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CAREGIVERS FINALLY GIVEN PRIORITY FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE

By Atty. Henry Moyal

Unlike past immigration ministers, it appears that the current Honorable Marco Mendicino, Federal Immigration Minister is taking his job seriously and genuinely cares about the impact that caregivers provide to this country. Perhaps he has his own caregiver or perhaps it is well known that his constituency and riding is made up of a large Filipino population.

His recent statements are promising.

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 he has made available pathways to permanent residence for caregivers and now has implemented a policy to get the applications fast tracked.

In particular, a new public policy, effective May 3, 2021 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 applications were not entered into processing due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Mendicino went on to say that 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. Now, he is taking action and the policy with facilitate the granting of permanent residence for caregivers who applied recently.

The following are the eligibility requirements for the main applicant:

1. Must have 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.

The following are the eligibility requirements for family members of the main applicant who outside of Canada (and who are also eligible to become permanent residents):

1. the family member 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 family member meets the definition of family member in subsection 1(3) of the Regulations;
3. the family member 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.

In other caregiver news, effective immediately, Canada Immigration announced it will prioritize 6000 applications by the end of 2021.

In particular, IRCC will

• finalize permanent residence applications for up to 6,000 caregivers who have completed their in-Canada work experience and their immediate family members, by December 31, 2021
• make at least 1,500 first-stage decisions on applications for the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots by June 30, 2021
  • Prioritization of these decisions will allow more caregiver work permits to be issued for those who have valid job offers to work for families in Canada.
• increase the digitization of caregiver applications
• ensure applicants receive acknowledgement of receipt letters by May 31, 2021

.Attorney Henry Moyal is a certified and licensed immigration lawyer in Toronto, Ontario.
The above article is general advice only and is not intended to act as a legal document.
Send questions to Attorney Moyal by email canada@moyal.com or call 416 733 3193