Hiring a live-in caregiver – Who can apply

As an employer, you must meet certain requirements before you can hire a foreign live-in caregiver.

The process of hiring someone from a foreign country takes time. You may want to consider another solution for your caregiving needs during that time. See Application processing times in the Related Links section at the bottom of this page to find out how long it may take to complete the process.

Before you look abroad

You should familiarize yourself with the Live-in Caregiver Program before spending time or money hiring employees from abroad. Do you need your employee to live in? You may be able to fill your position with a Canadian or a permanent resident if there is no live-in requirement.

In addition to the Live-in Caregiver Program requirements, some countries may have additional requirements for their citizens that we do not have here in Canada. For example, some countries have exit requirements whereby their citizens must apply and meet certain requirements to get approval to leave their country. To find out if your live-in caregiver’s home country has additional requirements that may affect you, you should ask your caregiver. You can also contact the embassy for that country here in Canada or check their website.

Eligibility

To hire a live-in caregiver, you must:

• have sufficient income to pay a live-in caregiver
• provide acceptable accommodation in your home, and
• make a job offer that has primary caregiving duties for a child or an elderly or disabled person. (A job offer for a housecleaner, for example, is not acceptable under the Program.)

Caregivers will be carefully screened by a Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) visa officer before they enter Canada. They must meet the eligibility requirements of the Live-in Caregiver Program. These include:

• education
• training or experience
• the ability to understand English or French so that they can function on their own in an unsupervised setting
• passing medical, security and criminal clearances, and
• a formal signed contract with an employer.

CIC will determine if the employment contract is valid and if the caregiver receives a work permit.

You may be asked to show that you can provide the wages, benefits and working conditions required by provincial or territorial labour laws.