Citizenship and Immigration Canada
www.cic.gc.ca
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Hiring a live-in caregiver – How to apply
As an employer, you are responsible for finding a foreign live-in caregiver through advertisements, personal contacts or hiring agencies. You then must go through the application process to hire them.
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Finding a caregiver
Your local Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC)/Service Canada centre can help you find an employee. They will also ask you to show that you have made reasonable efforts to hire a Canadian or a foreign worker already in Canada as a live-in caregiver.
Using a hiring agency
If you use a hiring agency, choose a reputable one. The HRSDC/Service Canada centre does not recommend specific hiring agencies. You must contact the agency yourself. You should:
- find out what services the agency offers
- review your agency contract for information about the caregiver’s airfare or other costs you may be required to pay, and
- ask about refund guarantees and whether the company will replace an employee who quits (and if so, within what period of time and after what period of employment).
Ask the agency for references to ensure that the workers it recommends are qualified. You can also ask:
- How does the agency screen applicants?
- Does the agency have the resources to service clients?
- Does the agency have a non-refundable placement fee?
- Does the agency check references and interview applicants in person?
In certain provinces, such as British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, recruitment agencies are prohibited from collecting placement fees from workers.
You do not have to use an agency. Many people rely on recommendations from friends or on advertisements.
Hiring a caregiver who is already in Canada
You can hire a live-in caregiver who is already in Canada and has a work permit.
Your offer of employment must first be confirmed by HRSDC. Give a copy of the letter from HRSDC confirming your job offer to the caregiver you wish to hire. The caregiver will need it to apply for a new work permit naming you as the employer. It is illegal for the caregiver to begin working for you without this permit.
You cannot hire a caregiver on a trial basis to find out if they are suitable. It is a crime to employ a worker who is not authorized by CIC.
When you have found a person you want to hire, contact your local HRSDC/Service Canada centre.
Applying for a labour market opinion
Your next step is to get a positive labour market opinion (LMO) from the HRSDC/Service Canada centre. They will give you information on acceptable wage standards, taxes, health insurance, workers’ compensation and more.
You can request an LMO under the Live-in Caregiver Program for up to three years and three months (except in Quebec, where it is up to three years). An LMO is an assessment of the impact a job offer will have on the Canadian labour market.
For more information about LMOs, see Labour market opinion basics in the Related Links section at the bottom of this page.
Work permits
When the HRSDC/Service Canada centre has approved your offer of employment, you will get a letter of confirmation. The letter contains important information about immigration for live-in caregivers, including the work permit application process. It will also tell you which documents you must send to the caregiver which they will need for their application.
Caregivers found eligible and who meet all other requirements will be issued a work permit. This process may take several months, so plan ahead.
Even if your offer of employment is approved, your caregiver cannot work in Canada until he or she receives the work permit naming you as the employer. You should keep in contact so you know when he or she will be able to begin working for you.
Live-in caregivers have the right to change jobs without their employer’s permission and work for another employer as a live-in caregiver. Live-in caregivers cannot start working for someone new until the employer has an approved LMO and the live-in caregiver has a new work permit naming the new employer.
After a live-in caregiver has worked under the Program for two years within three years of their date of entry into Canada, they can apply for permanent residence. They may also wish to apply for an open work permit, which would allow them to work in Canada in any occupation.
The contract
You and the caregiver you hire are legally required to sign a contract. The caregiver’s responsibilities and your conditions of employment should be set out in the contract. See a sample contract for an idea of what you may want to include.
Note: The province’s labour laws take priority over the terms of the contract if the contract terms provide less than the law requires.
The wages will be set out in the contract. The minimum wage in your province or territory may be below the market wage in your community. Be prepared to pay a wage rate and provide benefits comparable to those provided to other caregivers in your community if you want to keep your employee.
Before you sign a contract
You should be sure of what you need from a caregiver before you decide if someone is suitable to work for you. Your employee will be living in your home where they will care for your children or other family members. It is important to choose the right person for your family. For example, ask if the applicant:
- smokes
- drives a car
- likes children or the elderly
- can cook
- observes any special customs or religious holidays
- will be eating the same food as your family or would prefer to buy or prepare separate meals, or
- other things that could affect suitability.
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. Before you sign an employment contract, you should ask your caregiver about their country’s requirements and find out if there are additional requirements that may affect you. You can also contact the embassy for that country here in Canada or check their website.
Hiring in Quebec
If you live in Quebec and your employee will be working in that province, your HRSDC/Service Canada centre can tell you about any differences in the process of hiring a foreign live-in caregiver. For more information, visit the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (Quebec Immigration) website.
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