Ministerial Instructions 32 (MI32) and 63 (MI63): Caregiver Program

On June 18, 2019, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) launched Ministerial Instructions to establish the new Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker classes. The new classes provide for the transition from temporary to permanent residence for foreign nationals in in-home caregiving occupations, mitigating worker vulnerability and reducing family separation.

The new Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker classes were created under section 14.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which allows the Minister to issue instructions to create economic immigration programs that are limited to a duration of five years, and where there are no more than 2,750 principal applicants in a class per year.

The new Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker classes replace the 2014 Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs classes that were established in MI14, and which closed to new applications on June 18, 2019.

There are also Ministerial Instructions to: a) end the processing of new permanent residence applications under the Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs classes; and b) introduce a refusal-to-process on new overseas Temporary Foreign Worker Program work permit applications for in-home caregiving positions located outside Quebec. These Ministerial Instructions also came into force on June 18, 2019 and authority is derived from section 87.3 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which allows the Minister to issue instructions to ensure that the processing of applications is conducted in a manner that will best support the attainment of immigration goals.

• Read the full text of MI32

The Ministerial Instructions were amended on April 30, 2023, to:

• reduce the work experience requirement from 24 months to 12 months
• clarify that employers must not be businesses
• clarify that home child care work permits and home support work permits are work permits that are issued in connection with the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker classes
• streamline the processing of applications in the Gaining Experience category that meet the work experience requirement prior to the issuance of a home child care or home support work permit by exempting clients from the offer of employment and related requirements
• allow for work authorized under the Immigration and Refugees Protection Regulations and/or public policy (under the Immigration and Refugees Protection Act) to be counted as work experience under the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker classes
• enable the finalization of applications abandoned for 36 months or longer