In 2013, Live -In Caregivers (Lics) Represented 15% of the Temporary Foreign Workers In

Migrant Mothers Project Policy Brief – Live In Caregiver Program

March 26, 2015

This document provides a brief overview of policy changes to the Live-In-Caregiver Program that went into effect, November 30, 2014.

Quick Facts

 In 2013, Live -in Caregivers (LICs) represented 15% of the temporary foreign workers in Canada (CIC, 2014)

 16,187 LICs were admitted in 2013 (CIC, 2014)

 Women represent 96% of the LIC entries (CIC, 2014)

 The vast majority of new LIC workers are from the Philippines (85%). Most others come from China and India (CIC, 2012)

Live-in Caregivers with a valid work permit between 2004 to 2013 Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 LICs 15,217 18,030 21,997 27,752 32,601 31,610 29,579 21,756 18,725 16,187

Policy Changes as of November 2014

 Live-in requirement waived (CIC, 2014), yet employers might still charge room and board due to caregivers' minimum remuneration (Valiani, 2014)

 Divisive pathways for permanent residency (PR) based on two categories of workers:

o Low Skills - Caring for Children Pathway, for childcare in Canadian homes and

o High Skills - Caring for People with High Medical Needs Pathway, for care to the elderly and people with disabilities in health facilities (CIC, 2014)

 Now requires a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from employers (CIC, 2014)

Migrant Mothers Project – Faculty of Social Work – University of Toronto 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V4 www.migrantmothersproject.com  New cap for PR transitions set at 5, 500: 2,750 for child care providers, 2,750 for health occupations (CIC, 2014). This number is below the 8,797 PR admissions in 2013 (CIC, 2014)

 2 years work requirement for PR eligibility still in place (CUPE, 2014)

Reffernces:

CIC. (2014, November 19). Improvements to Canada’s Caregiver program. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Retrieved on March 22 from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/caregiver/improvements.asp

CIC. (2014, November 12). Temporary Foreign Worker program work permit holders with a valid permit on December 31st by program, 2004 to 2013. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Retrieved March on 22 2015 from from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2013/temporary/1-3.asp

CIC. (2014, October 10). Annual report to Parliament on immigration. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Retrieved on February 15 2015 from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/annual-report-2014/index.asp

CIC. (2012). Live-in caregiver findings from the longitudinal immigration database. IMDB 2008 Immigration Category Profiles. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Retrieved on March 19 2015 from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/imdb/LCP_3.pdf

CUPE. (2014). Fact Sheet: Temporary Foreign Workers program and the Live-in Caregiver program. Canadian Union of Public Employees. Retrieved on March 23 from http://cupe.ca/fact-sheet-temporary- foreign-workers-program-and-live-caregiver-program

Valiani, S. (2014). Briefing Note: An analysis of the recently reformed Live-in Caregiver program in Canada. Retrieved on March 23 from https://salimahvaliani.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/briefing-note- an-analysis-of-the-recently-reformed-live-in-caregiver-program-in-canada/

Migrant Mothers Project – Faculty of Social Work – University of Toronto 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V4 www.migrantmothersproject.com