From Monday’s Globe and Mail

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s plan to accept 10,000 more skilled workers into Canada next year is a sound one, and so is the government’s overall target of 255,000 newcomers. Some other changes make less sense, and may be motivated by politics, more than economics.

Mr. Kenney acknowledged that the seven-year backlog to sponsor grandparents and parents has become unmanageable, and announced a two-year moratorium on applications. In the meantime, however, he will increase the quota by 10,000 over two years, to 25,000, and introduce a two-year multiple-entry visitor’s visa for these family members.

To compensate, there will be a lower quota in other categories, including live-in caregivers. The target is 8,000-9,300, compared to 10,500-12,500 in the past two years.

Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Why would a country with a declining fertility rate and the expected mass retirements of baby boomers want to recruit yet more older people? “The government has it backwards,” says Sergio Karas, an immigration lawyer.

While family reunification is a goal for Canada’s immigration program, family-class newcomers already make up two-thirds of all those accepted. Parents and grandparents are unlikely to create economic growth and will have more health needs.

Live-in caregivers are a category that should be expanded. They perform a key role in the labour market: caring for children in a country with no national daycare policy, and looking after the elderly. There is already a shortage of quality care for the aged, a problem that will grow in years to come with the country’s demographic shift.

Canada’s live-in caregiver program is unique in the world, and allows caregivers to apply for permanent residency after living with a family for two years, caring for either children or the aged. It has real weaknesses, such as long application-processing times, abusive employers and nannies being recruited for “fake” jobs, but the program itself remains sound.

The government would be wise to put resources into having it run more smoothly, and make sure that well-qualified caregivers are recruited to bona fide jobs and that their permanent residency applications are processed in a timely fashion. As the population ages, Canada will need more of them.

On April 1, 2011, Service Canada has introduced new rules and regulations under the ’Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).
In order to keep you up to date with the relevant changes that may concern your employment of a foreign caregiver, please note the following:

1. Any contract / work permit extension required to continue the employment of your present caregiver for another year (or more) must be processed 6 months ahead of the date of expiry of the present work permit.
The procedures with Service and Immigration Canada will take approx. 6 months to complete.
Note: If the caregiver has already applied for a permanent residence status, asking Immigration Canada to provide an ‘Open visa’, there is no need to apply for a new work permit as long as the caregiver will continue working for the same employer.

2. The B.C. provincial government have already announced the new minimum wage rate that applies for the live-in caregiver program in B.C.:

• a. Effective May 1, 2011, the minimum wage in BC is $8.75 gross per hour
• b. Effective November 1, 2011 the rate will climb to $9.50 per hour
• c. Effective May 1, 2012 the rate is set to be $10.25 per hour

Note: The room & board deduction has not changed – $325.00 monthly ($150.00 bi-weekly).

Live-in caregivers are covered by the Employment Standards Act and Regulation.  These provisions include overtime pay, statutory holidays and holiday pay, annual vacations and vacation pay, and minimum wage.

As of May 1, 2011, minimum wage increased to $8.75 per hour. There are two scheduled increases as follows:

• November 1, 2011 – $9.50 per hour ;
• May 1, 2012 – $10.25 per hour.

A foreign live-in caregiver work permit process can be quite a challenge for anyone to complete, especially for working individuals who don’t know the system and all its regulations. Dealing with different government from Revenue to Immigration and with Labour and Service Canada in between can be a frustrating long road. Just recently new regulation requiring more paperwork were introduced by the Federal Labour Ministry to the long lasting foreign workers program and more are most likely to come.

This is when you need a professional to take over the complicated task. All you have to do is pick-up the phone and call Paragon Personnel who have done it hundreds of times before and know all the in’s and out’s of the system. Just provide the information and your blessing in the form of signature  and leave the rest for the pros. We will do it all from A to Z until the work permit is issued.

Recently the federal government introduced some new regulations regarding the Live-in Caregiver Program to be implemented as of April 1, 2010. As owner operator or a nanny agency for the last 30 years, Paragon Personnel Ltd., I wonder if this was a pure coincidence that they chose this April fool’s day for the change….

If the Government is trying to eliminate exploitation of foreign worker in Canada, it has done absolutely nothing to achieve its goals. In fact, it just overburdened its own citizens with no help to the workers. Single parents, seniors and low income families are now told that they must pay thousands of dollars more for the same service with no expectation for a return on their investment. Moreover, I asked Immigration Canada what protection do employers have against caregivers who desert their employer a short time after their arrival in Canada for no good reason. The answer was: “you have to take your own risk…”

So, you offer a job to a foreign worker, you pay the agency fee, the air fare for your nanny, 3 months medical coverage insurance. You wait 5 months for her arrival, you met all conditions agreed upon in your employment contract, and you did everything as required.  But, unfortunately you live in a small town and the nanny wants to be in the big city so she tells you: “I am sorry but …” and you have no power to enforce your contract or get your money back.

Well, thank you Minister Kenny, you have done a great service to the foreigners and a very lousy one to your fellow Canadians. This may be April fools, honorable Minister, but we are no fools.

