Exemption for $1,000 fee to hire foreign nannies, caregivers

Families seeking foreign caregivers to look after their children or family members with a disability will be exempt from paying a $1,000 application fee.

The federal government published new regulations around hiring foreign caregivers  following through on a budget promise to change a system many felt placed an unfair burden on lower income families.

The $1,000 application fee to hire a foreign workers had been implemented in 2014 to address abuses in the broader temporary foreign worker program. But the result was some seeking to use the program to hire caregivers could no longer afford it, given the annual fee was on top of all the other expenses associated with getting help.

The new regulations apply to those who earn less than $150,000 a year and want to hire someone from abroad to look after their children.

Those seeking to hire a caregiver for people with a physical or mental illness will also be exempt from the labour market impact assessment, or LMIA, fee.