Question Period Note: Caregiver Immigration

Immigration Pathways for Caregivers and processing plan

• Caregivers from abroad play an important role in supporting Canadian families who are unable to find the care they need for a family member in Canada.

• The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused great disruption to life in Canada and around the world, including to application processing.

• That is why IRCC is working to overcome the pandemic-related roadblocks that have interfered with processing applications from caregivers and their families by announcing an ambitious processing plan for 2021.

As part of this plan, IRCC will:
• finalize permanent residence applications for up to 6,000 caregivers who have completed their in-Canada work experience and their immediate family members, by December 31, 2021
• increase the digitization of caregiver applications
• ensure applicants receive acknowledgement of receipt letters by May 31, 2021

Overview

• Caregiver immigration has taken multiple forms in recent years, including the legacy regulatory program with a ‘live-in’ requirement (the Live-in Caregiver Program), two sets of Ministerial Instruction pilot program initiatives (2014 and 2019), and a short-term public policy measure for foreign caregivers working in Canada not eligible under those other programs. Of these, only the two Ministerial Instruction pilot programs launched in 2019 are open to new applications, together with the grandfathered applicants from the Live-in Caregiver Program. All applications received under the former, closed programs continue to be processed.

Processing Applications for Caregivers

• In 2020, with office closures and employees working remotely, applications received by mail were only entered into the case management system sporadically. This includes applications to both the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots.

• To overcome those challenges, IRCC is putting in place an ambitious plan for processing applications from caregivers for 2021. As part of this plan, IRCC will:

o finalize permanent resident applications for up to 6,000 people, including caregivers and their immediate family members by December 31, 2021
o make at least 1,500 preliminary assessments on applications for the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots by June 30, 2021
 prioritization of these decisions will allow more caregiver work permits to be issued for those who have valid job offers to work for families in Canada
o increase the digitization of caregiver applications
o Ensure clients who submitted applications prior to March 12, 2021 will received modified acknowledgement of receipt (modified AoR) letters by May 31, 2021. This letter acknowledges that IRCC has received the application and is in queue for review. Applications received in March and April 2021 will receive a modified AoR within 10 weeks after their application is received by IRCC.

• The caregiver applications that will be finalized by the end of 2021 will include applications to the Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs pilots, that both closed in 2019, the Interim Pathway for Caregivers, which was a temporary public policy that accepted applications for 6 months in 2019, and applications grandfathered into the Live-in Caregiver Program that closed to new applicants in 2014.

• Some caregivers who applied to the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots and already had two years of work experience in Canada when they applied could also see their applications for permanent residence finalized by the end of 2021.

Caregiver vulnerability
• Despite many program changes over the years, including many by ESDC to address vulnerability in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the vulnerability of caregivers working in Canada continues to be a concern. Cases are cited in the media involving exploitation, abuse, non-payment of wages, and general precarity, working for Canadian families. A 2020 report by the Migrant Rights Network – Behind Closed Doors: Exposing Migrant Care Worker Exploitation During COVID-19 – has highlighted the added vulnerabilities some caregivers have faced during the pandemic, such as losing their job and their accommodation with it.

• While the Home Support Worker and Home Child Care Provider pilots offer features that are meant to address vulnerability, many caregivers are understood to still be working on employer-specified work permits, since the option to do so for those already in Canada continues. Others may have lost their status

Tools for Addressing Worker Vulnerability
• Employment standards are largely a Provincial-Territorial jurisdiction, but the Federal Government has several foreign worker protection tools in place to ensure that employers who hire foreign national workers respect program conditions, and that workers can exit situations of abuse should they arise.

Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers
• Temporary foreign workers on employer-specific work permits who are experiencing or at risk of abuse in their jobs can apply to the Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers, which helps workers to quickly exit situations of workplace abuse and find a new job without compromising their authorization to work in Canada.
• Anyone who is aware of potential abuse in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program can report it through the Service Canada Confidential Tip Line or Online Fraud Reporting Tool.

Temporary Resident Permit for Victims of Trafficking in Persons
• Foreign nationals who are victims of human trafficking may be eligible for a temporary resident permit for victims of trafficking in persons (VTIP TRP). The purpose of issuing a VTIP TRP is to respond to the urgent vulnerable situation of victims of trafficking in persons, by providing these individuals with a means of legalizing their temporary resident (TR) status in Canada, when appropriate.
• A foreign national who receives a VTIP TRP becomes eligible for health coverage under the Interim Federal Health Program. Initial TRPs are typically issued for up to 180 days, making the holder eligible to apply for an open work permit, and can be extended.

