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Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot: Application process and who can apply

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

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Eligibility for processing

The Case Processing Centre in Edmonton (CPC-E), in Alberta is the intake office for all applications for permanent residence (APR) under the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots.

For each pilot, there are 2 caps:

Intake cap

Each pilot is to accept a maximum of 2,750 applications each calendar year, which includes applications considered incomplete according to section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). Related processing instructions are set out in the Ministerial Instructions regarding the processing of applications under the Home Support Worker Class and Home Child Care Provider Class (MI59).The intake cap was previously stipulated in MI46.

The pilot categories accept different numbers of applications:

Processing cap

A maximum of 2,750 applications will be put into process per calendar year in each pilot by operation of subsection 14.1(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). Applications must meet the requirements specified in section 10 of the IRPR and in the application kit to be considered complete and eligible for processing.

All complete applications received within the intake cap before the pilots expire will be processed.

How the process works

Applicants under the Home Child Care Provider or Home Support Worker pilots can apply with or without 12 months of eligible Canadian work experience.

Note: Amended Ministerial Instructions came into force on April 30, 2023. As part of the changes, the qualifying work experience requirement was reduced to 12 months instead of 24 months. This affects new applications and applications currently being processed.

Gaining experience category (Category A)

An applicant with less than 12 months of eligible Canadian work experience must satisfy eligibility and admissibility requirements upfront.

Applicants must:

Officers assess applicants against the above criteria. If the applicant is eligible and admissible, the applicant is issued an occupation-restricted open work permit (OROWP) and the permanent residence application is put on hold.

Dependants applying for permanent residence with the principal applicant may also be eligible to accompany the principal applicant and may be issued open work permits or study permits. When applying for permanent residence through one of these pilots, applicants are required to submit an application for a work permit for themselves and may include applications for work or study permits or applications to enter Canada as a visitor or to extend their stay as a visitor for any accompanying dependents along with their APR. They can also submit TR applications for their dependants separately from their APR, but only after they received an acknowledgement of receipt letter. Officers can refer to the instructions regarding the processing of TR applications for family members.

Once issued an OROWP, the principal applicant must obtain 12 months of eligible, full-time, Canadian work experience. To remain eligible in the program, this must happen within 3 years of being issued their OROWP. Applicants must submit proof of obtaining this work experience within 3 years of being issued their OROWP.

Note: Where the applicant met the eligibility requirements, but an OROWP is not printed, the applicant must demonstrate that they have met the work experience requirement within 36 months of the date of the Stage 1 eligibility approval letter.

Upon receipt of proof, the permanent residence application is put back into processing. An officer will assess whether the applicant meets the work experience requirement and make sure the applicant is still admissible to Canada.

In some cases, the applicant may submit the proof of work experience before IRCC processes the OROWP. In such cases, if the work experience is:

Assessing work experience under Category A – Work experience not eligible

After the issuance of the OROWP, if an applicant later submits proof of work experience and the officer determines that the work experience does not meet the criteria for eligible work experience (e.g., insufficient duration or incorrect NOC), they may refuse the application.

Direct to permanent residence category (Category B)

An applicant with 12 months or more of eligible Canadian work experience must satisfy the following criteria:

Assessing work experience under Category B – Work experience not eligible

If the officer determines that the work experience does not meet the criteria for eligible work experience (e.g., insufficient duration or incorrect NOC), they may refuse the application.

Temporary public policy facilitating 2020 applicants to the pilots

A public policy was introduced on May 3, 2021 that covers all caregivers who applied under the HCCP or HSW pilots in 2020, but whose applications were not entered into processing (i.e. checked for completeness) in 2020 due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure was created mainly as to avoid negative impacts on future processing limits and the resulting repercussions on clients and employers with multiple year processing delays. MI46 further provides clarification that they are processed outside the class (and therefore outside the cap).

There is no distinction as to how these cases should be processed. The same HCCP/HSW criteria and procedures apply.

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