Health, safety and interview instructions for hosts on HomadormaIntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to keep health and safety in mind. We’ve created the following guidelines for hosts, based on guidance from the World Health Organization and the Government of Canada. Hosts should also continue to monitor government travel advisories and follow all national and local guidelines. This Health and safety guidelines is to help address health and safety concerns but these measures cannot eliminate all risk. Especially if hosts are in a higher risk category (ex: people above the age of 65 or people with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease), we recommend obtaining professional guidance and taking extra precautions when hosts are making the decision to confirm a staff interview on Homadorma. Staff Interview Booking Procedure during COVID-19Effective from August 1 2020
Confirm a staff interviewWhen the staff interview re-opens a city/area, hosts in that particular city/area will receive emails from Homadorma host support asking them to fill out a questionnaire to confirm their health and safety status. Once we receive the confirmation from hosts, they will be contacted by our staff interviewers shortly for interview time scheduling. You as a host should not confirm a staff interview if:
Prepare for a staff interviewClean the spaces Please make sure the following spaces are cleaned before the interview:
One person interview We require a maximum of 1 person per household to attend the face to face interview. Family members not attending the face to face interview may choose to stay in other rooms if necessary. Hosts should review the checklist of the staff interview prior to the interview at https://www.homadorma.com/en/why-staff-interview, and make sure that they have everything ready. During the staff interviewFollow physical distancing guidelines When hosts are in a common area or shared space, maintain physical distance from the staff interviewer at all times, as recommended by the relevant regulatory authorities (ex: approximately 2 metres according to the Government of Canada). Hosts should avoid physical contact with the staff interviewer. Wear a mask or face covering In case that hosts are unable to maintain the physical distance, please wear a protective face covering at all times as recommended by regulatory agencies or authorities such as the Government of Canada. The staff interviewers will only ask hosts to take off the mask for a very short period for the purpose of ID verification. How our staff interviewers prepare for the interviewAll staff interviewers are required to follow a similar procedure that our hosts do. Below are what hosts can expect from us: Confirmation of the health and safety status When the staff interview re-opens a city/area, the local staff interviewer(s) will be required to fill out a questionnaire to confirm their health and safety status. Once Homadorma receives the confirmation from the staff interviewer(s), they are allowed to contact hosts for interview time scheduling. Follow physical distancing guidelines When staff interviewers are in a common area or shared space, maintain physical distance from the host at all times. Wear a mask/face covering and a face shield Staff interviewers will wear a protective face covering and a face shield during the interview process. The staff interviewers will take the face shield off if it affects the views while photographing. Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions or concerns by sending emails to the host support team. Contact information can be found at Help Centre after you login.
As provinces start entering the revitalization stage, our hosts are getting ready to host international students coming into Canada. Let's try getting some of the frequently asked questions answered. Are international students restricted from entering Canada by the government?Let's make clear one thing first: international students with a valid study permit issued before March 18 have never been restricted to enter Canada. The travel ban applies to non-essential travellers, including new international students entering Canada for their study. Are there any other obstacles in place?There certainly are. Many universities and colleges have started planning to give some, if not all, courses over the internet for the fall semester in 2020. As an international student, one does not have to be physically present in Canada to complete the courses. We expect to see some students staying in their own country in the fall semester. It's certainly not convenient because of the time difference, but it is possible. Airline industry is struggling in this period due to lack of demand, and increased health and safety measures that result in steep increase of operating costs. As a result, many international routes are cancelled. International students may find it difficult to obtain a flight back to Canada. Are there students looking for homestays on homadormaDespite the above difficulties, we still see students planning to enter Canada for the fall semester. Some of them have already begun looking for homestays on homadorma. As a registered homadorma host, you may find students near you at Find Students. We have removed the 5 message restriction for homestays without the staff interview badge temporarily to encourage our hosts to communicate with students on homadorma. What is the government policy on international students arriving in Canada14-day mandatory quarantine is applicable to all travellers coming into Canada, including international students. The students need to submit quarantine plan at the port of entry. The official document could be found below. ![]()
What is homadorma's policy on international students living in homestayWe do not impose specific policy on top of the policy already put in place by the government. Our suggestion is to check federal, provincial and municipal health and safety suggestion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Can students quarantine in my homestay?You may go through the list of requirements by the government to see if your homestay meets those requirements. I do not want international students to quarantine in my homestay upon arrival. What should I do?Make sure to communicate with the students interested in your homestay about the quarantine requirements. Explain to students that your place does not meet the requirement, and students maybe better off booking an alternative accommodation which meets the quarantine requirements. If the student is not able to find an adequate facility to self-quarantine, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada will designate a facility for students to self-quarantine for 14 days. For more information, please check https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/latest-travel-health-advice.html#_Travellers_without_symptoms
The quick development of COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of almost everyone, including international students in Canada. Current students find themselves shifting all instruction online to complete the current semester, while new students are not sure if they can, or even if they should, enter Canada at a later date. I took your questions to Ann Welsh, Registered Canadian Immigration Consultant, and international student support specialist at Schulich School of Business, York University. I'm sure many of you may find the information helpful. If you have any further question, please feel free to leave a question in the comment section below. We will try our best to help with your questions. Universities, colleges and schools across Canada have cancelled their classes for the remainder of the semester. Fall semester is still a question mark. What should international students do? Go home, or stay in Canada?Due to the current situation of COVID-19, we have paused staff interview scheduling until further notice. It is now clear that hosts without staff interview badges are not able to get one, and are not able to remind students to check the homestay profile through the "promote my homestay" feature. We have now decided to make the "promote my homestay" feature available to all hosts with or without the staff interview badge. We expect to keep it this way till we resume the staff interview for hosts.
Here is what you need to do if you'd like to "promote my homestay" to a student interested.
We hope by making this feature available to all homadorma hosts temporarily, we could help you fill up your rooms quickly. Thanks for your continued support. Our Prime Minister announced on March 16 that Canada will deny entry to people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents. That means homestay bookings made on homadorma.com are inevitably affected. Students that were scheduled to arrive in Canada in March or April can no longer move in to homestays as planned. Other students planning to arrive at a later date now face uncertainties. As a result, many of them have cancelled or will cancel the homestay booking. We'd like to invite these students back to homadorma for another homestay booking when Canada lifts the border ban without violating the terms in the contract or termination policy. So here are the initiatives that we'd like to implement to address the COVID-19 impact. Student initiated termination before moving-in |
AuthorA blog where Homadorma team share information with our hosts and students. |