IMMIGRATION & Mortgage
10
The Notary
Corner
By Editha Corrales Nelson
Immigration Consultant, Notary
Public, Mediation / Arbitrator
LAUNCHING 2 NEW 5-YEAR
CAREGIVER IMMIGRATION PI-
LOT PROGRAMS
Toronto, ON– Caregivers will
soon have access to 2 new 5-year
caregiver immigration pilots that
will replace expiring and ineffective
pilot programs. The new pilots will
allow caregivers to come to Can-
ada together with their family and
provide a pathway to permanent
residence.
Caregivers will also soon have
greater flexibility to change jobs
quickly, and barriers that prevent
family members from accompa-
nying caregivers to Canada will be
removed, Immigration, Refugees
and Citizenship Minister Ahmed
Hussen announced today.
Under the new pilots, appli-
cants will be assessed for perma-
nent residence criteria before they
begin working in Canada. Once
the caregiver has their work permit
and 2 years of work experience,
they will have access to a direct
pathway to become a permanent
resident.
These pilot programs will re-
place the Caring for Children and
Caring for People with High Medi-
cal Needs pilots and include:
• Occupation-specific work
permits for caregivers, providing
the ability to change jobs quickly
when necessary.
• Open work permits for
Real Estate
MYLENE LIM
Licensed Mortgage Specialist
Before you embark on your
quest to look for that dream home
of yours, there are a few important
factors you need to know. There
is nothing more discouraging than
having spent days, if not months,
looking around at properties for
sale, going to open houses, envi-
sioning the décor or the upgrades
you want on a property you have
your eye on and only to find out
that you will not be able to get a
mortgage for that property. Espe-
cially with the current market and
all the new regulations in effect, you
have to make sure all your ducks
are in a row before you embark on
your house-hunting quest.
So let’s review what you would
need to consider:
1) How much mortgage will
you be approved for?
How much mortgage you
qualify for is determined by how
much income you make, how
much debt you already carry such
as credit card bills, car loans, stu-
dent loans, how is your credit rat-
ing, how much down payment you
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY April 1 - 15, 2019
CAREGIVERS WILL NOW HAVE ACCESS TO NEW
PATHWAYS TO PERMANENT RESIDENCE
spouses/common-law partners
and study permits for dependent
children, to allow the caregiver’s
family to accompany them to Can-
ada.
In addition, the Minister also
launched the Interim Pathway for
Caregivers, which will be open
from March 4, 2019, until June 4,
2019.
This interim program is being
launched after hearing directly from
caregivers and interested parties
that the previous changes made
in 2014 were not well understood.
Many caregivers began working
for families in Canada, only to find
out later that they were not going
to qualify for permanent residence
under an existing program.
To address this issue, the In-
terim Pathway for Caregivers will
provide those caregivers an op-
portunity to stay in Canada perma-
nently. The interim program will
have modified criteria compared
to the current pilot programs and
offer a pathway to permanent resi-
dence for caregivers who, in good
faith, have come to Canada and
are providing care to Canadians,
without a clear pathway to perma-
nent residence.
The Government of Canada
continues to be committed to fam-
ily reunification and eliminating
backlogs across all immigration
streams. In 2017, the Government
committed to eliminating 80% of
the caregiver backlog and reducing
the processing time from its peak
of more than 60 months. To date,
the Government has reduced 94%
of the backlog and reduced the
processing time to 12 months.
QUOTES
“Caregivers provide care to
families in Canada that need it,
and it’s time for Canada to care
for them in return. We are provid-
ing them with both the opportunity
to bring their family members here
and access permanent residency to
demonstrate our commitment.”
– The Honourable Ahmed
Hussen, Minister of Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship
QUICK FACTS
• In October 2017, there were
about 9,000 cases, representing
24,000 caregivers and their fam-
ily members, in the Live-in Care-
giver Program (LCP) backlog. To-
day, there are now only 495 cases
left to be processed, representing
2,655 people in all, a reduction of
94 percent.
• The processing time for
new applications from those who
were grandfathered into the LCP is
12 months instead of the peak of
60 months previously.
• Applications under the Car-
ing for Children and Caring for
People with High Medical Needs
pilots continue to be processed in
6 months or less.
• Both the Home Child Care
Provider Pilot and the Home Sup-
port Worker Pilot will launch later
this year and have a maximum of
2,750 principal applicants each,
for a total of 5,500 principal ap-
plicants, per year. Spouses/com-
mon-law partners and dependent
children will not count against the
limit.
** Strictly taken from www.
cic.gc.ca
A Canadian Certified Im-
migration Consultant, Certified
Senior Advisor and a Notary Pub-
lic in the City of Burnaby, Editha
Corrales Nelson’s preferred areas
of practice are Powers of Attorney,
Wills Preparation, International Le-
gal Documents, Name Changes,
Affidavits, Letters of Invitation,
Statutory Declarations, Drafting
of Business Contracts and other
notarial services. For an appoint-
ment, please call: 604-777-2757.
The following should not be
construed as providing legal advice
and information in this column is
intended only as a general guide
and should not be applied to spe-
cific circumstances without further
consultation. For more informa-
tion on the subject, contact Editha
Corrales Nelson at 604-777-2757
or email: [email protected].
Get Pre-Approved before you
go House Hunting
are going to put, and what are
the property costs such as prop-
erty tax, strata fee and heating. All
factored in, your monthly financial
obligations, including your hous-
ing costs, should generally be
around 44% of your gross monthly
income.
2) What kind of property
should you be considering?
What kind of property you
should consider will be largely
dependent on your finances and
what you are planning for the
property. If you are planning on
getting a mortgage helper to help
defray a portion of the mortgage
payment, you would need to get
property with a self-contained suite
-normally a basement with its own
entrance, bedroom, bathroom,
kitchen and dining room. Some
lenders would require this to be
a legal suite while there are some
who aren’t very strict as long as the
guidelines for being self-contained
are met. You would also need to
consider how many people are
going to live in the property you’re
purchasing. Most strata units
would have a limit on how many
people can reside in a unit.
3) What kind of mortgage
product are you considering?
What mortgage product you
are looking at is a major con-
sideration when making a pur-
chase. For example, if this is just
as an equity builder, then you may
want to opt for the longest mort-
gage amortization period so your
monthly payment is smaller. If you
are planning on keeping the prop-
erty for just a couple of years, then
you may want to go for a variable
term to minimize penalties when
you break the contract or you may
go for a shorter term such as two
or three year period. If you are in
for the long haul, you might want
to go for the shortest amortization
period with the lowest interest rate
so you can pay off your mortgage
sooner.
4) What mortgage rate can
you lock on?
What interest rate you can lock
on when you get pre-approved will
give you a peace of mind as you
look around for your dream home.
The rate hold is generally good for
90-120 days. A bonus to this pre-
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
approved rate is if the rate goes
down, your broker can negotiate
for you to avail of the lower rate.
It is important for you to re-
member that pre-approvals are
not final. Most lenders do not re-
view the documents during pre-
approval; therefore you can’t de-
pend on a pre-approval to go in
subject free on a purchase. Lend-
ers and insurers will be making
a more thorough review of your
documentation to confirm that
all documentation is current and
property is satisfactory before they
will issue the final mortgage com-
mitment.
Purchasing a property may
seem daunting especially since
there are so many things to con-
sider. Consult with an experienced
mortgage professional that could
explain, review and offer the differ-
ent options for you.
For more information, please
feel free to contact me:
Cel: 604 783 9097/ Email:
[email protected]/
Web: www.MyleneLim.ca/
FB:
Mylene Lim