The Government of Canada has announced two new pilot visa programs for foreign caregivers which will provide them with a pathway to permanent residency along with their family.
Home Child Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot to be launched later this year will have a maximum of 2,750 applicants each with a total of 5,500 applicants per year.
Spouses or partners and dependent children are not counted against this total limit.
The new program will replace the previous visa arrangement that was harshly criticised by the national coalition of caregiver advocacy groups calling it "fundamentally flawed".
Canada’s immigration minister Ahmed Hussen announced that the reforms aim to improve working conditions and will allow caregivers to stay with their families.
“Caregivers provide care to families in Canada that need it, and it’s time for Canada to care for them in return. We are providing them with both the opportunity to bring their family members here and access permanent residency to demonstrate our commitment,” Mr Hussen said in a statement.
Mr Hussen said the new visas will give caregivers greater flexibility to change jobs quickly, and it will also remove barriers that prevent them from bringing their families to Canada.
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Under the new pilots, applicants will be assessed for permanent residence criteria before they begin working in Canada.
Once the caregiver has their work permit and two years of work experience, they will have access to a direct pathway to become a permanent resident.
The new arrangement will also allow the caregivers' families to accompany them to Canada. Open work permits for spouses/common-law partners and study permits for dependent children will also be provided.
In addition, the Minister also launched the Interim Pathway for Caregivers, which will be open from March 4, 2019, until June 4, 2019.
Minister Hussain said that the Government of Canada has also accelerated the processing of visa applications with the time to make a decision being reduced from five years to one year.
The previous caregiver pilot program expires on November 29, 2019.
