The Canadian government has announced the start date of the Homecare worker pilot program which is a pathway to permanent residence. It will commence on 31 March 2025 and after fulfilling some important requirements, interested applicants can apply for this program.
The Immigration Levels Plan estimates that the total number of applications anticipated for 2025 will range between 4,000 and 5,000 for the Healthcare worker pilot program. Meanwhile, Canada’s overall pilot immigration quota is set to decrease from 10,920 in 2024 to 10,875 in 2025.
Canada needs homecare workers due to the aging population. Between 1977 and 1997, the population of seniors aged 65 and older increased from 2 million to 3.5 million. By 2017, this number had risen to 6.2 million. It is projected to grow by 68% by 2037, reaching a total of 10.4 million.
This new pilot program for home care workers will replace the following programs:
Program Name | Status | Year Closed |
The Live-in Caregiver Program | Closed | 2014 |
The Caring for Children Pilot | Closed | 2019 |
The Caring for People with High Medical Needs Pilot | Closed | 2019 |
The Interim Pathway For Caregivers Program | Closed | 2019 |
The Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot | Closed | 2024 |
Overall requirements for this program are at a medium difficulty level such as job offer, English language, and qualification. The previously implemented rules in June 2024 allowed at that time the home care workers to apply for permanent residence after 6 months of work experience in Canada, but till now for this new pilot, the required time has not been disclosed.
Eligibility Requirements for Homecare Worker Visa
Interested applicants who want to apply for the Homecare worker visa must fulfill the following requirements:
- having an official language ability of at least level 4 on the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) scale.
- holding the equivalent of a Canadian high school diploma.
- having recent and relevant work experience in the caregiving field.
- have a full-time job offer for a home care position in Canada.