bout de papier, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2000) — Spring 2000 // Printemps 2000, p. 12
While the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is beginning to accommodate the shift in demographic realities taking place within the Department’s rotational workforce, there is still some unexploded ordnance out in this field. As a cautionary tale, rotational employees of the Department looking at bringing elderly parents to post, or having them join at a later date, might want to bear some of the following practices in mind.
A Interpretation of “dependent”
At the time of writing (April 18), the Department’s interpretation of “dependent,” FSD 2.01j(iii) notwithstanding, is that described in Annex A of FSD 2 – that is, a person who has been living at the same address as a rotational employee for a year before posting. This is often not made clear when an employee is investigating the feasibility of a posting with elderly parents: a simple reading of FSD 2.01 j (iii) implies more flexibility than the Foreign Service Directives Division is prepared to display on its own initiative.
One of the important implications of this interpretation is that if your parents) are not deemed to be “dependents,” they will not receive health care benefits until the end of their first year at post with you (i.e. at the point at which they’ve lived with you for a year). Being elderly, it would be a risk for them to be at post with no coverage at all; private insurance alternatives can be prohibitively expensive. If your parents are financially dependent on you, they can be covered under your public service health care plan, but financial dependence is the only recognized criterion.
The Foreign Service Directives Division can shepherd you through an appeals process through a coordinating committee, but this is a time-consuming process (the committees meet only at set intervals, and this can be a two-step procedure, taking a couple of months at least). This is less of a problem if you know of the strict interpretation of “dependent” early enough in the process, so that you can seek either alternative parent care, or a headquarters assignment, should the ruling go against you. But if you do not learn of it until the posting cycle is well along, you run the risk of having to decide between putting your parents at risk, or having to scramble for what 1s left of headquarters’ assignments.
B Having your parents on your posting confirmation form
If your parents) are not joining you immediately at post, but intend to follow at a later date, it will smooth the process at post considerably to have your parents) listed as dependents to follow on your posting confirmation form. Without being on your posting confirmation form, it is complicated for them to obtain diplomatic passports. Without a diplomatic passport, it will be difficult for them to obtain residence visas so that they can actually live with you at post.
The Department is moving in the right direction in dealing with the realities of larger numbers of rotational employees having to care for elderly parents, but the process remains cumbersome and frequently insensitive. Forewarned is forearmed – starting the process early can help reduce the level of frustration and anxiety in dealing with a process that is not yet as smooth as it could be.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2000) — Spring 2000 // Printemps 2000, p. 12. Read the rest of this issue →
