We have issued labour market opinions and work permits for 39 months from the outset so that the individual caregivers who come into Canada are not obliged to renew their permits on a yearly basis, as was the case in the past. It was an inconvenience to them in terms of client service if they stayed with the same employer and required them to pay a fee each year. That's now no longer the case.
We are working with HRSDC to get a handle on the volumes of requests we're seeing. There was money in Budget 2007 to help deal with improved efficiency in the process, but there are, unfortunately, occasions when people who are between employers are waiting for a new work permit. As I mentioned earlier, if somebody has an approved LMO for a new employer from Service Canada and is then waiting on CIC to issue a new work permit, they are, for all intents and purposes, deemed to be “in status”, and they can continue to work as a caregiver while the work permit is being processed.
