Victor IngOn June 3, 2024 the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Marc Miller, announced that his department will soon be overhauling Canada’s caregiver immigration programs. The news was timely since it came two weeks before Canada’s most recent five-year caregiver pilot programs expired on June 17, but it can also be viewed as disappointing because few details were shared about how the new programs will operate.
Canada’s earliest caregiver programs were introduced more than a century ago to bring in domestic workers from around the globe. Modern immigration programs for caregivers have been in place for decades and will likely always have a place amongst Canada’s economic streams of immigration. We often hear news stories and statistics about the aging population in Canada and how invaluable caregiving services are for children, seniors and persons with disabilities. For example, according to Statistics Canada, almost one in five Canadians are 65 years and older, and they expect that by 2046 the population aged 85 and older could balloon to almost 2.5 million people. What’s clear from these statistics is that there will always be a need for caregivers in Canada, but it’s not clear at all how we intend to meet this need for caregivers in the coming years.
Throughout the history of Canada’s caregiver immigration programs, there has only been one constant: change. Most of these changes were introduced in good faith to make the application process more transparent for potential applicants, and to curb potential abuse of foreign caregivers who are vulnerable to exploitation because they were historically only able to work for the family that sponsored their work permit. We are now on the precipice of another set of changes for caregivers, but will these changes really move the needle, or will bureaucracy stifle the application process as it has in years past? Let’s examine Minister Miller’s June 3, 2024 announcement in more detail.
In a press release, the Minister announced that Canada’s new caregiver immigration programs will be more straightforward to apply for compared to years past. The new programs will grant permanent residency to eligible caregiver applicants who have secured full-time job offers as soon as they arrive in Canada, which is a vast improvement from when applicants had to first come to Canada to earn work experience before becoming eligible to apply for permanent residence. The Minister also promises reduced eligibility requirements for both language proficiency and education, which will increase the overall number of candidates who can apply for permanent residency through Canada’s new caregiver immigration programs. The new requirements call for language proficiency equivalent to the Canadian Language Benchmarks level 4 standard, and the equivalent of a Canadian high school education.
What’s not explicitly mentioned in the Minister’s announcement, however, is that caregivers continue to find themselves in an unenviable situation overall. While there is a clear need for their services, there is also a limit to the number of caregivers that Canada is willing to approve each year. To put this in perspective, in 2022 about 4,300 caregivers and their family members were granted admission as permanent residents, which accounts for only about 1% of Canada’s total immigration targets. That number is not likely to change very much in the coming years either. According to the Minister, Canada expects to approve only 15,000 caregivers between 2024 to 2026.
So, what do caregivers need to know? What should they be looking out for later this year when the Minister unveils the details about his new caregiver programs? Based on past experiences, the following will be key issues to be addressed by the Minister:
- Will there be a cap on how many applications will be accepted for processing each year? Since this is extremely likely, what cap will be set and when will the government begin accepting applications each year? In years past, this has been a significant issue because some caregiver application caps were filled almost immediately within days or even hours after program commencement, creating an unsavory experience for all parties involved.
- How will job offers from Canadian employers be vetted before the arrival of the caregiver in Canada? What resources will the government allocate to ensure that these checks are fair, thorough, and efficient?
- How quickly will these applications be processed? In years past, we’ve seen large backlogs develop because of the extremely slow processing times of at least 2-3 years associated with these applications. This frustrates foreign caregivers and Canadian employers alike, since the latter almost always needs a caregiver now and not months or even years from now.
As you can see, the Minister has his work cut out for him in the months to come. His June 3, 2024 announcement has piqued the interest of many would-be applicants but, as they say, the “devil is in the details”. The Minister must ensure that applicants have a realistic expectation about how the application process will unfold and how quickly they will be able to come to Canada under the new programs. The needs of Canadians demand that the Minister act both wisely and quickly.
