On June 18, 2019 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada revamped its caregiver programs. Gone was the requirement that employers first obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment and that caregivers work in Canada without their families for at least two years before they could apply for permanent residency. Instead, caregivers can now immediately apply for permanent residency if they have a job offer or Canadian work experience in an eligible caregiver occupation and if they meet minimum education and language proficiency requirements and come to Canada with their families right away. The new caregiver programs have existed for about four months now and it is too early to determine whether they have been a success. An issue that has arisen, however, is the issue of employers and applicants demonstrating that their job offers are genuine. How the Caregiver Programs Work Canada now has two caregiver programs. The first is the Home-Child Care Provider Pilot. The second is the Home Support Worker Pilot. A maximum of 2,750 applications are accepted per year under each stream. In both programs, applicants must demonstrate through standardized language testing that they have Initial Intermediate English or French ability, also known as Canadian Language Benchmark 5, and … Read More
Bill C-690: The Live-in Caregiver Access, Respect and Employment Act
On June 11, 2015, John McCallum, the Member of Parliament for Markham — Unionville, and a member of the Liberal caucus, introduced Bill C-690, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (live-in caregiver). Its short form is the Live-in Caregiver Access, Respect and Employment Act. Considering how close Mr. McCallum introduced Bill C-690 prior to the upcoming federal election, Bill C-690’s provisions will presumably form part of the Liberal Party of Canada‘s election platform. Bill C-690 is short, and its substantive portion would introduce a new s. 32(d.11) into the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA”) so that s. 32 of IRPA would read: Regulations 32. The regulations may provide for any matter relating to the application of sections 27 to 31, may define, for the purposes of this Act, the terms used in those sections, and may include provisions respecting (d) the conditions that must or may be imposed, varied or cancelled, individually or by class, on permanent residents and foreign nationals, including conditions respecting work or study; (d.1) the conditions that must or may be imposed, individually or by class, on individuals and entities — including employers and educational institutions — in respect of permanent residents and foreign nationals, or that must or may be … Read More