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Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

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Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Live-in Caregiver Program

Employing foreign live-in caregivers when Canadian workers or permanent residents are not available, can help families care for children, the elderly or persons with disabilities.

Employers who want to hire live-in caregivers must apply to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada/Service Canada for a labour market opinion. A Labour Market Opinion assesses what impact hiring a foreign worker would have on Canada's labour market.

A foreign live-in caregiver who wants to work in Canada must have received a job offer from a Canadian employer and apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for a work permit. The caregiver's application must include proof that the employer received a positive Labour Market Opinion from Service Canada.

Effective April 1, 2010, live-in caregivers working in Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program:

  • have up to four years from the date of their arrival in Canada to complete the employment requirement to be eligible for permanent residence under the live-in caregiver class; and
  • may choose between two options for calculating their employment requirement for permanent residence:
    • 24 months of authorized full-time employment, or
    • 3,900 hours (within a minimum of 22 months which may include a maximum of 390 hours of overtime) of authorized full-time employment.

It is important that you, the employer, read the following pages which describe the conditions you must meet to hire a live-in caregiver and how to complete your application form. Applications that are completed incorrectly or do not include all the documents required will delay processing times.

You must agree to the following conditions if you want to hire a live-in caregiver.

The live-in caregiver must:

You, the employer, must:

  • Contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to obtain a CRA business number and to become informed about your income tax responsibilities. Should there be two employers, this step also applies to the second employer (i.e. he/she also needs to have his/her own CRA business number) but only if the second employer resides at a different address than the first employer. In situations where both employers reside at the same address (same household), only one CRA number is required;
  • Pay for the caregiver’s health insurance at no cost to the caregiver until he/she becomes eligible for provincial health insurance.
  • Enrol the live-in caregiver in provincial workplace safety insurance (also known as workers’ compensation) or equivalent insurance if the former is not available.
  • Pay for the services, fees and costs of a recruitment or third party agency if you are using one for recruiting the caregiver. Employers are not permitted to recoup recruitment fees from live-in caregivers.
  • Pay for transportation costs for the caregiver to travel from the caregiver’s country of permanent residence to the location of work in Canada (where caregiving will take place). Or if the caregiver is already in Canada, the employer must pay the transportation costs for the caregiver to travel to the new place of work in Canada.
  • Submit to HRSDC/Service Canada an employment contract with the Labour Market Opinion application to hire a foreign live-in caregiver. The employment contract  must include the duration of the contract, duties of the position, wages, hours of work (including overtime, holidays, and sick leave), accommodation arrangements, as per provincial and municipal standards; transportation costs; health insurance; terms of resignation and termination; and registration for provincial workplace safety insurance.

You the employer must also:

  • Keep records of the number of regular and overtime hours the live-in caregiver has worked for you on a weekly/monthly basis. The caregiver will need this information for their application for permanent residence.
  • Review and adjust the foreign caregiver's wages to ensure they meet or exceed HRSDC's requirements (as per HRSDC's Wages table).
  • Ensure that you are not employing a foreign national other than in a capacity they are authorized to work (you should ask to see, but not keep, their work permit to ensure that you are identified as the authorized employer and to confirm the duration of that authorization). Remember, you are not permitted to take away the work permit from the caregiver or keep it.
  • Ensure that you are not employing a live-in caregiver without a valid work permit identifying you specifically as the employer.

If you, the employer, agree to all the conditions mentioned above, you can apply to Service Canada for a labour market opinion. The opinion will assess the impact hiring the live-in caregiver would have on Canadian jobs.

While authorized to work for a specific employer, a live-in caregiver cannot:

  • Work for more than one employer at a time or for any employer or under any conditions other than that authorized on their work permit; and
  • Work for a health agency or labour contractor, or in day care or foster care.

Some countries may require that their citizens meet certain conditions if they want to work in Canada as live-in caregivers (e.g. approval to leave the country, employer to pay transportation costs and/or health coverage). Ask your live-in caregiver to verify if additional conditions apply in his/her country, contact the country's consulate in Canada or check its website to find out if you must meet additional requirements.

How to apply for a Labour Market Opinion under LCP ...

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Date Modified:
2012-01-25