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 Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots, introduced in 2019, are designed to provide pathways to permanent residence for caregivers and their families by assessing applicants for permanent residence before they begin working in Canada.

• Each pilot accepts a maximum of 2,750 principal applicants annually, for a total of 5,500 per year, plus immediate family members.

• On January 1, 2023, both caregiver pilots will re-open for new applications. Eligible caregivers can still apply under the Home Support Worker pilot in 2022 as it has not reached the 2750 application limit.

If pressed on those who haven’t yet been able to submit an application
• Caregivers already working in Canada can continue to do so, as long as they have a valid work permit. They can also extend their work permit through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to work for employers who receive a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment. Caregivers in this situation can continue working towards meeting the Pilot criteria.
• Caregivers can also explore other immigration programs in their province (depending on where they live or want to live).

If pressed on processing:

• Although global migration has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada was still able to welcome over 380,000 new permanent residents as of October 31 this year.
• Despite our efforts, we know that some applicants have experienced considerable wait times with the processing of their applications, and we continue to work as hard as possible to reduce processing times.
• Our continued priority is to provide timely service to clients by moving towards a more integrated, modernized, and centralized environment in order to help speed up application processing.

Overview

• Caregivers have had multiple pathways to permanent residence in recent years, including through the Live-in Caregiver Program (1992-2014), the Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs pilots (2014-2019), the Interim Pathway for caregivers (2019), and the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots (2019-present). Of these, only the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots (2019 caregiver pilots) are open to new applications.

• Grandfathered applicants from the Live-in Caregiver Program can also renew their work permit or apply for permanent residence, if they meet certain conditions. Any applications received under closed programs continue to be processed until a decision has been reached.

• The annual cap of 2,750 applications received under the Home Child Care Provider pilot was reached on January 17, 2022. This pilot is now closed to new applications and will re-open on January 1, 2023. The Home Support Worker Pilot is still open to new applications as the cap of 2,750 applications in 2022 has not yet been reached.

Processing Applications for Caregivers

• IRCC continues making progress in 2022 toward processing the existing inventory of caregiver applications. Given that IRCC continues to process applications through previous caregiver pathways, the Department aims to adhere to a “first-in first out” processing approach, where feasible.

• Processing times for both the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots were posted for the first time in September 2022 and are updated regularly. Currently, processing times are between 29-31 months for caregiver pilot applications. By posting processing times for the pilots, we’re seeking to provide greater transparency so that clients have clearer expectations about the length of time caregiver applications may take to be processed.
• From January 1 to September 30, 2022, the Department welcomed over 3,800 caregivers and their family members through the caregiver pathways.

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.
• 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-specific work permits, since those in Canada still have the option to do so. Others may have lost their status. In addition, there is evidence that many caregivers continue to live in the homes of their employers despite there being no requirement to do so.

Tools for Addressing Worker Vulnerability
• In Canada, the rights of all workers—including temporary foreign workers—are protected by law. Temporary foreign workers have the same rights and workplace protections as Canadians and permanent residents.
o Employment standards for caregivers largely fall under 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.

• New regulations came into effect on September 26, 2022, that aim to increase protections for foreign workers against mistreatment, abuse and intimidation in potentially unsafe work environments. At the same time, the Government of Canada is increasing awareness of the rights of workers among employers and employees alike.
• While the majority of employers in Canada treat their employees with respect, the new regulatory changes better protect foreign workers from abusive employers by banning reprisals against those who report workplace complaints.
• With these new regulations in place, the Government of Canada aims to better protect temporary foreign workers and reduce potential mistreatment or abuse while they work in Canada.

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 by providing authorization to work in another job.

Temporary Resident Permit for 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.

Language Requirement
• The language proficiency requirement for the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots is set at a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5.

• In caregiving occupations, this minimum language proficiency is especially critical for the health, safety, and comfort of both the caregiver and the individual receiving care. For example, a CLB 5 level of language proficiency ensures caregivers can communicate in routine situations, such as following a pharmacist’s instructions on taking medicine and more easily following a conversation over the phone.

• Official language proficiency also ensures newcomers, including those in caregiving occupations, are better equipped for changing economic circumstances and can more easily find a new job if the initial employer-employee relationships breaks down. As such, caregivers are more readily able to participate in the economy and society, barriers to settle or integrate in the local labour market are reduced, and employers are able to confidently hire immigrants with the language ability required to offer the care needed by their loved ones.

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 with stakeholders. 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 foreign caregivers receive an occupation-specific open work permit if they have a job offer in Canada and meet 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 already have the required Canadian work experience can apply in one step for permanent residence.

• The occupation-specific open work permit is specific to either in-home child care or in-home support worker employment. The work permits are exempt from the labour market test requirement (i.e., a Labour Market Impact Assessment), 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).

• Family members are eligible to apply for open work and study permits to come with the caregiver to Canada once the applicant is approved for the work permit associated with the Home Child Care Provider pilot or Home Support Worker pilot.

• To ensure that home child care workers and home support providers coming to Canada have a clear pathway to permanent residence, the Department stopped processing new work permit applications in these two occupations for foreign nationals residing outside of Canada for the duration of the pilots. The Minister signed updated Ministerial Instructions to implement a refusal-to-process, which came into force on April 22, 2022. Under these new provisions and aligned with the Department’s original intent to not process work permit applications for caregiver occupations received outside of the caregiver pilots, visitors in Canada are no longer able to apply for a work permit in a caregiver occupation, including through the visitor-to-worker public policy. Foreign nationals can no longer apply for an initial work permit in a caregiver occupation at Canadian ports of entry by ‘flag poling’ as well. 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 permit 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 or any other program they qualify for. For example, caregivers were eligible to apply under the Temporary to Permanent Residence Pathway which ran from May to November 2021 and received over 91,000 applications (processing to extend into 2023). As of September 30, 2022, over 2,500 in-home caregivers obtained permanent residence through the Temporary to Permanent Resident Pathway.

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: over 4,000 caregivers, plus family members, 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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