How can we travel to Canada with our maid?

Upvote:3

A Canadian visit visa costs C$100. Information about eligibility and how to apply is available here https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eligibility.html Processing times for applications submitted from the UAE are currently 36 days, excluding the time needed to give biometrics https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html

As has been pointed out in comments, bringing a maid on a visit visa and having her work while in Canada would be illegal. Given the circumstances, it may be hard to craft a credible visit visa application that would convince Canadian Immigration that there is no intention to work.

Upvote:13

There are going to be problems here

Immigration Canada says that:

People employed in a personal capacity, for example, as a domestic servant, personal assistant or nanny (caregiver), on a full-time basis by short-term temporary residents generally meet the business visitor criteria in paragraphs R187(3)(a) and (b) and may enter as business visitors.

This means that in general someone can apply to bring a personal domestic worker with them to Canada while they are visiting, provided they work for them full time. You would need to apply for a Visitor Visa in the business category for your maid. That doesn't mean it will be approved. You would need to explain why you needed to bring a maid with you from Dubai, rather than hire one in Canada. Short term maids are easy to hire in Canada.

However there is a significant problem.

The problem is that you are not short-term temporary residents of Canada. You are, according to your question, Permanent Residents (PR). (Since you say you are living in Dubai and only visiting Canada it's possible that this is a mistake in the question, in which case I recommend you edit it, and the problem will then go away.)

As permanent residents of Canada you could, according to the government website, only bring your maid with you if you got her a work visa. Since you can stay in Canada indefinitely, the presumption is that your maid would also stay in Canada. You might also have to explain why you are only "visiting" Canada and residing elsewhere. However I am not a lawyer, and I am not sure of the exact definition of "short-term resident", and you might want to consult a lawyer as to whether there is some way that you can accomplish this. Giving up your permanent resident status might be one way to go.

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