Home Support Worker Pilot 2026

[tubunnnn]

Hi everyone

I'm aiming for 2026 Caregiver pilot, or maybe 2027 if things went south.

Questions:
1. TIMING
- my employer (private household) has applied for an LMIA on October 25th, 2025.
- How likely am I going to have a closed work permit before the next pilot start on March 31st, 2026?

2. ELIGIBILITY
- One of the requirements is being able to work full time "in any occupation".
- Does this mean I'm not eligible because in my case it will be a closed work permit, though in caregiver occupation?

3. 2025 PILOT EXPERIENCE
- To people who went for the 2025 pilot, how was your experience?
- how long did it take to fill up the cap?
- Did you have any difficulty while applying?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Naturgrl]

Hi everyone

I'm aiming for 2026 Caregiver pilot, or maybe 2027 if things went south.

Questions:
1. TIMING
- my employer (private household) has applied for an LMIA on October 25th, 2025.
- How likely am I going to have a closed work permit before the next pilot start on March 31st, 2026?

2. ELIGIBILITY
- One of the requirements is being able to work full time "in any occupation".
- Does this mean I'm not eligible because in my case it will be a closed work permit, though in caregiver occupation?

3. 2025 PILOT EXPERIENCE
- To people who went for the 2025 pilot, how was your experience?
- how long did it take to fill up the cap?
- Did you have any difficulty while applying?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

1. Are you in Canada now? If not is employer in Quebec? LMIAs take months so low chance to have even applied for closed work permit.
2. Where do you read that? You need 6 months continuous experience or education as caregiver.
3. How long it takes to fill will depend on cap. Have all documents ready to go. Get your application as soon as it opens as it will be closed within the day. Issues will be computer hang ups, not having all right documents ready to go.

 

[tubunnnn]

1. Are you in Canada now? If not is employer in Quebec? LMIAs take months so low chance to have even applied for closed work permit.
2. Where do you read that? You need 6 months continuous experience or education as caregiver.
3. How long it takes to fill will depend on cap. Have all documents ready to go. Get your application as soon as it opens as it will be closed within the day. Issues will be computer hang ups, not having all right documents ready to go.

Thank you for answering!

1. - I am in Canada now, finishing my co-op in a caregiver program.
- It said on ircc that these LMIAs are accelerated but I'm not sure how much faster it would be
- worst case scenario is I applied for a work permit based on pending LMIA to get maintained status, or I would applied for a new school. Changing to visitor would erase my plan of applying for a work permit from within Canada, and I can't be a foreign caregiver if I'm outside Canada and plan to work outside Quebec (Vancouver). What do you think of this?

2. To be eligible for the Workers in Canada stream, you must be:

- already living in Canada
-You can be physically outside of Canada when you apply (for example, on vacation), but you’ll need to show that you normally reside in Canada.

- authorized to work in Canada full-time, in any occupation (in a non-seasonal job) through
- a valid work permit
- maintained status
- public policy

So you mean I'm still would be eligible with a closed work permit?

 

[Naturgrl]

Thank you for answering!

1. - I am in Canada now, finishing my co-op in a caregiver program.
- It said on ircc that these LMIAs are accelerated but I'm not sure how much faster it would be
- worst case scenario is I applied for a work permit based on pending LMIA to get maintained status, or I would applied for a new school. Changing to visitor would erase my plan of applying for a work permit from within Canada, and I can't be a foreign caregiver if I'm outside Canada and plan to work outside Quebec (Vancouver). What do you think of this?

2. To be eligible for the Workers in Canada stream, you must be:

- already living in Canada
-You can be physically outside of Canada when you apply (for example, on vacation), but you’ll need to show that you normally reside in Canada.

- authorized to work in Canada full-time, in any occupation (in a non-seasonal job) through
- a valid work permit
- maintained status
- public policy

So you mean I'm still would be eligible with a closed work permit?

A valid work permit is the same as a closed work permit so eligible. You need LMIA to apply for a closed work permit. Not sure about it being accelerated but work permit processing takes at least 5-6 months beyond when the program would reopen. May want to focus on 2027.

 

[tubunnnn]

A valid work permit is the same as a closed work permit so eligible. You need LMIA to apply for a closed work permit. Not sure about it being accelerated but work permit processing takes at least 5-6 months beyond when the program would reopen. May want to focus on 2027.

Solid advice much appreciated

 

[canuck78]

Thank you for answering!

1. - I am in Canada now, finishing my co-op in a caregiver program.
- It said on ircc that these LMIAs are accelerated but I'm not sure how much faster it would be
- worst case scenario is I applied for a work permit based on pending LMIA to get maintained status, or I would applied for a new school. Changing to visitor would erase my plan of applying for a work permit from within Canada, and I can't be a foreign caregiver if I'm outside Canada and plan to work outside Quebec (Vancouver). What do you think of this?

2. To be eligible for the Workers in Canada stream, you must be:

- already living in Canada
-You can be physically outside of Canada when you apply (for example, on vacation), but you’ll need to show that you normally reside in Canada.

- authorized to work in Canada full-time, in any occupation (in a non-seasonal job) through
- a valid work permit
- maintained status
- public policy

So you mean I'm still would be eligible with a closed work permit?

Would pay attention to the new immigration targets announced next week. Caregiver programs in general are a mess so hopefully this will provide more clarity.

Assume your employer has the extra means to pay for a caregiver and the situation clearly requires a caregiver. For example they have an existing caregiver that you would be replacing. Sadly quite a lot of fraud in the system that IRCC started cracking down on.