Registered nurses from the University of Texas Medical Branch are on hand to greet passengers and answer questions as the Carnival Magic cruise ship docks in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014.
Registered nurses from the University of Texas Medical Branch are on hand to greet passengers and answer questions as the Carnival Magic cruise ship docks in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014. The Carnival Magic arrived on Sunday after a week-long trip with a Dallas hospital lab worker on board who spent much of the cruise in isolation after possible exposure to Ebola. Reuters

Canada will introduce significant changes in its decades-old live-in caregivers or nannies programme. Accordingly, the government is planning to bifurcate the profession into two distinct labour streams. The new changes will take effect from December this year. Post reforms, the intake of foreign nannies and caregivers will also be reduced. The biggest highlight of the reforms will be the removal of the stipulation that caregivers have to live in their employer's home. Under the reforms, this is made optional.

Two Labour Streams

The newly proposed labour streams are Child-care providers and Caregivers attending people with high medical needs. In both programmes, the intake will be 2,750 applications a year, reports Gmanet News. Announcing this, Chris Alexander, Immigration Minister said the reforms would also enhance merit as the stipulations related to minimum language proficiency and education requirements will be strictly enforced in the selection process of caregivers.

The minister said the government decided to improve the Canada's Caregiver Programme after listening to the concerns of caregivers across the country. "The improvements are geared to provide caregivers more pathways towards permanent residence and tools required to achieve more success in the Canadian labour market," Alexander added. Even under the new norms, there will not be much of a change in the eligibility requirements for child care providers. The only change is they do not have to stay in the home of their employer, according to a report in Star News.

In the second stream, there is scope for a slew of health care occupations to open up. It covers categories like nurses, psychiatric nurses, practical nurses, nurse aides, patient service associates and home support workers. They can be hired to provide in-home care or care in a healthcare facility to elderly persons or persons suffering from chronic medical conditions. Alexander noted that the second pathway offers more career options for eligible caregivers and will also take care of the possible labour shortages in the future.

Benefit for Caregivers

The minister claimed that the improvements will help caregivers by way of faster processing, faster family reunion and more pathways on permanent residency and bring about enhanced career success in the Canadian labour market. For the local care givers, the removal of the live-in requirement will be a good news because that will throw open more opportunities in care-giving and ensure higher wages. Alexander said that his immigration ministry will issue permanent resident status to 30,000 eligible caregivers in 2015 and reduce the existing backlog.