finding a live-in caregiver job

If you need an employer-specific work permit, you will need to find a job or employer before you can apply for your work permit.

The Canadian government suggests looking for live-in caregiver jobs at your local Service Canada Office or on Job Bank. You can also check out our article on where to find live-in caregiver jobs.

Applying for permanent residency

Although you cannot currently attain residency through the live-in caregiver program, you can find out if you are eligible to apply for permanent residency to Canada at this link.

You can check online to see if you are eligible for permanent residency.

In Summary

To work as a live-in caregiver in Canada, or to apply for permanent residency, you must currently go through the same pathways as other workers unless you already have a live-in caregiver permit.

You will need to get a regular work permit and probably a job offer, depending on which type of permit applies to you.