Is it possible to hire a foreign caregiver?

March 7, 2007 11:25 PM

Is it possible to hire a foreign caregiver for my grandparents (USA) who need a live-in caregiver?

They have had limited success over the years with local agencies and various care givers. I currently live in Taiwan, and have noticed that many of the elderly here have live-in caregivers from assorted S.E. Asian countries. The quality of help they receive seems to be better on average.

I suppose this all comes down to an immigration issue, but I haven't had much luck in searching for info.

Thanks!

posted by bhays to health (3 comments total)

Global Woman might be a useful read. Sorry; not a very specific recommendation -- but it might be useful to have an idea of the problems with that industry for the purposes of avoiding same. It does talk a bit about immigration issues, and how one goes about finding that sort of worker.

Any chance you can ask the caregivers there if they have US relatives doing the same thing?
posted by kmennie at 5:28 AM on March 8, 2007

At old age homes I have visited there does seem to be a greater than average amount of recent immigrants working there. The facility my grandmother was in several years ago had several Hmong women but there was a decent sized Hmong population there. I don't know if you would want someone that had difficulties with english though. If there was an emergency that could be a problem.

You will probably have good luck trying to reach some elderly social service agencies in their locality for recommendations. Obviously it would vary by locality with smaller towns having a smaller immigrant population.
posted by JJ86 at 6:04 AM on March 8, 2007

Just some things to consider (IANAL!):

Whether this person would be coming to the US temporarily to work for your grandparents or to immigrate permanently, working for your grandparents in the process, makes a difference. You can find information about green cards for immigration here and information about visas for temporary residence here. It looks like employment-based green cards and visas favour those with university educations and professional employment offers, so I'm not sure how much luck you'd have sending a caregiver to the US.

Taiwan was a country listed in this year's green card lottery(pdf); perhaps if you know someone who wants to immigrate anyway they could sign up for that and the fact that they have an offer of employment with your grandparents when they get to the US will sweeten the deal -- but there's no way to ensure they will be selected for a green card, or that they'll want to work for your grandparents in the long term.

Certainly look into it if it's something you think will benefit your grandparents, but there might be an easier solution. If you're looking for someone southeast Asian in particular, is there a local cultural organization that could put you in contact with someone? Do your grandparents belong to a religious community that might be able to suggest something? It would be a lot less hassle to find someone already in the US rather than bringing someone over.
posted by AV at 7:02 AM on March 8, 2007