How can we take our maid back to Oz with us?

[Australian employer]

My  husband & I have just been told that his company will be transferring us back to Australia in April.  

Our maid has been working for us for just under 2 years and has been doing a wonderful job.  She is great with our son who absolutely loves her, has a good attitude towards her work, is very honest, has a good sense of humour,  is very thorough with her housework and gets along well with everyone including our relatives and friends.   We don't want to get rid of her and would really like to take her to Australia with us.  However, according to the Australian High Commission, they don't currently have a policy which enables employers to take their maids with them to Australia, unlike the British embassy.

I have heard that some people try to take their maids to Oz by applying for student visas for them.  Can this really be done?  If so, are there any employment agencies/migration agents etc who can help us with this?

We really treat our maid like she is part of our family and don't want to let her go.  She has also hinted that she would like to go back to Australia with us.  

We plan to pay our maid $1000.00 per month plus a food and living allowance if she comes with us.  She would also get weekends off.

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[MissAmanda]

I think the best thing that you can do is to consult more throughly on the matter with the embassy with options like, social visit pass, or even perhaps an employment pass in aussie.

I know for a fact that several of my family friends took their maids back to australia when they are migrating there. At first, they might apply for a normal visa of three month, and consider the maid as a visiting friends, then try to work out a stay/employment permit in Australia.

I'm afraid applying for a student visa for the maid is quite an impossible option. She must have an entry letter from the respecting school in australia, grade transcript and etc.

My best suggestion is to consult this matter more throughly with the embassy, and another viable option is to contact those employee relocating services, there are numerous ads for them in the Straits Times Classified Section.

Hope that helps.

[As far as I know ...]

Apart from getting  your maid to stay with you for 3 months, she cannot remain as your DH for any longer.  She would have to apply in her own right to become an Ozzie PR, and that can take quite a while.  But as the others say, go through it with the embassy and they m-a-y be able to help but I can assure you, Australians aren't too sympathetic with those ladies who can't deal with their household chores themselves.

[HereAgain]

I know a couple of families that also tried to take their maid with them but were unsuccessful.

Trying to employ a foreigner in Australia is also problematic as you are normally required to prove that there are no qualified people locally available. This would be almost impossible for a domestic worker.

If you were successful in employing her you would then be required to meet Australian labour laws and that would also be difficult.

If you really care about your maid's welfare I would suggest you should help her find a nice family here rather than delaying the inevitable. It will be much harder for her to come back to Singapore after you have left.

[MustbeKidding]

I think you are being very selfish. What sort of life can you offer your maid in Australia where there would be no established network for her there. I would guess she would be the only domestic worker in your area. Even though you say you would give her every weekend off, what would she do ?? It is not like there is a Lucky Plaza where she can interact with similar people.

I also think that you would not be viewed very positively for taking her back with you. Most people would think badly of you that you cannot look after your own home and children. Think about the 1000s of women in Australia that cannot afford to stay home with their children despite wanting to.

You should recognise that having the luxury of a maid in Singapore is just that – a LUXURY.  Get a part time cleaner and get a dose of reality.

[Tax]

I assume she will be a legal employee of yours. This will create additional costs to you -  eg superannuation. Also personal tax - at $1,000 a month, she exceeds the tax-free threshold and will have to pay tax. Will she pay that, or will you pay it on her behalf?

[Actually]

There is quite  a large Filipino community in Sydney, at least.

[Amazed]

Dear Australian employer,

We have things in Australia such as the minimum wage (which is above the scrappy $1000 a month you propose paying your maid), labor standards and unions.  This is precisely why no-one in Australia has a maid - have you noticed that?

I am constantly amazed at people who want to take their third world domestic worker back to their first world home country and continue to treat them as the former.  

Hire a cleaner at $17 to $20 hour - that is what they should be paid and if you think that is too much, try living on it for a week in Melb or Sydney and see how much of the high life you can lead.

[Solution]

To Australian Employer - Good for You I say.  Dont worry about all these negative, self righteous people having a go at you just because you dont want to do the housework or look after the kids.  

Not everyone is perfect and I for one am one of those people.  It certainly frees me up to do things I want to do including spending times with the kids when I choose.  I have no problem with this.

You cant tell me if the Australian Government allowed these domestic workers into Australia tomorrow, no one would put up their hand for one?! You and I both know thats absolute BULLS**T!

I am actually looking at a way to lobby the government to allow this, same as they do in Canada.  The sooner the better.

I would rather have my kids looked after by my maid in my own home then have some pathetic "child care" centre even attempt to look after them 12 hours a day.

Anyway, in the mean time, I know someone here who has found a guy in Australia who is "marrying" their maid, obviously for a sum.  It sure beats child care costs and the maid doesnt have a problem getting Australian residency out of it.

Now I'll wait for everyone to tell me its illegal to do that - really!

[Australian Employer]

I can't believe how negative and bitchy some of you can be.  I originally asked for some advice on how we could take our maid back to Australia with us.

If you care to read my original posting properly, you will see that I said that we plan to pay our maid $1,000.00 per month plus a food and living allowance.  All in all, we were thinking of paying her about AUD$500.00 per week to live with us so that she could help us to look after our young child.  I plan to go back to work full-time and don't want to put my son into a daycare centre.  This  figure would include her living allowance.  Under no circumstances were we planning to exploit our maid.  We only want her to look after our child, not do the housework.  I will also be hiring a part-time cleaner to come and clean our house 3 times a week so the maid can concentrate on looking after our son.  Also, our maid has told us that she would like to come with us to Australia.  We took her to Australia last year for a holiday and she really loved it over there.

If $500.00 per week really isn't enough, then we don't mind increasing her salary.

To "Miss Amanda", "As Far as I know" & "Here Again" - Thanks for your comments.

To "Must be Kidding" - I actually know quite a lot of Filipinos in Sydney and don't have any problems introducing my nanny to them.  There are quite a lot of Filipinos in Australia and no, they are not all mail-order brides.  Actually, there a quite a number of Filipinos who go to the same Church as ourselves.

To "Tax" - We don't mind paying the tax for her.

To "Amazed" - As already mentioned, we plan to hire a part-time cleaner when we get back to Oz.  Our maid will just be working as my son's nanny.

Are there any more nasty comments?

[Solution]

Australian Employer - get over it.  We all know how negative our comrades can be and if there is someone wanting to make a go of things "CUT THEM DOWN"!

I am exactly like you in that I would rather have our maid look after our kids than put them in child care.

Go back to the Consulate and see who you can find there to talk to.  Maybe there is a way to "sponsor" her.

For the people who have posted they know "friends" who have taken their maids back to Oz, find out how they did it so we can all benefit rather than just speaking crap and heresay.

Good luck and dont get wound up by these little blighters having a go at you.

[Joseph27]

Fact is - it will be very difficult to get your maid to stay in Australia.  There are too many difficulties and in the mindset of those assholes who lead australia and pretend to represent popular opinion - they would tell youthat it would be better to put your kids in a child care centre and let some complete stranger raise your kid using television and lame ass toys.  

It would be good to have maids in Australia but no one is about to let you - just imagine if one escaped - it may show that Australia is easy on illegal immigrants

[Maid in Heaven]

Basically you are useless and pathetic if you cannot bring your maid.

Can't believe you cannot even raise your own kids. Who raised you ? Some stranger ?

Get a life !