'Dreams being lost' as many shut out of IRCC's permanent residency pilot, consultant says
IRCC says more than 45,000 applications were initiated but only 4,950 got in
Ghinger Marie Lastimosa wanted to become a Canadian permanent resident so she could keep working as a home support worker for Scarborough seniors without having to worry about her work visa expiring.
This week, she got bad news.
Lastimosa, a registered nurse in the Philippines who moved to Canada in 2022, is one of tens of thousands of people who went online to apply for one of the limited spots in the federal government's Home Care Worker pilot program at 10 a.m. on Monday.
She said she was met with hours-long technical glitches in the online portal before it shut down and was unable to upload her documents. Lastimosa now fears she'll lose her job when her work permit expires next year, and she and her husband will have to leave Canada.
"This was my only chance," Lastimosa said.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) launched its latest pilot on Monday, and Lastimosa wasn't the only one to flag serious problems with the website. Immigration experts say thousands of experienced home workers like Lastimosa didn't have an opportunity to apply because of IRCC's website slowdown.
Kevin Thibbles, an immigration consultant, told CBC News the program "froze" as he tried to apply on behalf of six clients.
He said he was only able to successfully apply for two of his clients.
"The whole portal froze and we were not able to get in," Thibbles said.
"It was very unfortunate to just let them know that we couldn't upload their documents and we missed the whole submission and it was very frustrating."
Sharing that news with his clients was difficult, Thibbles said.
"They actually broke down and started crying … it was very, very sad," he said, adding that he worries people with only six months of training were able to take up spots compared to his clients with more than five years of Canadian work experience.
IRCC's pilot invited home-care workers to apply on a first come, first served basis.
The pilot was capped at 2,750 applications — 2,475 online and 275 by mail — in each of its two streams – one for child-care workers, the other for home support workers.
On Monday, more than 45,000 people tried to apply but the limited spots filled in just over four hours, the IRCC said in an emailed statement to CBC Toronto.
"We understand that people who were not able to submit an application are disappointed. Unfortunately, demand for this pathway is greater than spaces available," spokesperson Remi Lariviere said.
Manan Gupta, another immigration consultant, expressed concerns that workers are being denied a chance at permanent residency at a moment when their skills are in demand, particularly in Ontario.
Even though IRCC says another round of applications will open next year, Gupta says many workers might not be able to use that opportunity.
"Many of the deserving candidates will become undocumented. They will be out of status. They will not be able to work in Canada," he said.
"It leaves a lot of dreams being crushed, dreams being lost."
The province of Ontario has said it needs nearly 51,000 new personal support workers (PSWs) by 2032, and those in the industry say pilot programs like these are key.
Gupta and other immigration experts say they are left questioning why IRCC is not implementing a merit-based system to fill that gap.
Applicants only needed to have six months of recent work experience or have completed six months of training, compared to last year when two years of work experience was required, according to IRCC. The language proficiency requirements were also lower, and all applicants needed a valid job offer from a private home or from an eligible organization that hires home-care workers.
Lariviere said the IRCC lowered the eligibility requirements to accommodate workers who were not able to meet the criteria for previous pilots. The first-come, first-served approach "strives towards providing equal opportunities to anyone who meets the qualifications," it said.
Thibbles says IRCC should have let everyone apply and then access applications based on merit.
Gupta agrees.
"People like Ghinger who had multiple years of experience, have been left out due to technical glitches," he said.
"On a comparative basis, a six-month training or six-month experience holder who was able to use the fastest finger first or who was able to be in a stable Internet area was able to submit."
Lariviere said "the annual application intake caps … are an important measure for managing pilot program inventory sizes and wait times."
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