Migrant domestic work is an alternative to the care crisis in many countries. However, paid domestic work has not been adequately relieved as a care provider agent, nor are there public policies that grant it sufficient protection and rights. The current pandemic exposed such shortcomings. The article conceptualizes as a syndemic the interrelationships between the care crisis, the health crisis and poverty, which exacerbate the negative consequences of COVID-19 on women. Through in-depth interviews and documentary review, the text reflects on domestic service as care work and analyses Bolivian domestic workers in Chile who carry out circular migration and their vulnerability to the pandemic, as they were stranded on waste ground with the closure of the Chilean-Bolivian border. The article ends with proposals for public care policies for migrant domestic workers, with a human rights-based approach and from a gender perspective.