New Immigration Pathway for Home Care Workers Coming to Canada

Immigration pilot programs are created by the government for specific immigration purposes. They allow the Canadian government to address issues and trends through immigration. Pilot programs enable foreign nationals to come to Canada and provide a pathway to permanent residency for those who participate in them.

Some purposes of pilot programs include targeted immigration for individuals working in specific professional fields or who speak certain languages. They can also be used to encourage immigration to a specific geographic area. Indeed, recent immigration programs have targeted immigration to Canada’s rural regions and communities where the government wants to increase the Francophone population.

In recent years, the Government of Canada has increasingly used immigration pilot programs to improve healthcare in Canada, including a recent pilot aimed at home care workers.

Previous Healthcare Pilot Programs

Canada’s renewed commitment to improving healthcare systems and increasing the number of healthcare providers has led to immigration programs designed to help remedy these current issues. For example, recently, Ontario decided to ban foreign medical students from attending Ontario-based medical schools. Further, the amendment to Express Entry that allowed for category-based draws has enabled Express Entry to explicitly focus on Healthcare and social services occupations when draws are done.

Previously, the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot allowed home child care providers and home support workers to come to Canada with their families to become permanent residents. The pilot programs ended on July 17, 2024, and as such, any applications for those programs received after that date will not be processed. Applications received before July 17, 2024, may still be under consideration. Applicants with an application under consideration who have gained more experience in in-home care can submit that experience to the Canadian government to bolster their applications. 

A new pilot program could be suitable for home care workers who did not submit an application before July 17.

Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot 

The Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot opened on March 31, 2025. The rationale for the pilot is clear: according to the Government of Canada, it will make it easier for home care workers to become permanent residents and find work with a range of employers.

Under the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot, there are two streams: the Workers in Canada Stream and the Applicants Not Working in Canada Stream. Currently, workers can only apply under the Workers in Canada Stream. The stream for Applicants Not Working in Canada will open at a later date that has not yet been determined. 

Requirements for the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot

Potential applicants under this pilot need to pay close attention to the requirements to determine whether they qualify for the pilot.

Language

Applicants must have a minimum level of 4 in English in the Canadian Language Benchmarks or French in the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadien. Notably, these language requirements are lower when compared with most Express Entry programs.

Education

Applicants must also have an equivalent or higher level of education than a Canadian high school diploma. This involves applicants receiving an educational credential assessment report that details whether the education is equivalent to or greater than a Canadian high school diploma.

Work Experience

Applicants must have at least six months of recent and relevant work experience or a related caregiver training credential to apply for the program. It is important to note that work experience is not required for an application in Canada, so those in Canada who have not worked in home care but have a training credential or are working in home care in another country can apply as part of the pilot. 

Job Offer

Lastly, applicants to the program must have an offer for a full-time care job, and a Labour Market Impact Assessment is not required as part of the pilot. This requirement is flexible, and many job offers qualify as part of the pilot. Job offers from private households are included as part of the program. Further, job offers from organizations that directly hire full-time workers to provide short-term or occasional home care for those who are semi-independent or recovering from an injury or illness are included as well.

The pilot gave some examples of jobs that qualify under this designation, including:

• Home health care service providers;
• Home care support service providers;
• Direct care agencies;
• Personal care services in residential settings; and
• Pediatric home health care service providers.

2025 Applications Closed

Applications under this pilot have already closed for 2025, as it was filled to capacity shortly after opening on March 31, 2025. Given the popularity of this immigration stream, those interested in applying for 2026 should contact a qualified immigration professional as soon as possible to ensure their eligibility and organize their applications well in advance.

Garson Immigration Law: Providing Top-Tier Canadian Immigration Advice in Toronto

At Garson Immigration Law, we are exclusively dedicated to the practice of immigration law. We understand that waiting for your immigration application to be processed can be stressful. Our immigration lawyers can successfully guide you through the immigration process and find solutions for your individual immigration needs.

We work to find effective solutions for our clients in all kinds of immigration matters, including permanent residence, inadmissibility, and US immigration. If you have any questions about an immigration application, do not hesitate to contact us online or by calling us at 416-321-2860.