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Live in Caregiver Story…

Recently, I have this client that came to my office, she is a Live in caregiver here in Canada, let’s call her Ana; Ana is married with three children, her husband is unemployed in the Philippines; She arrived in Canada two years ago through the sponsorship of her relative under the live in caregiver program, from Hong Kong where she worked as domestic helper. Before coming to Canada, Ana and her relative had compromised that the relative will help Ana to come to Canada under the live in caregiver program. Ana is aware that this relative will not be paying her salary and the monthly tax remittances to Revenue Canada which will be her responsibility paying for her own taxes. This relative explained to Ana that she can pay her taxes and earn money by working “cash job” through different “factories” that accepts “undocumented workers”. Because Ana agreed with her relatives condition and offer, she accepted with the terms and condition. Ana has been dreaming of coming and bringing her family here in Canada.

So Ana arrived in Pearson Airport excited and full of dreams for her family; on the day she arrived, her relative was not able to pick her up because she was working that day and instead the relative sent a friend to pick her up at the airport. Meanwhile, the Immigration Officer had contacted the relative but the relative cannot be reach. It is a standard operating procedure that whenever the foreign worker arrive at the port or entry, the CBSA officer normally contact the foreign worker’s employer(s) before releasing the foreign worker and issue the work permit; so the Immigration Officer tried again two times and finally the Officer got hold of the relative. This relative informed the officer that she is at work and cannot come; but she sent a friend to pick up Ana from the airport. The Immigration Officer waited for the friend. However this friend that showed up at the airport brought her five year old child with her. When the officer saw the child, this officer suspected that maybe the friend is the employer and not the relative, which created an issue The officer interrogated the friend and the live in caregiver and after an hour of interview, finally Ana was released from the airport without the work permit with the condition that the employer relative must show at the CBSA office in Pearson with 48 hours, so they could issue the work permit.

The following day the relative employer filed a day off and went to the airport with Ana. After an hour of interview, the officer issued Ana’s work permit with a validity of six months only. Ana live with her relative and work as a domestic helper in her relative’s house cleaning the house, takes care of the two school age children, cook for them and work part time in the factory so she could pay her taxes. Before the work permit expired in six months she renewed it again and the renewed work permit was issued this time for eight months. However, Ana noticed that whenever she renewed her work permit, CIC renews it with maximum of eight months. Ana continued working in the factory and still performing her housekeeper responsibility in her relative’s home. Finally, Ana completed her twenty four months of employment from her relative and applied for open work permit and PR status.

A year after submitting the whole application package, CIC sent Ana a letter informing her to report in Toronto office for interview. On the interview, the officer discuss with Ana how they know that she is working illegally in the factory, that they would like to hear the truth from her directly. Initially Ana denied but because the officer gave her the name of the factory and the date she has been working illegally. Ana decided to admit everything.

Because of that Ana was found to be misrepresenting materials facts related to a relevant matter that could have induced an error in the administration of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, by knowingly submitting fraudulent work history information to support her permanent resident application. Therefore, this would render Ana inadmissible – IRPA sec 40 (1)(a), where the foreign national is inadmissible for misrepresentation “For directly or indirectly misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter that induces or could induce an error in the administration of the IRPA” and IRPA sec 41(a) where the foreign national is inadmissible for failing to comply with IRPA. As a result, Ana does not meet the requirements to become a permanent resident.

Where did the CIC obtain the materials facts that were present to Ana? From the access to information files that I received from CIC, one of Ana’s relative sent couple of tip letter to CIC that she is working illegally, since then CIC sent a surveillance to monitor her illegal activities. Clients beware, tips that CIC received in any form are taken seriously by the authority to track down illegal activities of foreign workers and foreign national, specifically if you are out of status.

Rosalie Sulit is a full member of Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC). You can reach me at 905 -5651908 or If you have any immigration related issues or question, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]

Live in Caregiver Story…

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