Us Visa For Domestic Helper

[otherstuff1957]

I've got a rather unusual situation here. I've been searching the Internet and this forum, but haven't been able to find any clear answers.

My brother-in-law is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. He's not yet 60, but can't take a walk without the fear of getting lost in his own neighborhood. I suggested to my sister that she get a Thai live-in caretaker. Which she thought would be an excellent idea! She can afford to pay full-time minimum wage ($8/hour in California) plus room & board. They live in a 3 bedroom/2bath house, so room and board are not a problem. The only problem seems to be the visa.

One of my wife's friends is interested in doing this. She's over 50 with experience in elder care (she worked in Sweden for several months with a Schengen Visa). She also studied nursing in college for a couple of years, although she never finished her degree.

I've been trying to figure out how to get her to the US to help out. The B1 Visa doesn't seem to fit. The only one I could see that would work is the H2B Visa, and the process to get that seems to be quite difficult, plus there are only 66,000 H1B visas' issued each year.

Has anyone successfully gotten a visa for a Thai for this sort of situation?

Edited November 7, 2009 by otherstuff1957

[Thanyaburi Mac]

I've got a rather unusual situation here. I've been searching the Internet and this forum, but haven't been able to find any clear answers.

My brother-in-law is suffering from early onset Alzheimers. He's not yet 60, but can't take a walk without the fear of getting lost in his own neighborhood. I suggested to my sister that she get a Thai live-in caretaker. Which she thought would be an excellent idea! She can afford to pay full-time minimum wage ($8/hour in California) plus room & board. They live in a 3 bedroom/2bath house, so room and board are not a problem. The only problem seems to be the visa.

One of my wife's friends is interested in doing this. She's over 50 with experience in elder care (she worked in Sweden for several months with a Schengen Visa). She also studied nursing in college for a couple of years, although she never finished her degree.

I've been trying to figure out how to get her to the US to help out. The B1 Visa doesn't seem to fit. The only one I could see that would work is the H2B Visa, and the process to get that seems to be quite difficult, plus there are only 66,000 H1B visas' issued each year.

Has anyone successfully gotten a visa for a Thai for this sort of situation?

Difficult, I'm afraid. I did one of these "maid visas" here back in 1983. As it turned out, she ended up getting married in the U.S., got a green card then citizenship, and is still there. Wasn't all that difficult at the time as I was expected and expecting to go on another overseas tour in 1986 or so, went in '87.

Here's the real kicker: "I. U.S. CITIZENS RESIDING IN OR RESUMING PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES

By regulation, domestic employees of U.S. citizens who reside in or are resuming permanent residence in the United States cannot obtain nonimmigrant domestic employee visas."

Below a copy & paste from the U.S. Embassy Singapore's web page. Couldn't find anything specific on the U.S. Embassy BKK's www page altho they did have a referral to: http://travel.state.gov/pdf/Pamphlet-Order.pdf

Mac

http://singapore.usembassy.gov/domestic_employee_visas.html

NON-IMMIGRANT VISAS

Domestic Employee Visas

If you are applying for a B-1 Domestic Employee visa, please click here for required reading to learn more about your rights, as well as protections and resources available to you.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Before expending both money and time on a domestic employee visa application, please be forewarned that the vast majority of these applicants are and will most likely continue to be unable to qualify for a visa to enter the United States. Consular Officers are required by law to presume that each person applying for a visa to enter the United States is an intending immigrant or that the person is coming to the United States for an impermissible or illegal purpose. There is no "Due Process" of law involved in a visa interview but rather regulatory guidelines provided by the Department of State. The visa interview takes place between a United States Consular Officer and a foreign national. Employers are not parties to the visa interview and have no "right" to be present with the employee during the interview. Moreover, no one has a "right" to bring a domestic employee or otherwise import labor into the United States. The severe burden of overcoming the presumption of immigration rests with the applicant alone and MAY NOT be shifted to an employer. This means that the employer's personal circumstances such as occupation, social status and family situation are at best secondary considerations to the visa decision.

