Temporary public policy to facilitate the granting of permanent residence for caregivers who applied under the Home Child Care Provider Class or Home Support Worker Class in 2020

Background

Caregivers from abroad play an important role in supporting the care needs of Canadian families across the country. Caregivers have come to Canada for decades to provide in-home care and support to Canadians, and in response Canada has made available pathways to permanent residence for these workers.

The Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots opened for applications on June 18, 2019 and will run until June 17, 2024. The caregiver pilots are designed to provide a clear, direct pathway to permanent residence for foreign in-home caregivers. The skills, abilities, and experience of those working in these occupations are essential to Canada’s economic immigration objectives and will continue to support the country’s long-term economic recovery, growth, and prosperity.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is committed to recognizing the significant contributions that caregivers make to Canadian families every day. To continue supporting these workers and the families who employ them, special measures are being introduced to ensure caregiver immigration returns to normal processing after significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public policy considerations

This public policy will facilitate the granting of permanent residence for caregivers who applied under the Home Child Care Provider Class or the Home Support Worker Class in 2020, but whose application was not entered into processing due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great disruption to life in Canada and around the world, including to application processing at IRCC. This has meant that most applications received in 2020 under these Pilots could not be processed during that year. In the absence of this public policy, significant negative impacts on future processing limits, and on clients would have resulted, including multiple year processing delays, and uncertainty for both caregivers and the families who employ them.

As such, I hereby establish that, pursuant to my authority under section 25.2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the Act), there are sufficient public policy considerations that justify the granting of permanent resident status or an exemption from certain requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the Regulations), to foreign nationals who meet the eligibility criteria and conditions listed below.

Conditions (eligibility requirements) applicable to principal applicants

Based on public policy considerations, delegated officers may grant permanent resident status to foreign nationals who meet the following conditions.

The foreign national:

1. Has submitted an application under the Home Child Care Provider Class or Home Support Worker Class that:
   1. was received by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in 2020; and,
   2. was not reviewed in 2020 to ensure that the application met the requirements specified in section 10 of the Regulations and according to the application kit requirements in place at the time the application was received by the designated office;
2. Meets the eligibility criteria of the pilot class in which they had applied;
3. Is not inadmissible pursuant to the Act and the Regulations.

For the purpose of assessing (b), the date the application is made is deemed to be the date on which the application described in (a) was received by the designated office. This same date is also to be used as the lock-in date for the purpose of determining whether a child is a dependent child when assessing the eligibility of the family members below.

Conditions (eligibility requirements) applicable to family members in Canada:

In-Canada family members of a principal applicant under this public policy are eligible to be granted permanent residence pursuant to this public policy if they meet the following conditions:

1. the foreign national is in Canada;
2. the foreign national has been included as an accompanying family member in an application for permanent residence described in (a) which is being processed under this public policy;
3. the foreign national meets the definition of a “family member” in subsection 1(3) of the Regulations;
4. the foreign national is not inadmissible pursuant to the Act and the Regulations; and
5. a delegated officer has determined that the principal applicant meets all conditions (eligibility requirements) to receive permanent residence pursuant to this public policy.

Conditions (eligibility requirements) applicable to family members outside Canada:

Based on public policy considerations, when processing an application for a permanent resident visa, delegated officers may grant an exemption from the requirements of the Regulations identified below when a foreign national meets the following conditions:

1. the foreign national residing outside Canada has been included as an accompanying family member in an application described in (a) which is being processed under this public policy;
2. the foreign national meets the definition of family member in subsection 1(3) of the Regulations;
3. the foreign national is not otherwise inadmissible pursuant to the Act and the Regulations; and
4. a delegated officer has determined that the principal applicant meets all conditions (eligibility requirements) to receive permanent residence pursuant to this public policy.

Provisions of the Regulations for which an exemption may be granted to family member(s) outside Canada:

1. paragraph 10(2)(c) of the Regulations – the requirement to indicate the class prescribed by these Regulations for which the application is made;
2. paragraph 70(1)(a) of the Regulations – the requirement to apply for a permanent resident visa as a member of a class referred to in subsection 70(2) of the Regulations;
3. paragraph 70(1)(c) of the Regulations – the requirement to be a member of an immigration class; and
4. paragraph 70(1)(d) of the Regulations – the requirement to meet the selection criteria and other requirements applicable to that class.

Start and end dates

This public policy comes into effect upon signature.