Very few employers expressed concern about immigration policies hampering their recruitment of immigrant care workers (see Table IV.1). This is largely due to the situation that these workers are largely either landed immigrants or Canadian citizens. Many of the employers interviewed stated that they did not have anything to do with immigration policies, and that they were uninformed with regard to the current immigration policies influencing the recruitment and retention of immigrant care workers.

The sentiment from many of the employer interviews was that immigrant care workers themselves deal directly with immigration policy issues, and that this does not affect or influence employers. Many employers stated that they only checked to ensure that foreign certifications were issued, and that immigrant care workers had valid Social Insurance Numbers.

The few employers who did have problems (see Figure IV.14) said that they could be resolved by shortening the time it takes to complete paperwork. Also, some employers also feel that foreign credentials ought to be recognized more quickly, and in a more systematic way.

I think sometimes they could be a little quicker on, um, having people’s credentials checked out and whether if they need to do what their educational standards have been and if they need to have them upgrade, then upgrade. But sometimes that whole process takes a long time (BC Employer 9).