Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Peter MacArthur on Tuesday alerted eligible Filipino caregivers on the launching of Canada’s ambitious plan to accelerate caregiver application processing and reunite them with their immediate family members.

“For immediate attention of certain Filipinos who are caregivers,” the Canadian diplomat said in a tweet referring to the plan of Canada’s immigration department to finalize 6,000 caregiver applications for permanent residence by December 31, 2021.

In an announcement last week, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said it will finalize the applications for caregivers who have completed their in-Canada work experience, as well as their immediate family members.

At least 1,500 first-stage decisions on applications for the Home Child care Provider and Home Support pilots are expected to be made by the Canadian immigration by June 30, 2021.

The IRCC admitted that the pandemic has affected their operations, particularly for paper-based applications as office closures resulted in more employees working remotely. The number of mail-in applications processed in 2020 was also significantly reduced.

Canada’s Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said immigrant caregivers, who take care of Canadian families and elders, are often separated from their own families, and the pandemic has significantly slowed down permanent residence application processing, keeping families apart longer than expected.

“With today’s announcement, we’re getting caregiver immigration back on track which will help reunite front-line heroes with their loved ones,” the Canadian immigration official said.

The IRCC is now digitizing the application process to enable them to process the applications it received in 2020 before the end of the year. The Canadian immigration office also assured that caregiver program applicants would receive acknowledgment of receipt letters by May 31, 2021.

It is not known as to how many Filipinos have applied to the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker programs which were launched in 2019.

These pathways aim to provide permanent residence for caregivers under occupation-specific work permits, rather than employer-specific work permits. This means caregivers do not have to be tied to one employer as long as they are still working in their occupation. In 2020, around 2,900 caregivers and their family members became permanent residents under the scheme.