Canada's permanent residency program for caregivers to end in Nov. 2019

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EDMONTON, Canada – The recent announcement made by the Canadian government that it will no longer accept applications for permanent residency from caregivers by November 2019 has participants of the program in panic.

Many of those affected are Filipinos as they rank as the top source of caregivers in Canada.

Caregivers and their rights advocates gathered over the weekend in Edmonton to discuss the issues facing them.

“The issues that caregivers are facing now are very much the same that caregivers faced 20 years ago. There’s been victories, small victories here and there, but they were taken back,” said Connie Sorio, coordinator of KAIROS Migrant Justice and Asia Partnership.

In response, Canada’s Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Department assured caregivers that there is and will always be a pathway for them to apply for permanent residency.

In 2018, the federal government announced it targets to bring in some 310,000 new immigrants, including new caregivers and economic class workers.

They also assured caregivers they will eliminate or reduce the backlog in the processing of permanent residency application.

But this was not the case for some Filipinos.

“I’ve been here for seven years already tapos nag-submit po ako ng application ko by 2013. Ang problema ko po dito, bakit hanggang ngayon hindi pa po ako na-approve at wala po akong sagot sa immigration na kahit ano tungkol sa application,” said caregiver Margie Lingbaoan.

Canada’s caregiver program is currently under review by the federal government. Advocates say a change in permanent residency opportunities for caregivers would discourage many Filipinos from migrating to Canada.

“If Canada is really going to take away the permanent residency opportunity, I don’t think of lot of caregivers would want to come here. First of all, it’s very cold. Secondly, it’s very far and despite the Skype and all these apps that caregivers are able to connect with their children and families almost on a regular basis, the fact that it’s still far away, I think more caregivers would opt to work in Hong Kong or nearby countries in the Philippines so that they can easily visit their families. The only draw to come here is the permanent residency opportunity,” said Sorio.

Canadian immigration plans to announce its decision to either replace or make these programs permanent before they end in 2019.

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