Live-in caregiver PR applicants for April,May and June timeline

[rosellyalung]

guys, we should focused first to the slower processing times, i want to send the letter to ctv or cbc, so that they can do something about it.  can we make some surveys who are in BC, or in other place, post where are you from and i will take a note of it thank you!

[sarah cunanan]

I'm in bc

[ying888]

Im a bit worry about the paycheck and stuff because it has been mention in the changes last 2010. http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplaceskills/foreign_workers/communications/lcpnewchanges.shtml "It is expected that employers will ensure that complete and accurate records of work performed, wages paid, and other human resource records are maintained concerning their employment of a foreign national under the Live-in Caregiver Program."
 With taxes, caregivers can file it even no T4. The employer will be audited and will fine. But the long processing time, it's disturbing.. 4-6 months for owp is enough. And they have to do something about "implied status". Most gov't agencies don't know that it exist and really a status.

It's a basical need , as a live-in caregiver is new to Canada , she can't do anything protact herself, even maybe doesn't know where to ask for help , or get some proof for the future. The government only can say sorry when something happened. Income tax deduction is employer's responsibility, how much you get paid, how much income tax should be deducted , all those get down , you only get the net wage , how much depends on your employers , if all made  politically , I don't think so many employers dare to break the law.

[ying888]

I am in bc

[bbggliz]

guys, we should focused first to the slower processing times, i want to send the letter to ctv or cbc, so that they can do something about it.  can we make some surveys who are in BC, or in other place, post where are you from and i will take a note of it thank you!

I agree. It is our principal concern right now.

It's a basical need , as a live-in caregiver is new to Canada , she can't do anything protact herself, even maybe doesn't know where to ask for help , or get some proof for the future. The government only can say sorry when something happened. Income tax deduction is employer's responsibility, how much you get paid, how much income tax should be deducted , all those get down , you only get the net wage , how much depends on your employers , if all made  politically , I don't think so many employers dare to break the law.

@  Ying888  I had the same questions, but I took a payroll course last winter and I learned that everything that I got paid was right.
CPP = $25.02               the employer portion is the same amount = $25.02
EI = $11.04                  Employer portion EI * 1.4 = $15.45
Provincial Tax = $0
Federal Tax = $23.80
Room and Board = $350    So at the end I got close to $200 each week, and of course, working late with no over time. (as many of us)
I paid my Medical bills, my buss pass, my food when I was not at home.

[ying888]

I agree. It is our principal concern right now.
  @   Ying888  I had the same questions, but I took a payroll course last winter and I learned that everything that I got paid was right.
CPP = $25.02               the employer portion is the same amount = $25.02
EI = $11.04                  Employer portion EI * 1.4 = $15.45
Provincial Tax = $0
Federal Tax = $23.80
Room and Board = $350    So at the end I got close to $200 each week, and of course, working late with no over time. (as many of us)
I paid my Medical bills, my buss pass, my food when I was not at home.

My former employer didn't deduct my income tax properly , I complained to CRA ,I provided some working schedule and pay slips that showed she didn't pay me enough , and didn't pay my income tax enough , but one year later I still received a letter from CRA and requred me to pay the income tax that I shorted about 5 hundred. I hope this would not happen to other live-in caregivers who are new canada . Also I hope we count every flaw about this program that make them realize how much we hope to change , how deplorable we are if they keep us wait for long time.

[ying888]

guys, we should focused first to the slower processing times, i want to send the letter to ctv or cbc, so that they can do something about it.  can we make some surveys who are in BC, or in other place, post where are you from and i will take a note of it thank you!

 yeah, I hope they could interview many live-in caregivers and describe our situation and sentiment after they receive our letter .

[ying888]

the comment below was written by an immigration lawyer ,  after April 1st, 2010 , lots of nannies got cheered by the changing , but he wrote this . I hope we could find the meida that could be just like him so that could exactly describe our situation .

They just don't make things like they used to.

For over a century, Canada has been actively recruiting domestic workers (now called live-in caregivers) to work for Canadian families in their homes. According to Professor Audrey Macklin, during the 19th century “[l]ive-in domestic service provided the least desirable type of legal employment open to women. Few [Canadians] were attracted to it, and most left it as soon as possible.” As a result, the “demand always exceeded the supply.”

Today, Canadians continue to refuse to toil as live-in caregivers but the demand for these workers remains high. With our growing elderly population, this demand is expected to increase exponentially in the next few years.

Caregiver advocates have been critical of the various recruitment models adopted by the Canadian government over the years. A recent campaign calls for a return to a model that existed until World War II, when single, white, British women made up the majority of foreign domestic workers recruited. These British women were admitted by immigration authorities as permanent residents. This only changed when the number of European women who were available to work in Canada decreased.

