OPEN WORK PERMITS FOR CAREGIVERS TAKE LONGER THAN EXPECTED

Open work permits for caregivers very slow in coming. System is not set up to deal with demand.

Toronto News: Nannies waiting longer for open-work permits in Canada - thestar.com


Nannies waiting longer for open-work permits in Canada

May 21, 2012
Nicholas Keung


Catalina Ferano longed for the day she would be free to go where she wants and do whatever job she chooses in Canada.
So after the Filipina nanny fulfilled her two-year obligation as a live-in caregiver last July, she immediately applied for an open-work permit while her application for permanent residency was being processed.
Now, nine months after submitting her application, Ferano’s open permit still hasn’t arrived.
“Without it, I have to continue to work as a live-in caregiver. It’s frustrating,” said Ferano, an architect from the Philippines.
Kay Manuel, of Toronto’s Caregivers Action Centre, said the advocacy group has received a growing number of calls from nannies complaining wait times for the open permit have been creeping up — after a drop at the start of 2012 when Ottawa issued 10,000 permits to desperate caregivers.
“Some of our members called the immigration phone line and they are told to get a new (live-in) employer because CIC doesn’t know how long the open-work permit will take,” said Manuel, who submitted her own application last August and is still waiting.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada said it is not known how many open permit applications are in the queue but there is currently an inventory of 2,367 permanent resident cases through the live-in caregiver program.
“The current inventory of open-work permit applications may be less than 2,367,” department spokesperson Bill Brown said in an email. “The current processing time is 71 days.”
As a result of policy changes, Brown added, live-in caregivers are now eligible for open permits immediately after they apply for permanent residence, instead of waiting until they receive “approval in principle” — a streamlining that can save applicants 18 months.
The live-in caregiver sector has been alarmed by recent comments that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney made recently to the Economic Club of Canada, that the current situation creates “a bit of a revolving door” with nannies being allowed to leave their jobs after two years. Critics worry the government is poised to do away with the option of allowing them to become permanent residents.
Manuela Gruber Hersch, of the Association of Caregiver & Nanny Agencies Canada, said there is a significant caregiver and nanny shortage across the country.
“It is difficult for caregivers to plan their lives without any consistency when to expect their open-work permits,” she said. “It is challenging for families to co-ordinate their childcare needs without any predictability when their caregiver may depart. This makes it extremely difficult and stressful.”
Ana Maria Sanchez applied for her open permit and permanent residency in May 2010. She got her permit in December, but her permanent residence still hasn’t come through.
She came to Canada in 2008 under the caregiver program after spending six years in Hong Kong as a nanny.
“I left my son when he was just 12 months old. He is now already 11,” said Sanchez, a midwife from the Philippines. “I just want to be with my son and my husband.”