The Home Care Worker Pilot Canada Paused Intake — Here’s What to Do Next

If you are working in Canada as a nanny, personal support worker, or home support worker — or planning to — you need to know that the federal route most caregivers had counted on is closed for now. The Home Care Worker Pilot Canada paused intake on December 19, 2025, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has since confirmed that the pilots will not reopen in March 2026 as previously announced. There is no new opening date.

I have spoken with several caregivers this month who assumed they could simply “wait until March” and submit their PR file. That plan no longer works. But it does not mean your road to permanent residence is closed — it means we shift to a different set of doors.

What IRCC Actually Announced

According to the official IRCC notice, both streams of the Home Care Worker Immigration pilots are affected:

• Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot (Child Care) — NOC 44100
• Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot (Home Support) — NOC 44101

IRCC says interest in the pilots continues to exceed the spaces available, and the pause is part of the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan recalibration. The department will continue to process applications already received but is not accepting new ones. No alternative federal caregiver pathway has been announced.

What This Means for Caregivers

Many countries have long been a major source of home child care providers and home support workers in Canadian households. If you already have an application in the queue, keep your documents current and respond promptly to any IRCC request — your file is still moving. If you do not have a file in, you cannot get into the federal pilot right now. That is the hard fact.

The good news: caregiver work is still in demand across provinces, and several provincial and regional programs continue to invite caregivers under different occupation lists. Your job now is to qualify under one of those routes — not to wait.

Action Steps: Five PR Routes Still Open to Caregivers in 2026

1. Check whether your work fits NOC 33102 instead. If your duties include clinical tasks — taking vital signs, assisting with medication, transferring patients, working under a nurse’s supervision — you may actually be working as a Nurse Aide, Orderly, or Patient Service Associate (NOC 33102), which is a TEER 3 healthcare occupation. NOC 33102 is included in the Express Entry Healthcare and Social Services category-based draws. Many caregivers technically meet 33102 but list themselves under 44100/44101 out of habit. Get the duties on your reference letter audited by an RCIC before you assume.

2. Look at British Columbia’s Care stream. On May 6, 2026, BC PNP issued 117 invitations to priority healthcare workers and 86 invitations to early childhood educators under its new Care pillar. If you are in BC on a closed work permit, register in the Skills Immigration pool and watch the next monthly draw.

3. Use Ontario’s Employer Job Offer streams — but watch the May 30 deadline. Ontario’s current OINP streams are being revoked on May 30, 2026 under the Ontario Immigration Act amendments. Until replacement pathways are published, foreign workers in eligible occupations should file before that date if possible.

4. Consider the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP). Several designated rural communities — including some in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta — list home support and child care occupations on their priority lists. The CLB requirement is as low as CLB 4 for TEER 4/5 occupations, which makes RCIP one of the more accessible PR routes for caregivers willing to move outside major cities. We covered RCIP in detail in yesterday’s post.

5. Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP). If a designated employer in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Prince Edward Island offers you a position in healthcare or community support, AIP can still nominate you — though New Brunswick has paused accommodation and food service endorsements and is not currently designating new employers.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do not submit a Home Care Worker pilot application now. It will be returned. Do not pay any consultant or recruiter promising “fast-track” placement under the pilots — those promises are not real while intake is closed. And do not assume a tourist visa to Canada with the plan to find a caregiver job on arrival will work; you will be without status and your future PR file will suffer.

If you are in Canada now on a closed work permit, your priority is protecting your status: track your expiry, file extensions on time, and start building your PNP or RCIP file at least six months before your permit ends.

Where to Go From Here

The pause on the Home Care Worker Pilot is real, but it does not end your immigration plan — it changes the route. The right next step depends on your NOC code, your province, your language scores, and how much time is left on your current status. Every caregiver’s file is different, and the wrong choice now can cost you years.

Book your free assessment to discuss your options.