As foreigners from Asia and the Caribbean began dominating the pool of foreign domestic workers, a new recruitment model emerged. Immigration privileges were systematically clawed back to the point where, in 1973, workers were no longer afforded permanent residence before or after arriving in Canada.

After the failings of this recruitment model became known, the immigration department created yet another one. A policy known as Foreign Domestic Movement (FDM) was crafted in 1981 to admit foreign domestics as temporary workers while later affording them an opportunity to apply for permanent residence if certain conditions were met. The department tweaked this “temporary to possibly permanent” recruitment model over the years, but its failings persisted. In 1992, as part of the effort to address those failings, FDM was incorporated into immigration regulations and renamed the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Despite the smoke and mirrors, however, the “temporary to possibly permanent” recruitment model was unchanged, and the problems associated with it persisted.

Until recently, little was done by the governments of the day (federal and provincial) to address the persistent problems foreign caregivers experienced. These problems were not exclusively the result of abusive employers and unscrupulous recruiters. Indeed, many had to do with the difficulty of navigating a complex bureaucratic maze of requirements and procedures contained in supposedly helpful resources, including the immigration department's own instruction manuals, application guides and website information, and inconsistent advice from call-centre agents. This complex system caught many live-in caregivers unawares and, often through no fault of the caregiver, the outcome was an unfair or inhumane refusal.

On April 1 this year, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the implementation of a series of changes to the LCP that were intended to give better protection to foreign caregivers from abuse and exploitation, and to provide them with a fair and equitable path toward permanent residence. On Aug. 18, more changes affecting live-in caregivers were announced, and are to come into force on April 1, 2011.

Despite the rhetoric, however, these changes do not in any way upend the “temporary to possibly permanent” recruitment model that has failed many foreign caregivers for many years. For as long as this flawed recruitment model remains intact, unfair and inhumane outcomes will continue. Moreover, many of these workers will continue to accept work under conditions that fall far below acceptable Canadian standards; many will work with little complaint.

Foreign caregivers will continue to arrive in Canada to work as indentured labourers. For as long as Canada keeps its doors open, thousands will desperately wait in line for the opportunity. To many, our Live-in Caregiver Program represents their only hope of immigrating to Canada and leaving behind a life of abject poverty.

Under the current recruitment model, caregivers will continue to be separated from their spouses and children for three to five years. Caregivers, therefore, do almost anything to avoid delay in getting through this nightmarish program. They will continue to accept substandard working conditions, continue to largely remain silent about abuse and exploitation, and only in very extreme circumstances will they have the desire to expose abuses.

Changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program are meaningless unless the main source of the problem — the recruitment model — is changed. In particular, live-in caregivers should be admitted to Canada as permanent residents. This approach has been called for by caregiver advocates. It has also been called for by scholars. And it has been called for by the Canadian people, whose voices can be heard through their representatives in the House of Commons. It is not “radical,” as it is the same recruitment model once offered to domestic workers — mostly single, white, British women — recruited to Canada up until World War II.

If the government is genuine in its desire to protect foreign caregivers and afford them a fair and equitable path to permanent residence, it is time to adopt the “permanent resident upon arrival” model of old.

 
 

[sarah cunanan]

 @ rosellyalung- what is the latest with migrante? Did they say anything about any immigration lawyer that will work with us and handle this case?

[rosellyalung]

they are waiting for us to group ourselves, i will send the message to you,. check our inbox thank you

[ying888]

they are waiting for us to group ourselves, i will send the message to you,. check our inbox thank you

rosellyalung, could you send their letter  to me too please ?

[icycool]

Hi Girls,
I'm from Vancouver,BC. I didn't complete the program yet just finished a year a few days ago ;P. I wish by the time I apply for PR the processing time will shorter than today. So yes, need to form the group  more people more stranght to let's them hear us. I think if we have Live in caregiver Facebook it's good idea and easy too???

[rosellyalung]

 @ ying888 -i will send it to you, the one that i will send to you will be the one that oksy and i created

[honeysweetie]

I'm from BC too. We should create a Facebook Account. Who do you think can be our Admin for our new FACEBOOK ACCOUNT?

Any suggestions? What can be the Name of our Facebook Account? One should create and then we will just add on the account. Thanks.

[ying888]

I'm from BC too. We should create a Facebook Account. Who do you think can be our Admin for our new FACEBOOK ACCOUNT?

Any suggestions? What can be the Name of our Facebook Account? One should create and then we will just add on the account. Thanks.

it's a great idea ,  but I don't know Facebook very well , asking  an organization for help , talking to media , and facebook , which way can be fast to get a large number of live-in caregivers who would like to strive for what we shoud deserve ?

maybe we should try all the way and see what will happen.