When domestic employees seek to accompany their employers who are moving back to the US from abroad, federal law provides even more stringent restrictions, in addition to all those outlined above. According to the law, in order for an applicant to qualify for this type of visa, the applicant must meet all the above conditions, AND work for an employer who: "is a US citizen subject to frequent international transfers lasting two years or more as a condition of the job as confirmed by the employer's personnel office." Only a very small number of persons meet these criteria as contemplated by federal law. Typically, employers who have only worked in one or two foreign countries would not qualify to take domestic employees, even if they have been abroad for several years.

While Singapore has a system which imposes specific monitoring of domestic employees and severe penalties for the violation of the terms of their employment, the United States does not. Normally, domestic employees working in Singapore are citizens of countries where wages are so low and unemployment so high that tens of thousands of their citizens are forced to seek work abroad each year. Often they have already been away from their home countries for long periods of time prior to their visa interviews. These facts make it very difficult for them to show that they have ties abroad sufficient to compel them to depart the United States. Historically, many domestic workers who have received US visas abroad have never returned to their home countries. Please be forewarned again that the vast majority of these applicants will be unable to qualify for a visa to enter the United States. The facts pertinent to the application process, however, are outlined below.

Domestic employee visa applicants (like most nonimmigrant visa applicants) must prove to the satisfaction of the Consular Official that the domestic employee has a residence abroad which she has no intention of abandoning. Please bear in mind that this presumption is a difficult one to overcome, particularly in Singapore where so many of the domestic employees are only temporarily residing in Singapore. Also, a non-refundable visa application fee must be paid before the application for a visa will be considered. If the employer of the domestic servant is an American citizen who is moving back to the U.S. on a permanent basis, the employer can NOT bring a domestic servant back to the U.S.

When reviewing a domestic employee visa application, the Consular Official must also consider the employer's legal status in the United States. When we refer to the "employer" of the domestic employee, we are referring to both spouses because each exercises control over the domestic employee. Depending upon the employer's legal status, the regulations provide for different treatment of domestic employee visa applications. Listed below are legal status classifications of domestic employers:

I. U.S. Citizens Residing In or Resuming Residence in the United States

II. Lawful Permanent Residents of the United States

III. U.S. Citizens with a Permanent Home or who are Stationed in Singapore

IV. U.S. Citizens on Temporary Assignment in the United States

V. Foreign Nationals Temporarily in the United States

VI. Forms

[go to the url for more]

[otherstuff1957]

Thanks, that's pretty much what I found. The B1 Domestic Employee Visa would be perfect, except for the fact that US Citizens cannot be Employers! It's rather bizarre that we have a law on the books that gives resident aliens more rights that citizens.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Thanks, that's pretty much what I found. The B1 Domestic Employee Visa would be perfect, except for the fact that US Citizens cannot be Employers! It's rather bizarre that we have a law on the books that gives resident aliens more rights that citizens.

Well, not quite correct. AmCits can be employers under some circumstances. One being that the AmCit normally works outside the U.S. and is just back for a "home tour" of a certain length, then going overseas again for work. During the "home tour" the foreign domestic is allowed, but is expected to depart the U.S. at the end of the AmCit's "home tour."

All very strange, tho, I agree.

Mac

[nakachalet]

a point of view from the inside <1975 or about>.... lol

it has been imperative to have such very restrict law.... most domestic assistants entering the u.s. fell in love with the u.s. diversities and decided by themselves or with the assistance of their new found friends.... to try their very best to remain in the u.s. by any and all imaginative means.... lol

personally i agree, persons with certified medical conditions should be able to have inexpensive 24 hrs live in assistant....

but very much unlike hkg and s'pore, there is no law in the u.s. to assist and supervise the so-called domestic helpers per se....

once they embark in the territory. also, the stories of employers abusing these domestic helpers were a weekly front page story....

Even some high and mighty personalties, in the u.s., who knowingly or unknowingly employed undocumented helpers were also forced to resign....

regardless of what happens in the u.s., at the moment, it still remains the country that most people around the world would want to go....

yes, i still have a residence there and i still love it and adore it.... in spite of her numerous FAILED attempts to make the world a better and stronger place for democracy....

many times at the depth of the night.... like tonight....

i ask myself.... would i be happier and better off.... if i were to live under a dictatorial rule or a communistic oriented country or society....?

the answer is... no, definitely not...

i still love the freedom.... the country of the free.... including thailand.... it is still the land of the smile.... to me and for me.... lol