Here’s everything Migrant Care Workers need to know about NEW immigration announcements!
Migrant care workers, we won many of our demands, but too many of us are excluded! Last week, the federal government announced a new PR program, and updates about the backlog and the pilot program. These changes happened because migrant care workers got noisy! We signed petitions, spoke in the media and on social media. But we know that if the government did this, they can do more. No more partial solutions! Keep organizing and calling for full and permanent immigration status for all now! We can get the government to make even better rules.
Right now, the government wants to cool us down, but the truth is that we can’t. We need to keep getting louder for status for all!
Two years ago, the government announced that they will fix problems for us care workers when they created the Interim Pathway Program. But nothing was fixed – all it did was create a backlog. Now again they have made new announcements, but we still don’t have PR and continue to be separated from our families. We cannot stop being noisy until we ALL have PR for us and our families.
With the announcement of the new PR program, many of us are panicking. We are searching for English exams, trying to get documents from back home, and it’s creating a lot of stress. So here’s a quick summary of what you need to know and do:
- If you already applied for PR under the Interim Pathway Program (and completed 12 months of work) or under the other two caregiver pilot programs (and have completed 24 months of work), do not reapply under the new PR program announced on April 14th.
- The government has announced that they will clear the backlog and the new PR program won’t get you PR faster. But the government has only promised to process 6000 applications by the end of the year, even though there are over 12,000 applications already in the backlog! So even with this promise, we have to wait. Many of us still don’t have open work permits. We must continue to call for PR for all of us.
- If you are a Home Support Worker who hasn’t applied for PR and you have CLB Level 5 and the educational accreditation, you should apply under the current Home Support Worker Pilot Program.
- This is because the new PR program announced on April 14th is small and spots will fill up quickly. This program is not just for migrant care workers, but also for other essential workers. It is many people’s only chance at getting PR and being reunited with their families, so if you don’t need to apply, then don’t. For the Home Support Worker Pilot Program, the government announced that 516 out of 2750 applications have been made so far in 2021, so you are safer applying under the Home Support Worker Pilot Program. But we know getting PR is difficult, and we are still being mistreated at work, so we must keep fighting for status for all!
- If you don’t have the educational accreditation OR you are unable to get past CLB Level 4 OR you are a Home Child Care Worker and have 12 months of work experience, you should try to apply through the new PR program announced on April 14th. Click here to see if you are eligible for the new PR program and learn how to apply.
- But you should know that there are only 50,000 spots in the new PR program and hundreds of thousands of people will be trying to apply. Many of us are having issues booking our English test because the IELTS and CELPIP websites have crashed or spots are filling up. Some of us don’t have valid work permits or implied status, have lost our immigration status or are having problems finding a job – which means we may not qualify for this program. Even if you are eligible, keep raising your voice for landed status for ALL.
- The new PR program will open on May 6th and will be open until the spots are full or until the cap is met.
- The government also announced that as of April 30th, the Home Child Care Provider Pilot Program has reached its cap of 2750 applications. Because of this, you should consider applying under the new PR program announced on April 14th if you are eligible.
As you can see, too many of us are excluded. We continue to be tied to our employers and be mistreated. We continue to be separated from our families. All of us want status, so why can some apply and not others? The government promised us PR, so why are we still waiting? Our message is clear: We are done waiting. We will not accept anything less than Status for All NOW! These changes are good, but not good enough, we will keep organizing! Sign our petition: www.LandedStatusNow.ca.
Migrants win path to Permanent Residence! We want Status for All!
10 months ago today we began our campaign for full and permanent immigration status for all. Today, migrants won a major victory. At least 90,000 more people and their families will get permanent resident status!
Click here to see if you qualify!
Migrants bravely spoke up about injustice and forced the federal government to acknowledge that permanent resident status is necessary to be able to access or assert basic rights. Today’s announcement proves that the federal government can change immigration rules. Full and permanent immigration status for all in the country and permanent resident status on arrival for all in the future is possible and we will not stop until we win it. Nothing less is acceptable. Your support has been crucial in this victory and we ask you to recommit to this fight.
Today’s announcement creates a partial and short-term opening to PR for some but does not change the fundamentally temporary nature of the immigration system. Each year hundreds of thousands of people come with temporary permits. The new program only includes migrants with select work experience and denies status to anyone who is unemployed, even in an economic downturn.
All undocumented migrants – over 500,000 people – are excluded from this new program, despite the essential work many are doing in our communities. It is the temporary immigration system that has pushed our communities out of status, and it is the same immigration system that continues to keep us out.
