Terms to Assist with Program Eligibility

Canadian citizen: A person who acquired Canadian citizenship at birth (Canadian citizen at birth) or a person who was not a Canadian citizen at birth but acquired Canadian citizenship through the citizenship application process (Canadian citizen by naturalization).1

Convention Refugee: A person who is outside his/her home country or the country where he/she normally lives, and who is unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership of in a particular social group, such as women or people of a particular sexual orientation.2

Federal Skilled Worker (FSW): A person who is selected as a permanent resident based on his/her education, work experience, knowledge of English and/or French, and other criteria that have been shown to help the person become economically established in Canada.

Live-in Caregiver: A person who was approved to participate in the Live-in Caregiver Program at a visa office outside of Canada and has a valid work permit to work as a live-in caregiver for children, seniors or the disabled with an employer in Canada.3

Ontario resident: A person who lives in Ontario and can show a home address in Ontario.

Permanent Resident (formerly "landed immigrant"): A person who has acquired permanent resident status by immigrating to Canada, but is not yet a Canadian citizen. Permanent residents have rights and privileges in Canada even though they remain citizens of their home country. In order to maintain permanent resident status, they must fulfill specified residency obligations.4

Protected person/Person in need of protection: A person whose removal to his/her home country or country where s/he normally lives would subject him/her personally to a danger of torture, a risk to his/her life, or a risk to cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. In Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) decide who is a Protected Person. If the IRB determined a person to be in need of protection or a Convention refugee or a person received a positive decision on his/her Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) from CIC, that person is a Protected Person and may apply for permanent residence with this application.5

Provincial Nominee: A person who has been nominated for permanent residence as part of the Provincial Nominee Program (PN) because s/he is someone who meets the specific labour market needs of a province/territory. Provincial nominees tend to fall into five cluster: skilled workers; semi-skilled workers; business/investors; international student graduates; and family/ community connections.6

Refugee claimant: A person who has made a claim for protection as a refugee. This term is more or less equivalent to asylum-seeker and is standard in Canada, while asylum-seeker is the term more often used internationally.7

  1. Statistics Canada definition
  2. Citizenship Immigration Canada
  3. Citizenship Immigration Canada - Guide 5290 Live-in Caregivers
  4. Citizenship Immigration Canada
  5. Citizenship Immigration Canada
  6. Citizenship Immigration Canada
  7. Canadian Council for Refugees