Healthcare and Community Support Barriers Among Newly Arrived Immigrant Family Caregivers With Limited English Proficiency

Immigrant family caregivers are increasingly serving important social and health‐related roles, yet they often remain unpaid and invisible and face numerous challenges in providing care. Newly arrived immigrant family caregivers (NAIFCs) experience compounded marginalization, as the demands of caregiving may intersect with the challenges of resettlement, limited English proficiency, and unfamiliarity with US systems of care—layering additional barriers on top of those already documented among immigrant and family caregiver populations broadly. Yet, little research has examined how these burdens present specifically among caregivers navigating the earliest years of resettlement—a gap this study addresses. This study employed in‐depth, semistructured interviews with 15 immigrant caregivers from diverse countries who had migrated to the United States within the past five years. Data were analyzed using Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory approach, with emergent categories subsequently organized using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems framework. We found that caregivers faced intense pressure to fulfill filial obligations while navigating resettlement. Newly arrived immigrants serving as family caregivers encountered barriers at multiple levels. At the individual level, they described feeling voiceless in the system due to limited English proficiency, as well as emotional strain and guilt for “not doing enough.” At the microsystem level, caregivers reported weak interpersonal emotional support. At the exosystem level, caregivers found help largely by chance through informal community networks and experienced conflict between work and caregiving. Finally, at the macrosystem level, they faced a highly complex health and social service system, compounded by uncertainty surrounding service eligibility and potential consequences. These findings highlight the need for multilevel responses, including multilingual information and navigation support for caregivers, culturally responsive emotional support, partnerships with trusted community organizations, and policies that simplify eligibility, alongside efforts to address the structural barriers NAIFCs face in accessing healthcare services for their elderly loved ones.