Gain work experience

If you meet the requirements, you’ll get an occupation-restricted open work permit to work in Canada temporarily. This work permit lets you work as a caregiver for any employer. You must gain at least 6 months of eligible work experience to qualify for permanent residence.

Occupation-restricted open work permit

With this work permit

• you must work as a home child care provider (NOC 44100) or home support worker (NOC 44101) depending on the pilot you applied to
  • Care must be provided in a private home. The location where you perform the work can’t be an institutional setting such as a daycare or nursing home.
• you can work for any employer that gives you a job offer meeting the above requirements^{Footnote 1}
• your employer doesn’t need a labour market impact assessment to hire you
• you can change employers without getting a new work permit or a new job offer
• your dependents are eligible to apply for an open work permit or a study permit

Get a social insurance number

The social insurance number (SIN) is a nine-digit number that you will need to work in Canada and to access government programs and benefits. You should apply for a SIN as soon as possible after you arrive in Canada.

To apply for your SIN, contact the nearest Service Canada office.

Work experience you need to support your permanent residence application

Your qualifying work experience must

• be in 1 of these NOCs (home child care provider or home support worker)
  • It can’t be a mix of both NOCs.
• match the NOC job description and you must have done most of the main duties listed
• have been gained anytime between the 36-month period before you submitted your permanent residence application and the date you provide proof of work experience
  • You have 36 months from the date we issued your occupation-restricted open work permit to provide your proof of work experience.
  • You don’t need to have worked 6 months in a row, just 6 months total within that period.
• be full-time work
  • Full-time means at least 30 hours of paid work each week.
  • Any week in which you worked less than 30 hours doesn’t count.
  • Any work experience you had while you were a full-time student doesn’t count.
  • Canadian work experience must have been authorized under a work permit, under maintained status or under a public policy.
  • Experience working for a business can also count. However, we’ll only issue you an initial occupation-restricted open work permit if you have a job offer that doesn’t come from a business. Find out the job offer requirements.

Make sure to keep any documents that show you have 6 months of work experience.

Send us proof of your work experience

To avoid processing delays, carefully follow the instructions below to send us your proof of work experience.

Once you’re ready to give us your proof of 6 months of qualifying work experience, you must

• complete the Schedule 19b: Home Child Care Provider or Home Support Worker – Work Experience form [IMM 5910] (opens in a new tab) 
  • You can sign it digitally or by hand.
• send it to us with proof of your qualifying work experience

You must send us your proof within 36 months (3 years) of getting your occupation-restricted open work permit. We’ll make a final decision on your permanent residence application based on the documents you send.

You can only submit your proof of work experience once. If your experience is found to be ineligible, your permanent residence application may be refused. If you need more experience to meet the eligibility requirements, you’ll need to submit a new application under a different program, as the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot are closed.

Review your documents carefully and make sure they’re complete before sending them.

Documents you need for your Canadian work experience

Send us a copy of the following documents to show that you have 6 months of work experience:

• your T4 tax information slips and your notice of assessment (NOA) issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
  • When submitting your tax information, hide or cover your social insurance number (SIN) to protect your personal information.
• reference letters from your employer(s) with this information included:
  • the specific period you were employed (start and end dates)
  • your position
  • a description of your main responsibilities and duties
  • your job’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) code (if you know it)
  • your total annual salary or hourly wage and benefits
  • the number of hours you worked per week
  • your employer’s
    • name and signature
    • full address
    • telephone number
    • email address (if this applies)
    • If your employer was a business, the reference letter should be printed on company letterhead and include the name, title and signature of your immediate supervisor or personnel officer.
• any Record of Employment (ROE) you were issued
  • Your employer is required to provide an ROE to you if you stop working for them.

You can also include any pay stubs, work contracts or job offers.

Documents you need for your foreign work experience

Send us a copy of the following mandatory documents to show that you have 6 months of work experience:

• reference letters from your employer(s) with this information included:
  • the specific period you were employed (start and end dates)
  • your position
  • a description of your main responsibilities and duties
  • your job’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) code (if you know it)
  • your total annual salary or hourly wage and benefits
  • the number of hours you worked per week
  • your employer’s
    • name and signature
    • full address
    • telephone number
    • email address (if this applies)
    • If your employer was a business, the reference letter should be printed on company letterhead and include the name, title and signature of your immediate supervisor or personnel officer.
• proof that you received payment for your work, such as
  • copies of bank deposits showing salary payments for the period of qualifying work experience
  • official tax statements
• at least 1 or more of the following:
  • pay stubs
  • work contracts
  • job offers
  • any official documents you were issued when you stopped working for your employer (if this applies)

If you can’t provide a mandatory document, you must include a letter to explain why. Along with this letter, you must also include other relevant proof that you performed the eligible work, such as

• notarized statutory declarations (certified legal documents) about your work experience
• relevant written communications, such as emails, between you and your employer during the period you worked (with a system-generated timestamp).

Remember that it’s up to you to decide at which point during your application process you want to send us your proof of work experience, as long as it’s not more than 3 years after you get your occupation-restricted open work permit.

After we receive proof of your work experience, we’ll make a final decision on your permanent residence based on

• whether your work experience meets the requirement
• whether you’re still admissible to Canada
  • You may have to take another medical exam and submit new police certificates.