Canadian Caregiver PR Rules in 2026

Current status (as of September 2026)

• On December 19, 2025, IRCC paused intake for the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilots (Child Care and Home Support) "until further notice." The intake did not reopen in March 2026.
• The earlier Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot are also closed to new applicants.
• IRCC continues to process applications it already received. If you submitted before intake closed, your application is still moving.

Source: IRCC — Home Care Worker Immigration Pilots and the December 2025 intake notice.

What this means for you

There is no direct caregiver-specific route to permanent residence open for new applicants right now. That does not mean the door to Canada is shut. Caregivers still have a way to come and work, and other permanent residence programs can fit care workers depending on their profile. The right move depends on your experience, language, education, and whether you already have a Canadian job offer.

Pathway that is still open: work as a caregiver on a work permit

You can still come to Canada to work as a caregiver through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. In most cases this requires:

• A full-time job offer from a Canadian family or employer
• A positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) obtained by that employer
• A work permit application tied to the LMIA-backed job offer

The occupations are home child care provider (NOC 44100) and home support worker (NOC 44101). A work permit is a temporary status, not permanent residence, but Canadian work experience is what most economic PR programs are built on. Source: IRCC — Work temporarily as a caregiver.

Permanent residence programs that may fit care workers

With Canadian work experience and the right profile, care workers often qualify under broader economic programs rather than a caregiver-only stream:

• Canadian Experience Class — for people who have already worked in Canada in a skilled occupation and want to move to permanent residence through Express Entry.
• Express Entry language requirements — your language test score drives your Express Entry ranking, so it is one of the first things to get right.
• Provincial Nominee Programs — several provinces run streams for in-demand and health-support occupations, and a provincial nomination adds significant weight to a PR application.

Which of these fits you is not a guess. It depends on your specific work history, language level, and where you want to settle, which is exactly what a consultation sorts out.