To hire a live-in caregiver through the Live-in Caregiver Program, employer must make an effort to fill your position with a Canadian, a permanent resident or a foreign worker already in Canada.
Requirements for Hiring Live-In-Caregiver
- be able to pay Live-In-Caregiver
- give them acceptable living space in employer home,
- make a job offer for caregiving duties for a child, an elderly person or a person with a disability,
- have applied for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from Service Canada
Note: Before November 30, 2014, including the employment contract. Service Canada will work with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to give you an LMIA.
- Employer may also hire a caregiver who is already part of the Live-in Caregiver Program and wants to continue working on a live-in basis. To do so, employer need to get a positive LMIA and the caregiver needs to get a new work permit. The live-in arrangement must be specified in the LMIA application.
- Caregiving must be the main responsibility of the job. A job offer for which the main duties are house cleaning, for example, is not acceptable under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).
Requirements for Live-In-Caregiver
A visa office will carefully screen caregivers before they enter Canada. Caregivers applying to work in Canada under the LCP must have:
- Completed an education equal to that of a Canadian secondary school diploma,
- At least six months of full-time classroom training in caregiving or one year of work experience as a caregiver or in a related job within the last three years (including at least six months of ongoing work with one employer),
- The ability to speak, read and understand English or French, so that they can work on their own without being supervised,
- Medical, security and criminal clearances, and
- A signed written employment contract with an employer in Canada (you).
Terms and Conditions for Live-In-Caregiver Program
The written employment contract will make sure there is a fair working arrangement between employer and employee. The contract must show the employment conditions that must be met. It must have details about:
- Mandatory benefits employer will pay, including
- transportation from the caregiver’s home country to the place they will work in Canada,
- medical insurance coverage from the date they arrive until they are eligible for provincial/territorial health insurance,
- workplace safety insurance coverage for the entire time they will be employed and
- all fees paid to recruit someone, including any amount owed to a third-party recruiter or agents you hired, that would otherwise have been charged to the live-in caregiver,
- Job duties,
- Hours of work,
- Wages,
- Housing arrangements (including room and board),
- Holiday and sick leave amounts, and
- Rules for ending employment or quitting.