Caregivers from abroad play an important role in supporting Canadian families who are unable to find the care they need for a family member in Canada.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused great disruption to life in Canada and around the world, including to application processing at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). “We recognize that many caregivers working in Canada are waiting anxiously to be reunited with their loved ones, and they need their applications to be processed for that to happen”

That is why IRCC is working to overcome the pandemic-related roadblocks that have interfered with processing applications from caregivers and their families by announcing a processing plan for 2021.

Minister Marco Mendicino set a goal to complete 6,000 applications in the Home Child Care Provider (HCP) and Home Support Worker (HSW) pilots by the end of 2021. 1,500 of them must pass at least the first-stage approvals. In turn, it will allow more caregiver work permits to be issued for candidates who obtained valid job offers. IRCC also wants to increase the digitization of caregiver applications and ensure the receiving of the acknowledgments of receipt by May 31, 2021. As of March 3, 2021, there were about 12,000 caregiver applications on both pilots in the processing inventory.

As of April 8, 2021, IRCC received 2,367 applications in the HCP and 516 HSW applications that can be accepted in 2021. 2,900 caregivers and their family members receive a PR status in 2020.