The new program includes English language requirements which will exclude many groups of workers and entire communities. Many migrants who otherwise could meet the language requirements will be scrambling to get testing and accreditation done during this short window because of COVID-19 related shutdowns.
It is crucial that in this moment we assert that all of us are essential. All migrants, no matter what kind of work we do, waged or unwaged, must be included. Permanent resident status is not a gift or a prize to be earned – it is the only way to ensure equality of rights and access to basic services. Anything less permits and produces inequality.
If you are a migrant who fulfills the criteria below you may be able to apply for permanent resident status. But remember, we won this because of collective action, and we cannot stop until we win STATUS FOR ALL.
Here’s what migrants are saying
“For us undocumented migrant workers, we know that our work is truly essential. So it is disappointing to see that in this announcement we are excluded. When the government does not address the temporary migrant workers program’s fundamental issue, these changes, although welcomed, indeed fall short of the aspirations of ALL migrants and advocates. It simply reinforces the existing neoliberal agenda within the Canadian immigration system.”
– Marisol B. Migrante Canada
“Undocumented people like me work on the frontlines in long-term care homes, caring for the sick and the elderly, and in many other essential jobs. Why are we being excluded? Without permanent resident status, we are shut out of healthcare, even the COVID19 vaccine, we can’t defend ourselves against bad bosses, and we live in constant fear of detention and deportation”.
– Lily, Caregivers Action Centre
“For the first time, some seasonal agricultural workers may have a path to permanent resident status, but the requirement for passing a high level English test excludes the majority of us. This is discrimination. They call us essential, but they continue to exclude us. We demand status for all.”
– Gabriel Flores, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
“As essential workers we do permanent work and therefore we should be granted FULL and PERMANENT IMMIGRATION STATUS so we can bring our family the soonest in Canada and be reunited, especially with our children who needed our guidance as their parents. We give so much of our life to improve Canada’s economy by serving our Canadian employers with the best of our service even though we missed our family back home. We shouldn’t wait any longer – full and permanent immigration status for all migrants now!”
– Judy, Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights
“The immigration program announcement excludes migrant student workers like me who do not meet these narrow and arbitrary requirements. We have seen over and over that the government can make changes but is choosing not to make the necessary changes that we all deserve. All migrant and undocumented people deserve full and permanent immigration status! “
– Sashanna, Migrant Students United
Details of the program announced on April 14, 2021
On April 14, 2021, the federal government announced the creation of a new short-term program for permanent residency. To qualify for the program, you must meet all of the following criteria:
- You must be working at the time of application. You must be authorized to work or be eligible to restore your work authorization. You do not necessarily need to be employed in the sector through which you qualify for the program. Self-employed work in any qualifying sector does not count.
- You must have temporary status in Canada. Most refugee claimants with work permits do not have temporary status. Undocumented people are excluded.
- If you are applying through Stream A or B, you must have 12 months (1560 hours) of accumulated work experience in the previous 3 years in the qualifying sectors.
- If you are applying through Stream A or B, you must prove CLB Level 4 language competency. If you are applying through the educational stream, you must prove CLB Level 5.
- You must not be inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
- You must be inside Canada, and cannot reside in Quebec. If you are in Quebec, you can apply but you must prove that you will not continue to live in Quebec.
- You must file a complete application online, and pay fees (approximately $1,133) when you apply.
- The streams are:
- STREAM A & B: 20,000 spots for temporary workers in 40 occupations in health care and 30,000 spots for temporary workers in 95 selected essential occupations including caregiving and food production and distribution. Click here for list of occupations.
- EDUCATIONAL STREAM: 40,000 spots for international students who have graduated with a minimum 8 month degree from a university, or a 16 month certificate or diploma from a Canadian college in the last 4 years, but no earlier than January 2017. You do not need any work experience for these two avenues. If you completed an education term shorter than the 16 month certificate, but your education led to a skilled trade you are also eligible. You must have met the conditions of your study permit throughout your studies. Click here for list of occupations and more details.
- French-speaking or bilingual candidates outside of Quebec are eligible through the same streams but do not have a cap on spots. See more here and here.
Applications will open on May 6 and will remain open for six months or when the caps are reached. Other final details will only be available when the program opens on May 6th.
If you do not qualify for this program, do not lose hope. This program was only created because migrants spoke up, we must continue to raise our voice to call for full and permanent immigration status for all.
We created an app to help you see if you are eligible, click here.
No More Waiting! PR Now for All!
Have you been waiting for months to hear back about your PR application? Have you taken multiple English exams? Are you unable to apply for PR because of educational requirements? Have you become undocumented because of unfair immigration rules? You can do something about this unfairness! Join other migrant care workers by signing this petition: No More Waiting! PR Now for All!
