Live-in caregivers must work for two years in Canada on a temporary visa, without their family, after which, if they meet all the requirements, they can apply for permanent residence in Canada. They include their children and spouse on their application.
As of March 20, 2017, the published processing time for permanent residence for live-in caregivers is 47 months.
This is the average of live-in caregivers and their family members. Processing for the family members takes much longer: 70 months (for the year ending Sept 2016).
There is a large backlog of applications waiting for processing: in September 2016, there were 34,887 applications pending in the Live-in caregiver stream.
In March 2017, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM) recommended:
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada create a game plan to eliminate the backlog of caregiver applications and present this plan to CIMM within six months; and that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada reduce the wait times from the current 51 months to 12 months.
Recommendation: Introduce the same standard short processing times for family reunification for spouses and children, in all categories and regions.
Recommendation: Publish data on processing times by category and region, so the public can monitor if standards are met.