by: Don Collantes, Canadian Immigration Specialist
Are you a registered nurse from the Philippines and currently with a work permit under the live-in caregiver program?
Do you want to apply as an immigrant immediately without having to complete the live-in caregiver program?
If your answer is yes, this article contains further information that is of high interests to you.
Misused Caregiver Program
Many nurses with work experience in the Philippines or even Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Doha, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon, Europe, etc. and with aspirations of migrating to Canada have accepted work permits to Canada under the live-in caregiver program since their nursing background qualifies them as live-in caregivers in Canada, and since the process of securing a work permit took several months, whereas, previously the process of applying as an immigrant directly to Canada took several years.
These nurses, however, once in Canada discovered the hardships of working as a live-in caregiver, which include the separation from their family members, a down-grade in their professions without the opportunity to practice as a nurse for several years, limited income, commonly going above and beyond their duty with little or no incentives and cleaning, which is not a duty of a nurse.
New Action Plan
On November 28, 2008, the newly elected Federal Government of Canada implemented an action plan, wherein, 38 specific professions including nurses will be fast-tracked for Canada since these professions are in high demand in Canada.
The goal of implementing this action plan serves three purposes:
1) To meet the high demand of certain skilled professions in Canada;
2) To reduce the current immigration backlog; and
3) To process immigrant applications within six months to twelve months.
Caregivers with nursing backgrounds are encouraged to take advantage of this new action plan and immediately apply for permanent residence status while continuing to work under the live-in caregiver program in the meantime and without the need of exiting Canada.
Don Collantes is a certified immigration specialist in Toronto, Ontario. You may contact him at his office number 416-733-3605 or email him at chitoc@cwss-canada.com
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