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Those who have applied for permanent residence under the Home Child Care Provider (HCCP) and Home Support Worker Pilot (HSW) programmes will now require less Canadian work experience.

Members of Parliament Salma Zahid and Rechie Valdez announced today from Scarborough that the amount of work experience in Canada required for a caregiver to qualify for permanent residence will be reduced from 24 to 12 months.

The change will go into effect on April 30, 2023, and will apply to carers who have already applied. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will verify that applicants have the necessary work experience.

Additionally, some spaces have been reserved under the existing caregiver pathways for carers who already have work experience in Canada from a previous work permit and are eligible to apply for permanent residence.

IRCC anticipates that the change will affect approximately 90% of applicants for caregiver programmes who are currently in the application process.

Both pilot programmes began in 2019 and will expire in June 2024. Through the programmes, nearly 1,600 carers and their family members have become permanent residents. Through the two pilots, nearly 1,100 carers and their family members became permanent residents in 2022 alone.

"Caregivers are an important option for families in Canada, and they have played an important role in the lives of many growing children, ageing parents, and those who require additional specialised care," immigration minister Sean Fraser said. "By lowering the required work experience in Canada to one year, more carers and their families will be able to transition to permanent residence sooner, allowing them to settle down and begin the next chapter of their lives in Canada."

Other eligibility requirements remain unchanged. Candidates for both programmes must be able to demonstrate the following skills:

• Language test results showing a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 5;
• one year of postsecondary education in Canada or the foreign equivalent; and
• Pass an admissibility check (health, criminality, and security).

Candidates must now be able to demonstrate the following work experience:

• experience in the National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes 4411 or 4412
• Work experience must be in one of these jobs; it cannot be a combination of the two.
• The candidate's job matched the NOC job description, and they completed the majority of the primary responsibilities.
• A full-time job is one that requires at least 30 hours of paid work per week.

The ageing population of Canada

According to the 2021 census, there are 861,395 people in Canada over the age of 85. There are another 2.1 million people between the ages of 75 and 85, many of whom live in nursing homes and care facilities. According to 2016 data, there were 500,000 people in long-term care.

Furthermore, nearly nine million Canadians are expected to reach the age of 65 by 2030. These factors, taken together, indicate that Canada requires more carers to meet the needs of the population now and in the near future.

More childcare is also required because the majority of Canadian families are either single-parent or dual-income, which means both parents work outside the home. Many people do not have family nearby to assist them with childcare responsibilities, so they rely on daycare or private care in their homes.

To meet these requirements Canada is still hiring people in the healthcare and social assistance sectors. According to the most recent labour force survey, over 7,000 immigrants were hired in January 2023, but there were still 131,800 job openings as of November 2022.

Do you want to learn more about moving to Canada? Contact Amster Group's Canada migration experts right away. contact us now