Maids Can No Longer Move To The UK With Their Brit Expat Employers
Mar 27th 2012, 10:54 am
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
Maids Can No Longer Move To The UK With Their Brit Expat Employers
One of the hot topics on this board is about returning British expats with Non-EU spouses and the new UK Border Agency Rules being implemented from 5th April.
I had to ruefully smile when I spotted this post on the Expatwoman website (for expats in the Middle East). You have to read the thread backwards ie. the message posted at the top of the most recent page is the newest one:
http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/mess...TopicID=175847
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...-changes-rules (Maids are Overseas Domestic Workers)
One comment is "Read and weep ladies"
Many expats in the Far East also employ live-in maids as it is inexpensive and also a great help when there is no longer an extended family on hand to help with babysitting.
We did know of expats - including Brits - who would take their Filipina or Sri Lankan housemaids with them when they moved to the UK, as they know that the maids are eager to have a chance to live in a Western country and bring their own families too and they are paying the maid far less than if they had to get a local hourly cleaner.
I knew some expat women who claimed that they could not possibly cope without a live-in domestic worker - even though it's not the culture in the UK for (non-aristocratic) Brits to have live-in employees (with the exception of au pairs).
I always thought it odd that under the current Border Agency rules, the maids were allowed to also move their families to the UK too, and obviously receive free NHS care and schooling..... and after 4 years being able to get permanent residency in the UK.
Invariably word often got back to us that the maid had done a runner as soon as she set foot in the UK ....
I had to ruefully smile when I spotted this post on the Expatwoman website (for expats in the Middle East). You have to read the thread backwards ie. the message posted at the top of the most recent page is the newest one:
http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/mess...TopicID=175847
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...-changes-rules (Maids are Overseas Domestic Workers)
One comment is "Read and weep ladies"
Many expats in the Far East also employ live-in maids as it is inexpensive and also a great help when there is no longer an extended family on hand to help with babysitting.
We did know of expats - including Brits - who would take their Filipina or Sri Lankan housemaids with them when they moved to the UK, as they know that the maids are eager to have a chance to live in a Western country and bring their own families too and they are paying the maid far less than if they had to get a local hourly cleaner.
I knew some expat women who claimed that they could not possibly cope without a live-in domestic worker - even though it's not the culture in the UK for (non-aristocratic) Brits to have live-in employees (with the exception of au pairs).
I always thought it odd that under the current Border Agency rules, the maids were allowed to also move their families to the UK too, and obviously receive free NHS care and schooling..... and after 4 years being able to get permanent residency in the UK.
Invariably word often got back to us that the maid had done a runner as soon as she set foot in the UK ....
Mar 27th 2012, 4:35 pm
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 837
Re: Maids Can No Longer Move To The UK With Their Brit Expat Employers
Yeah - we saw that one coming too ...
From a practicality point of view we had decided that it wasn't worth the extra delays in attempting to apply for a visa for our maid. Also finding housing which works with a live-in is far more difficult in the UK than countries where it is the norm to have help. Loosing the help is probably the scariest part of moving back right now - we've only had someone for just over a year now, since our youngest was born, but with another little one on the way it's going to be a dramatic change for all of us.
Personally I'd have thought that removing the right for domestic helpers to sponsor family members, keeping the restriction on type of work they are permitted to do but still allowing them to change employers would have been the right move to make.
From a practicality point of view we had decided that it wasn't worth the extra delays in attempting to apply for a visa for our maid. Also finding housing which works with a live-in is far more difficult in the UK than countries where it is the norm to have help. Loosing the help is probably the scariest part of moving back right now - we've only had someone for just over a year now, since our youngest was born, but with another little one on the way it's going to be a dramatic change for all of us.
Personally I'd have thought that removing the right for domestic helpers to sponsor family members, keeping the restriction on type of work they are permitted to do but still allowing them to change employers would have been the right move to make.
Mar 28th 2012, 1:22 am
#3
Back from India
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 793
Re: Maids Can No Longer Move To The UK With Their Brit Expat Employers
Yeah - we saw that one coming too ...
From a practicality point of view we had decided that it wasn't worth the extra delays in attempting to apply for a visa for our maid. Also finding housing which works with a live-in is far more difficult in the UK than countries where it is the norm to have help. Loosing the help is probably the scariest part of moving back right now - we've only had someone for just over a year now, since our youngest was born, but with another little one on the way it's going to be a dramatic change for all of us.
Personally I'd have thought that removing the right for domestic helpers to sponsor family members, keeping the restriction on type of work they are permitted to do but still allowing them to change employers would have been the right move to make.
From a practicality point of view we had decided that it wasn't worth the extra delays in attempting to apply for a visa for our maid. Also finding housing which works with a live-in is far more difficult in the UK than countries where it is the norm to have help. Loosing the help is probably the scariest part of moving back right now - we've only had someone for just over a year now, since our youngest was born, but with another little one on the way it's going to be a dramatic change for all of us.
Personally I'd have thought that removing the right for domestic helpers to sponsor family members, keeping the restriction on type of work they are permitted to do but still allowing them to change employers would have been the right move to make.
