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 the experts 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. They will do it all from A to Z until the work permit is issued.
After all, you have enough on your plate and a little less worries can do you a lot of good.

                          

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)

                          

The Live-in Caregiver Program is a special program whose objective is to bring workers to Canada to do live-in work as caregivers when there are not enough Canadians to fill the available positions.

A live-in caregiver is someone who provides care to children, the elderly or the disabled in a private household.

Successful applicants receive an employment authorization allowing them to work in Canada as live-in caregivers. After two years of employment, which must be completed within three years of the caregiver’s arrival in Canada, program participants can apply in Canada to become permanent residents. They may be granted permanent resident status provided they meet certain requirements.

Do you have more questions? Visit our Forum: CAREGIVERS in CANADA.

There are three main requirements you will have to meet to qualify under the Live-in Caregiver Program:

• Successful completion of the equivalent of a Canadian high school education. This requirement will help to ensure that participants who apply for permanent residence after two years will be able to succeed in the general labour market. Studies indicate that the majority of new jobs in Canada require at least a high school education.
• Six months of full-time training or 12 months of experience in paid employment in a field or occupation related to the job you are seeking as a live-in caregiver. You may have gained your training or experience in early childhood education, geriatric care,pediatric nursing or first aid, to name just a few areas. You may have completed your training as part of your formal education. In order to meet the criteria for experience, you must have completed one year of full-time paid employment, including at least six months of continuous employment with one employer, in that field or occupation. This experience must have been obtained within the three years immediately prior to the day on which you submit an application for an employment authorization to a visa officer.
• Ability to speak, read and understand either English or French. You must be able to function independently in a home setting. For example, you must be able to contact emergency services if required and to understand labels on medication. You will be unsupervised for most of the day and may be put in a position of having to communicate with someone outside the home. A good knowledge of English or French will also enable you to read and understand for yourself what your rights and obligations are.

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