Caregiver
Caregiver demand is huge in Canada.
⚠️ [UPDATE 2026-08]: The Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot closed to new applications on June 17, 2024. There is currently no open pathway to permanent residence for caregivers under these specific pilots. The information below reflects the general structure of past caregiver programs. Contact us to discuss your current options.
The caregiver stream, formerly known as the Live-in Caregiver Program, helped many Canadian families care for their children, seniors, and people with high medical needs. The program offered the caregiver and their family a pathway to permanent residence in Canada, allowing for a smoother transition to life in Canada with fair market wages.
ESDC or Service Canada would assess the employer’s job offer and employment contract to confirm it met the requirements for wages, working conditions, and provincial labour and employment standards, and that there were not enough Canadians or permanent residents locally available to fill the live-in or live-out position. If ESDC found the job offer acceptable, it would issue a positive LMIA to the employer, based on which the foreign caregiver could apply for a work permit from IRCC and come to work legally in Canada.
Caregiver requirements
- Speaks, reads and understands at least one of Canada’s official languages
- Have successfully completed the equivalent of Canadian secondary school education;
- Have all the training, qualifications and experience required to successfully and safely perform the job duties. (at least six months training or at least one year of full-time paid work experience as a caregiver in the past three years).
- Qualifications to perform caring for children or people with high medical needs
Employer requirements
- Proof of the need of care.(age, disability, chronic or terminal illness, etc.)
- Demonstrate financial ability to pay the caregiver’s wages.
- Pay for the transportation costs of the caregiver to the work location in Canada, ensure suitable and affordable accommodation is available
- Pay for the caregiver’s private health insurance and ensure they are covered from the provincial/territorial workplace safety insurance;
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Caregiver become PR
Before hiring a caregiver, the employer has to apply to ESDC for a LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment). With the support of a positive LMIA, the caregiver can apply for a work permit so that they can come to Canada and work as a caregiver.
With at least 24 months of full-time Canada work experience as a home child care provider or home support worker under a work permit within the 4 years before application, the caregiver was eligible to apply to become a permanent resident under these now-closed pilots.
To know more about the details, please talk to an immigration lawyer or RCIC (Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant) for tips. And don’t forget, the Caregiver stream is just one of many pathways for a foreign worker to become a permanent resident — explore our Skilled Workers section for other available avenues. International graduate under post-graduate work permit (PGWP) may consider working in this occupation.
