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The live-in caregiver program Canada allows trained caregivers to find temporary employment in Canada and eventually become permanent residents after working continously under the program for at least two years.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, a live-in caregiver is a person who will reside in the residence of his or her employer and will provide caregiving services to children, or an elderly or a disabled person without any supervision.

To become qualified in the live-in caregive program, the following terms must be met:

1. The employer have to submit to Human Resources Services And Social Development Canada an application for a live-in caregiver in the form of having a Labor Market Opinion (LMO) approval.

2. To satisfy the requirements of an LMO, it is very important that the employer have shown efforts that he or she posted their recruitment needs to Canadian permanent residents and citizens.

3. If there are no Canadian residents willing to take the offer, only then that an application to sponsor a live-in caregiver from abroad could be processed.

After Human Resources And Social Development Canada approves the LMO application of the employer, the candidate would have to satisfy the following requirements to be accepted in the live-in caregiver program:

1. Must have successfully completed a six months course on caregiver.

2. Be at least a graduate of Grade 12 equivalent in Canada.

3. Ability to speak, understand and read French or English.

4. A contract with his/her employer.

The Toronto office of Philippine Overseas Labor Office have made additions in the contract for the live in caregiver program for nannies bound for Canada. This was announced early April by the labor attache of the Philippines in Toronto. This program, which started in 1992, allows participants to earn an immigrant status after completing 24 months with an employer within a period of 3 years. Thousands of Filipinos have entered Canada since the inception of the live in caregiver program – most of them have become immigrants and later, citizens of Canada.

According to the press release given out by labor attache, Frank Luna, the newly imposed addendum is necessary for the good of the foreign worker. Reports of abuse by employers and the highly irregular recruitment activities of some recruitment agencies – which have placed many of this mostly women Filipino caregiver, in difficult situations, are the main reason this new additions became necessary according to Mr. Luna.

Caregiver support groups and advocates of changes in the live in caregiver program have not voiced their opinion just yet regarding this development. This Filipino caregiver group are advocating for scrapping of the live-in caregiver program, which includes in the condition a live-in clause for the worker in the homes of their employer. The group is asking instead for changes in status from temporary worker to that of a landed immigrant, immediately upon arriving in Canada.

On the other hand, immigration consultants and employment agencies are protesting this addendum supposedly because it will just add cost to the existing program which at the moment already have enough rules to safeguard the caregivers in Canada. They’re reasoning out that Canada have already in place thru Service Canada and HRSDC rules on procedure for employers to sponsor foreign workers – which is parallel to the live in caregiver program.

They added that, other than the additional payment the Philippine government is imposing to process this new contract, that the said document has no teeth even if the Canadian employer reneged on what they signed on, supposedly because no Canadian law will be broken and the Philippines have no jurisdiction over them.