Moving with DH back to UK while DH employed in HK for less than 12 months

I will be relocating with my wife and baby to London in August. We would appreciate if our domestic helper (40 year-old Filipino) could also move to London with us and continue to take care of our baby going forward. However she will only be employed by us for 8 months when we will relocate in August – hence will not meet yet the 12-month employment requirement for an Overseas Domestic Worker visa as detailed on the UK embassy website (although she has been in Hong Kong over the past 12 years with four other employers).


To build up our case we didn’t have a helper at home before and hired her in December 2007 specifically to take care of our baby who was born very premature: she joined us right after the baby came back home after several weeks in hospital. The very premature birth of our baby has led to several health complications and our domestic helper has been trained over the past months to provide special care to him in this respect.


I have tried to contact by phone the UK embassy to understand how strict was the 12-months requirement and if there were any chance to obtain a visa for our Domestic Helper in our case – however I haven’t got a very conclusive answer.


I would be interested to know if we would have any chance in this visa application (e.g. had anyone been successful to obtain an Overseas Domestic Worker visa in a similar situation?. If there would be no chance for such visa, would there be other ways or other types of visas to be considered?

Not sure if this would help.


Our helper who has been with us for 3 years was rejected for a tourist US visa. Despite the fact that we're bringing our 3 children (2 babies and a 4 years old), I was very ill, the consular still stamped her passport rejected. I tried very hard and gave reasonable explanations and the answer was still a big NO. The reason behind was that, consulars are afraid of helpers may run away or try to find employment through relatives/friends and will not come back.


I'm guessing that when it comes to visa matters, there's not that much difference between the UK and the US' regulations toward domestic helpers. Just a thought.


In the end, we ended up cancelling all our air tickets. Sucks.


J

Had quite a few Filipino domestic helpers while living in the UK and am very sure you will not get your helper a visa to work in the UK unless she has been in your employment for at least a year. The 12 month clause is blind and is applied across the board, irregardless of your circumstances. Best thing to do is keep her in your employment in HK for another 4 months before you bring her over, if you really want her. I'm sure your agency can find accomodation for her during the 4 months she's alone in HK.


Also, I have to warn you that the Filipinos have a very strong network in the UK. Most of the Filipinos working in the UK as domestic workers 'ran away' from their employers who brought them to the UK from Singapore, Hong Kong or the Middle East. Its very easy to convert their initial 6 month overseas domestic worker visa to an annually renewable domestic visa if they find another employer in the UK. It won't be long before your helper will demand equal pay as the Filipinos in the UK or simply just quit/run away. There are Filipino agencies in the UK that help these 'runaways' to find new employers. If you don't want to risk your helper running away, I suggest you pay the going rate in the UK right from the start. I paid mine just under 400 pounds a week including all their taxes.

You would have to pay the legal minimum wage at least in UK plus abide by the laws there on terms and conditions. People wont get away with 7 days holiday a year etc.

yes, I heard that 400-450 pounds a week is the going rate.. And that would be for 5 days I guess, not six as in HK...

This is pretty useful (not on the visa front) on your responisibilities in the UK. Interestingly it states that your DH may not have to be paid the minimum wage/working time directive - althought market forces will still prevail!!

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/e_information_for_small_employers.pdf

Could you perhaps retroactively change the original contract to 4-5 months before the actual date? If your helper is very keen to come with you and willing to make the sacrifices that such a move entails then she may be willing to shut up to keep her side of the deal rosy.


Another thing to remember is that London is VERY different to HK in so many ways. She'll have o adjust to a lot of new situations, weather, etc and might not be happy. You might find before too long that the helper you worked so hard to relocate wants to go back.

"Could you perhaps retroactively change the original contract to 4-5 months before the actual date?" That is not possible, I think, as one copy of the contract copies is with Immigration Department It is too risky if this becomes a criminal case of forging document. I seldom heard of successful cases bringing their DH with them to U.K., as adele78 has suggested, there are so many things for your helper to adjust.