Seligman welcomes interim pathway to PR for caregivers
Foreign caregivers should be encouraged by a new interim pathway to permanent residence, Toronto immigration lawyer Robin Seligman tells AdvocateDaily.com.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada recently unveiled the three-month program after acknowledging that a pilot program in place since 2014 was “not fully understood by caregivers” who mistakenly believed they would be eligible for permanent residence after obtaining a temporary work permit and acquiring two years of Canadian work experience.
“I think it’s a great move because the demand in Canada for caregivers is large,” says Seligman, principal of immigration law boutique Seligman Law. “Hopefully they will expand the program after the first three months.”
When the previous federal government closed the Live-in Caregiver Program to new entrants in 2014, it launched a pilot project creating two new categories for caregivers under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, covering migrants who care for either children or elderly and disabled individuals with “high medical needs.”
However, the pilot programs, which are due to expire in November 2019, proved controversial for their higher language and education requirements for applicants intending to acquire permanent residence.
Under the interim pathway, which remains open until June 4, 2019, an unlimited number of temporary foreign worker caregivers who arrived under the pilot projects may be able to apply for permanent residence if they:
reside outside Quebec
are authorized to work in Canada on a work permit other than a Live-in Caregiver Program work permit, or have applied for the renewal of one
have the equivalent of a Canadian secondary school diploma
have attained a language level of proficiency of at least benchmark 5 in either official language for each of the four language skill areas
have obtained one year of full-time Canadian work experience since November 2014