2019 Caregiver Pilots
• On June 18, 2019, the Department launched two new five-year programs: the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots. The new pilots reflect lessons learned from the 2014 Caregiver Pilots, and respond to specific, chronic vulnerability concerns raised during consultations by caregivers. Consultations revealed that many caregivers arrived in Canada as temporary residents without a clear pathway to permanent residence, faced isolation and prolonged family separation, and experienced particular vulnerabilities related to in-home work and having their employment status tied to a specific employer.

• The pilots are testing a two-step approach, whereby overseas caregivers receive an occupation-restricted open work permit if they have a job offer in Canada and meet select eligibility criteria for permanent residence. Once in Canada, caregivers must accumulate the required 2 years (24 months) of full-time Canadian work experience in their occupation in order to finalize their application for permanent residence. Caregivers in those occupations who are already in Canada and already have the required Canadian work experience can apply in one step for permanent residence.

• The occupation-restricted open work permit is specific to either in-home child care or in-home support worker employment. The new work permits are exempt from Labour Market Impact Assessments (i.e., not subject to a labour market test), and are occupation-specific (i.e., not tied to a named employer). These elements of the program design are intended to address the unique vulnerabilities that can arise from having your status tied to a private household employer (versus a professional business employer).

• Initial applications (the upfront permanent residence and work permit applications) have a 12-month target processing time. A 6-month processing standard applies to the final stage of the application once the caregiver submits proof they have met the 24-month Canadian occupational work experience requirement. However, these processing targets have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 related processing office closures.

• The Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots can accept up to 2,750 principal applicants annually, for a total of 5,500 principal applicants per year, plus their immediate family. In 2020, the Home Child Care Provider became the first Ministerial Instruction pilot program to reach its limit on applications, and a notification the program would reopen to applications was posted on November 2, 2020. On January 1, 2021, the pilot opened once again to applications.

• To ensure that home child care worker or home support providers coming to Canada have a clear pathway to permanent residence, the Department stopped processing new work permit applications, for the duration of the pilots, in these two occupations for overseas foreign nationals, if the accompanying Labour Market Impact Assessment application was received by Service Canada on or after June 18, 2019. This refusal-to-process does not apply to foreign nationals destined to Quebec.

• Foreign national caregivers already in Canada continue to be able to apply for work permits extensions in these occupations through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment). They may also apply for permanent residence through the new pilots. The two occupations are included on the list of priority occupations for expedited work permit processing, for those in Canada applying for a new or extended work permit.

2014 Caregiver Pilots.
• In November 2014, the Department phased-out the longstanding regulatory Live-in Caregiver Program, at the same time establishing two five-year Ministerial Instruction pilots – the Caring for Children and the Caring for People with High Medical Needs classes – and the live-in requirement was eliminated for new (first-time) caregiver work permits. Those pilots were due to expire in November 2019, but were closed and replaced a few months in advance of that when the new 2019 Caregiver pilots launched June 18, 2019. The 2014 pilots had similar criteria to the new pilots, but included more occupations; however, uptake under the 2014 pilots was low in every year, and the new 2019 pilots focus on the two occupations where demand for a pathway proved to be higher (in-home child care and in-home support work).

Interim Pathway for Caregivers
• During consultations in 2018 leading up to the design and launch of the new caregiver classes, IRCC heard that the changes made in 2014 were not well understood by caregivers and stakeholders. In March 2019, the Department launched the Interim Pathway for Caregivers: a three-month pathway with reduced eligibility criteria for caregivers who were working in Canada but who had been unable to qualify for other caregiver permanent residence programs. Initially opened to applications from March to June 2019, it re-opened for a second window from July 2019 to October 2019. Application volumes were significant under that pathways; over 4,000 caregivers, plus family, applied through the pathway.

The Legacy Live-in Caregiver Program Inventory
• The Live-in Caregiver Program was a legacy (pre-IRPA) prescribed transition pathway in place from 1992 to 2014. While the program is closed to new applicants, caregivers who have worked on a work permit under the Program can still apply for permanent residence through this pathway. However, there are now estimated to be very few workers who have not already applied for permanent residence. The program is expected to phase out once these clients have applied and their cases are processed to finalization. The legacy program was plagued by a wide range of concerns, including no volume or intake control at the temporary stage, leading to significant application inventories and backlogs, and prolonged processing times of 7-8 years in some cases, during which the caregiver continued to work in live-in arrangements separated from their family living overseas.

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