“Caregivers are an important option for families in Canada and have played an instrumental role in the lives of many growing children, aging parents, and those who need additional specialized care,” For this reason new changes have been taken effect as of April 30, 2023. As per the new changes, the amount of work experience in Canada required for a caregiver to qualify for permanent residence has been reduced from 24 to 12 months. “By reducing the work experience required in Canada to one year, more caregivers and their families will become eligible to transition to permanent residence sooner, meaning that they can settle down and start the next chapter of their lives here in Canada.”
This affects
· all new applications
· applications currently being processed
The caregivers who have at least 12 months of qualifying work experience, you can apply under the Direct to permanent residence category for these pilots.
All those who have applied under the Gaining Experience category, need not to wait for 24 months of qualifying work experience.
Other eligibility criteria remain the same. Candidates for both programs must be able to demonstrate:
· Language test results showing a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 5;
· One year of Canadian post-secondary education or the foreign equivalent; and
· Pass an admissibility check (health, criminality, and security).
In terms of work experience, candidates must now be able to show:
· work experience that falls under National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes 44100 or 44101
· Work experience must be in one of these jobs, it cannot be a mix of both jobs
· The candidate’s job matched the NOC job description and they completed most of the main duties
Full-time work is defined as at least 30 hours of paid work each week.
There is a need for more childcare as the majority of Canadian families are either single-parent or dual-income, meaning both parents are working outside the home. Many do not have family close by to help with childcare responsibilities and rely on daycare or private care in their homes. To meet these needs Canada is continuing to hire professionals in the healthcare and social assistance sectors. The most recent labour force survey shows that over 7,000 immigrants were hired in January 2023 but there were still 131,800 job vacancies as of November 2022.