Ottawa urged to scrap live-in caregiver program

(According to Kelowna.com or follow the link: http://www.kelowna.com/2009/12/24/ottawa-urged-to-scrap-live-in-caregiver-program/)

“Advocates for immigrant nannies are calling on Ottawa to scrap a program that has allowed tens of thousands of women to immigrate to Canada.

In a bid to address problems of overwork and underpayment in the field, Ottawa is proposing changes to the live-in caregiver program, which allows the mostly Filipina workers to apply for permanent residence after working as domestic help for two years. Changes include a mandatory contract with duties, benefits, hours and holidays, having employers pay for travel to Canada and increasing the time to complete the two-year requirement to four years.

The program traps Filipina women in low-pay jobs where they’re vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and keeps women separated from their families, advocates from the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. said Wednesday.

Gloria Remirata, who became a live-in caregiver in 2000, was separated from her three children for six years after leaving them in the Philippines with her sister, which she called “the most difficult decision I made in my life.”

At a conference Wednesday, she wept recalling how she had missed their birthdays and graduations.

Ayex Bathan, separated from her mother for six years, said the program isn’t worth the toll it has on families, calling it exploitative, anti-woman and racist.

Advocate Leah Diana said Ottawa should remove the requirements that caregivers live at their employers’ home, work for two years before applying for residence and be contracted to a specific employer. Caregivers should be allowed to immigrate as permanent residents with their families to fill shortages in domestic work in the same way other immigrant workers can to work in other fields, they said.

But Paragon Personnel owner Ed Carmona said killing the program would put an end to a fast-track immigration process for unskilled workers who couldn’t otherwise qualify to immigrate to Canada and deprive Canadians of nannies.

“You tell me how many Canadians would be willing to be a live-in nanny for minimum wage of $8 an hour?” he said.

He said if they didn’t live in, they couldn’t afford the rent on minimum wage, and a $15 hourly wage would make nannies prohibitively expensive for average families.

Email reporter Susan Lazaruk at slazaruk@theprovince.com”

The official newspaper of the Government of Canada, “Canada Gazette”, published “Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations” with changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program:

It is proposed that all live-in caregivers no longer be required to complete a medical examination when they apply for permanent
residence. Instead, the medical examination completed to qualify for the initial work permit/temporary residence as a live-in caregiver
would be assessed for excessive demand in anticipation of the applicant applying for permanent residence under the LCP
rather than just for temporary residence.

By eliminating one of the two medical examinations and requiring that live-in caregivers, at the time of their application for a work permit, be assessed with a long-term view in anticipation of their application for PR status under the LCP, administrative processes would be streamlined and cost savings for live-in caregivers could be achieved. The examination at the work permit/temporary resident stage would continue to screen for infectious disease and the chance of contracting such a disease after arriving in Canada would be minimal.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION REGULATIONS

1. Section 30 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations1 is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):

Exception (2.1) A foreign national who has applied for permanent resident status and is a member of the live-in caregiver class is not required to submit to a medical examination under subsection (1).

2. (1) The portion of paragraph 113(1)(d) of the Regulations before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following:

(d) they entered Canada as a live-in caregiver
and for at least two of the four years immediately
following their entry or, alternatively, for at least
3,900 hours during a period of not less than
22 months in those four years,

(2) Subsection 113(2) of the Regulations is replaced
by the following:
Calculation (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(d),
(a) the periods of two years and 3,900 hours may
be in respect of more than one employer or
household, but may not be in respect of more
than one employer or household at a time; and
(b) the 3,900 hours are not to include more than
390 hours of overtime.

For more info go to http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2009/2009-12-19/pdf/g1-14351.pdf.

The federal government announced steps Saturday to better safeguard foreign caregivers from abuse and exploitation, but opposition critics said the changes Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is proposing won’t provide full protection.

The revised regulations stem from months of consultations with caregiver groups, and Kenney expressed hope they will allow a better life for people who come to Canada to become nannies.

“To ensure they’re not subject to abusive situations, to ensure they’re not exploited by unscrupulous consultants and to ensure they have a fair, clear pathway to permanent residency,” Kenney told a news conference.

Among the changes Kenney is planning to the Live-in Caregiver Program is elimination of the requirement for caregivers to undergo a second medical exam.

The measure was proposed by Juana Tejada, a Toronto nanny who developed cancer while working as a caregiver and was initially denied permanent resident status when she failed her second medical examination.

The changes would also give nannies up to four years to complete a total of two years’ work needed to apply for landed-immigrant status. Currently the limit is three years.

The government hopes the change will prevent events like pregnancies or loss of employment from stopping live-in caregivers from meeting government requirements.

Those wanting to hire a nanny from overseas would have to pick up the cost of bringing them to Canada and provide medical coverage until the nannies are eligible for provincial health plans. They would also have to pay any fees to recruiters, Kenney said.

“No longer will caregivers be paying people to get the jobs to work in Canada,” Kenney said.

The government is also going to require caregivers’ employers to clearly outline job duties, hours of work, overtime and holidays, sick leave, and termination and resignation terms.

Employers who provide significantly different wages, working conditions or occupations than they promised may be blacklisted.

The public will have 30 days to comment on the changes before the final version takes effect sometime next year. (According to CTV News)