The Live-In Caregiver Program

Update Nov, 2014- Please be advised, some of the laws around this program have now changed. Here's an article describing the changes.

The biggest gift you can give yourself as a single mother is peace of mind. A huge part of that comes from knowing that if you have to be gone long hours earning a living your child is receiving organized, proper care. If you have an extra bedroom and a regular, fairly decent paying job, the federal Live-In Caregiver Program could be a godsend.

You don't have to be rich to hire a nanny through this program; indeed, combined with the Universal Child Care Benefit and the room and board withholding, it's cheaper than daycare. It's also more personal, more supportive of you, and, depending on which country your nanny-to-be comes from, doesn't have to take as long as you think.

Here's how it works: You must first decide whether you're going to find someone yourself or go through a nanny agency. To find a reputable nanny agency in your town, ask people you know who have live-in or full-time caregivers working for them. Or ask caregivers that you know and like which agency brought them over. The nanny agency should have a clean record with the Better Business Bureau and have an employee who is a licensed Immigration Consultant, according to Eva Knof, president and founder of Select Nannies, a nationwide agency that offers discounts to single mothers.

The agency will probably have pictures and bios of potential caregivers, and should, if you wish it, arrange for you to speak to a few on the phone. Nanny agencies charge a fee for finding the nanny and doing the paperwork for you. Based on some companies' websites I've looked at, it should not cost more than $1200. - half up front, the other half when the nanny arrives.

However, according to Service Canada spokesperson Murry Gross there's no reason you can't do the paperwork yourself. Caregivers you know and trust may have like-minded siblings or friends overseas who would like to emigrate; you may have a friend or family member living overseas who can recommend someone. Almost everybody in Canada knows someone who is a recent emigre, particularly if you live in a city, and any one of them may have a family member or friend. You're just as likely to find someone you like this way as having a nanny company charge you for asking the same questions. Again, talk to your potential nanny over the phone, or, if technically possible, arrange for you and your children to have a web cam conversation with her.

Once you have found someone, fill out the Foreign Live-In Caregiver Application form and fax or mail it to your nearest Service Canada office. According to Service Canada's Toronto office you can ignore the recruitment requirement (question #39) on this form because Service Canada has currently identified a shortage of live-in caregivers in Canada.

Approval of your application form can take two to six weeks and is based on having sufficient income to pay your nanny minimum wage, not how many parents live in your household or where you live, according to Citizen and Immigration spokesperson Lisa Borsu. You will not be asked up front for documents proving your income or housing but if they suspect you are not able to pay or house a nanny, they will ask for proof. Once approved, you will receive a confirmation letter (also known as a Labour Market Opinion) which you send, along with a signed contract, to your nanny-to-be in her home country. (You can find sample contracts on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.) Your nanny-to-be will take these two documents and go to the Visa Office of the Canadian Embassy, consulate or mission in her town or region and apply for a work permit. The embassy will give her an English proficiency test, a medical exam and a criminal record check and once she passes those, she gets her work permit and she's on the plane.

Nannies from Hong Kong or Taiwan take one month to get the work permit; nannies from The Philippines take a year, says Knof, adding that The Philippines used to take three years. You can phone or email the Visa Office of the country in which your chosen nanny lives to check waiting times for work permit approval. Each one will be different. As a random sample, the waiting time in Peru is one month if the nanny does her medical while waiting for her Work Permit, two and a half months if she does it after she gets it. (I learned this by calling their number as listed on the Visa Office website and listening to their answering machine).

Your nanny lives with you for two years, after which she qualifies for permanent residency status. The law states that if you do not like the nanny or she doesn't like you, you are not under any obligation to stay together, even though you brought her to Canada. If you use a nanny agency, get them to sign an agreement that if she doesn't work out in the first three to six months, they will find you another free of charge. Like any other Canadian worker, she gets paid overtime for anything over 40 hours a week but, according to Knof, nannies and employers spread the 40 hours over the times when the children need her, arranging her time off when the kids are in school or with you. There are a number of federal labour dispute resources and caregiver associations listed on the Citizenshipship and Immigration Canada website, as well as lots of information about the whole process.

And what's in it for the people who come? In Toronto, I must have known a dozen nannies who came to Canada on this program and were very content with the opportunities it offered. One of them told me that after two years of taking care of an elderly couple through the Live-In Caregiver Program she and her husband made a down payment on a condo. Some are single mothers who might need you as much as you need them. Emigres are encouraged through the program to bring family members over when they qualify for residency status. And, although it represents a huge savings for you, her room and board works out to be a fraction of the price she would pay if she were renting her own place, especially in the cities. According to Knof, 60 percent of whose clientele are single mothers, it's a "win-win" situation.

Of course, there's no guarantee for anything; trust your instincts if something doesn't seem right. But at the same time, single mothers need to search for creative solutions, focus on what can go right with a bold move like this and persevere through the glitches. Is it going to save your job? Is it going to save your sanity? Is it going to save your children's sanity? If so, it's probably worth the effort; indeed, you deserve to run as tight a ship as everyone else. Once she's in place, this is a person whose career for the next few years is watching over your children while you stabilize the world around them.

Painting is Laura would call the little ones by Arthur Rackham; Courtesy ARC