Sign the Petition: www.LandedStatusNow.ca
The government keeps promising change, yet nothing happens. But if thousands of care workers and supporters speak up by adding our names to this petition, we can make the Prime Minister and the Immigration Minister fix the rules. Sign now: www.LandedStatusNow.ca.
Share this link on Facebook, WhatsApp, or WeChat and encourage all your friends and family members to add their name: www.LandedStatusNow.ca.
Since the beginning of January, hundreds of migrant care workers have joined meetings, filled out surveys, and spoken up about our concerns. Together, we came up with these demands to solve our problems:
- Landed status now for all care workers in the country
- No more waiting for PR processing
- No English language requirements
- No education accreditation requirement
- No more tied work permits
- Reunite families
Sign now! United, we are stronger!
Job Posting: Organizer, Migrant Student Workers
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) is a member-led organization that is building racialized, low-waged, worker power to win migrant justice. Our areas of focus include current and former international students in low-waged work through our Migrant Students United campaign (MSU).
We are seeking an experienced Punjabi speaking community or labour organizer to join the MSU team. This organizer will support the self-organization of migrant student workers in the Greater Toronto Area, in order to win changes to immigration and labour policy.
If this is you, get in touch!
Job posting: Finance & Operations Administrator (Part-time)
Are you extremely well-organized? Do you have experience with financial management for a non-profit? Can you track and respond to multiple project requests simultaneously? Are you a go-getter that can make things happen? Can you be the anchor in a fast-paced, constantly changing work environment? Are you committed to migrant justice? Then, we are looking for you!
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is a member-led organization that is building racialized, low-waged workers power to win migrant justice. As our work and campaigns have grown, we are in need of a meticulous Finance & Operations Administrator who can keep us on track, make sure things don’t fall through the cracks, and support our membership-led work and campaigns.
#MigrantsFeedUs
Every year the agri-food big business lobby, funded by the Canadian government, organizes Canadian Agriculture Day to celebrate “Canadian agriculture and food and the people who produce it”. But the celebrations leave out the racialized migrant agricultural workers without whom none of us could eat.
This year, the lobby day is on February 23, primarily on Twitter & Instagram using the hashtag #CdnAgDay. So migrant farm workers across Canada, as well as throughout Mexico and the Caribbean, are taking over the hashtag with their message: WE FEED YOU.
Show your support by posting online with pictures of food and forks, using #CdnAgDay + #MigrantsFeedUs + #StatusforAll. Let’s reveal the truth about who feeds us and join in migrant farm workers’ fight for equal rights and justice. Follow all day on February 23 at @MWACCanada and @MigrantWorkersAlliance.
You can also use these images to post on February 23rd.
Over 27,000 people invited to apply for permanent residency! #StatusforAll
In February 2021, over 27,000 people were invited to apply for permanent residency in the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draw under Express Entry. That is a massive 440% increase in invitations. The points required were also lowered – the minimum cut-off score was 75, compared to the high 400s from the two previous CEC rounds.
This decision to send out over 27,000 invitations to apply (ITAs) comes just a month after we stopped the mass deportation of 52,000 people and helped win a historic change for post graduate work permit holders.
This is good news for some. But there is more to be done. Some who received invitations to apply (ITAs) are worried that we won’t eventually be confirmed for permanent residency due to unclear and restrictive immigration rules. Even greater are the many who migrant student workers who are still left out, particularly those who work in low-waged essential industries.
Clearly, time after time, we see the federal government is responding to our call. It is evident that they can make changes to unfair and arbitrary rules that have never made sense, and they can make any and all change when they want. So let us be loud and clear: ALL MIGRANT AND UNDOCUMENTED PEOPLE DESERVE FULL AND PERMANENT IMMIGRATION STATUS, without exclusion and without exemption.
Nobody should be left behind! We reiterate our calls for change to:
- VALUE ALL WORK TOWARDS PR: Count work that is part-time, in-school, and in any occupation (including NOC 0, A and B) towards PR;
- FIX RULES AROUND WORK: Remove time-limits and industry restrictions on work;
- ENSURE REAL ACCESS TO PR: Make post-graduate work permits renewable; Lower points requirements for PR (CRS); ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants.
- UNITE FAMILIES: Allow families to travel; Ensure work permits for family members.
- LOWER TUITION AND ENSURE FULL SERVICES: Work with provincial partners to ensure migrant students pay domestic tuition; and have full access to all services including healthcare, housing, jobs, scholarships, pandemic emergency benefits, and in-school support; Ensure immediate access to Social Insurance Numbers.