Permanent Residence under the Live-in Caregiver Category

Live-in Caregivers are quickly becoming one of the most in-demand positions in Canada. As such, Canada has a long history of accommodating live-in caregivers for both work permits and permanent residence.

A live-in caregiver who wishes to apply for permanent resident status must:

• Be approved to participate in the Live-in Caregiver Program at a visa office outside of Canada and
• Has a valid work permit to work as a live-in caregiver for children, seniors or the disabled with an employer in Canada

In order to qualify for permanent residence status as a Live-in Caregiver in Canada, there are two options to qualify for this:

1. Having completed 24 months of authorized full-time employment as a live-in caregiver within four years from the date you entered Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program
2. Having completed a total of 3,900 hours (within a minimum of 22 months which may include a maximum of 390 hours of overtime) of authorized full-time employment as a live-in caregiver within four years from the date you entered Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program.

If you meet these criteria, you may be considered eligible to apply for permanent resident status.

Akrami & Associates and our team of highly skilled immigration professionals have much experience in helping people obtain their nominations. Contact us to find out how we can help you!

When considering applying for permanent resident status as a Live-in Caregiver, an officer who will be assessing your application will reassess the merits in which you initially obtained your working status in Canada. Further, having accompanying dependents or people included in your application will affect your application.

When applying for permanent residence, an officer will also consider the following:

• You, your spouse or common-law partner, or any of your family members have a criminal record or a serious medical problem.
• You did not provide truthful information about education, training or experience to the visa officer when you first applied under the Live-In Caregiver Program; your application can be cancelled.

Things that will not necessarily affect your application can include:

• financial situation
• skills upgrading in Canada
• volunteer work
• marital status
• the number of family members you have in your home country

Things to Know about Applying for Permanent Resident Status as a Live-in Caregiver

Canada has announced recent and progressive action will be taken to address the seriously growing issues with the Live-in Caregiver processing times. Live-in Caregivers who have submitted applications for permanent resident status in Canada can wait up to 39 months on average. What is worse, this number is for straightforward or otherwise standard applications; if your application is unique or deviates from the norm, you could be waiting even longer.

This is why submitting a clear, accurate and properly compiled application can mean the difference between approval or extremely long wait times or worse, waiting all that time only to find out that the application has been refused.

Akrami & Associates will guide you every step of the way with this. We can help you reduce wait times by anticipating the officer’s needs and “connecting the dots” of your application for them. Contact us for more details.

If you intend to submit your application without the support of a representative, there are a couple of factors you should keep in mind.

Applying for your Family at the Same Time

You must include all your family members in your application for permanent resident status, even if they do not want to come to Canada with you. Family members who are not listed in your application cannot be sponsored by you at a later date.

This means that if you omit a family member from your application, such as a dependent child, you will never be able to sponsor them in the future. EVER.

By including all your family members, you and your family members can all get permanent resident status at the same time. Your family members abroad will go through the process of permanent resident status at their nearest visa office. Note, all your family members must first pass medical and criminal screening before you can receive permanent resident status.

When you receive your permanent resident status, your family members will receive immigrant visas from the visa office in their home country.

Applying for an Open Work Permit at the Same Time

In your application, you may include an application for an open work permit. This work permit will allow you to continue to work while you wait for a decision on your permanent resident matter. You should include this in your application so it can be processed right away.

An Open Work Permit would allow you to work for any employer of your choice without requiring a Labour Market Opinion first.

Exiting Canada

If you decide to leave Canada while your application for permanent resident status is underway, you may not be authorized to re-enter without first obtaining proper authorization, depending on your country of origin.

You may require a temporary resident visa, for example.

We can Help You!

We have dealt with hundreds of immigration cases. We have helped our clients in their difficult situations and have guided them to draft a more effective applications. We can help you draft your application and arrange the required documents. A well-planned and complete application will increase your likelihood of acceptance and will save you from hassle.