Has anyone used Au Pair World?

Hello Blueshoes would it be possible to get that list ? \i would be very grateful :)

hello, can i ask you as well to send me the qeustions please!! it will be very helpful thanks!

Just started on the Au Pair research... would love to see the list of Au Pair questions mentioned in this thread to get me started....
Really useful information! Thanks all!

I usually start with an email with questions (via aupairworld message forum) and then arrange a Skype interview for those that bother to respond. Maybe around 30% reply.

In my first message I provide information on the family, the routine and the pocket money.

Here are the questions I ask:

1. What are your motivations of being an au pair?
2. How long do you want to stay and when would you like to start?
3. What are the things you wish to do and see in London, in particular whilst the children are at nursery during the day?
4. How often do you wish to travel home? Are there any specific dates you need to go back home for?
5. Do you have any friends or family in London?
6. What experience do you have of dealing with young children by yourself and what ages were they? Do you have experience of handling more than one child at a time?
7. Can you provide references for your childcare experience?
8. Are you comfortable with the responsibilities and hours we require you to work? In particular early morning starts and the walking required to take them to nursery?
9. Is there anything important we need to know about you eg do you have any allergies or dietary requirements we need to be aware of?

I used aupairworld as well to find an aupair last year and again for one to start in April when my current aupair leaves.

The process takes around 4 - 6 weeks depending on how quickly you are at responding to messages and conducting interviews.

We also had to make three offers before one accepted this time round. After we made the first offer the aupair took ages to sort out references and was not very good at keeping in contact with us so we gave up after two weeks. The second au pair we made an offer o asked for a week to think about it, then another week and then another week after that. The third au pair accepted the offer, completed the references and had her flights booked within 1 week of making the offer.

We used aupair world and it was great.

Be really honest about what you want. You will get lots of messages but you will be able to reject a lot straight off.

I used au pair world. We had a bad experience which was no fault of aupairworld which is an excellent website just happened to get unlucky with our au pair. We have mostly had excellent au pairs, nannies and volunteers which I usually get from facebook groups.

If any one knows any one who wants to be an au pair in Sheffield or a volunteer helpa for free rent can you pass on my advert. I really need someone as am unexpectedly home educating and therefore am not managing to get much work done.

www.howzahelpa.co.uk/find/need-help-with-babysitting-pet-care-and-light-housework/

I've put a bit of mis-information on the thread above. To get an ancestry Visa, you need to be a commonwealth citizen, so Americans aren't entitled to get one.

Want2bSupermum

The last couple of mums who have posted on this thread are UK based - so rules for who is allowed to come to the US as an au pair aren't relevant to our hiring decisions.

As I understood, the question was can a US person come to the UK to be an au pair and the answer to that is no.

I don't mean to be rude - your information on what would be legal in the US is correct (or at least it sounds like it is from friends in the US .)

So Camadians, Australians and New Zealanders can come on a special tier 5 visa.

www.gov.uk/tier-5-youth-mobility/overview.

The only way other (non-eu) nationalities can au pair here is if they have a grandparent who was born in the uk and then they can get an ancestry visa

www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa

Our SA au pair came in that way.

Here even!

You are very much allowed to au pair in the US. You just need a specialist visa through one of the approved au pair agencies who handle all au pairs coming into the US. It is tightly regulated and the regulations that are in place today were instituted shortly after the Louise Woodward case as everyone here in the US was horrified that someone would think it ok to leave two very small children with an 18 year old who was merely a child themselves.

It is a J-1 visa you apply for through one of the approved agencies. [https://j1visa.state.gov/programs/au-pair/#program-sponsors Here] is the link to the rules for the visa and requirements which include no au pairs looking after babies younger than 3 and au pairs having an educational requirement if looking after a child younger than 2.

In addition to this I have been speaking a lot to a girl on FaceTime and what's app one I've met through APW and she is from Australia. She said she has been granted a two year tourist visa so can au pair and live with us based on that. Is that correct. Sorry for the questions. We are au pair virgina in this house

Gosh I am completely confused now. There is much conflicting advise online. I was always aware that no au pair regardless of country was allowed to 'work' hence it being classed as is hosting an au pair as part of the family and given pocket money in exchange for helping with the children. If for example US are not allowed to au pair in the UK why does au pair works which the site I am on allow me to choose that we are specifically looking from someone from the states. Also vec versa. Most of the US girls who have contacted me are only looking in the UK. Hope that makes sense.

Yeah, maybe I'm overthinking it. Politicians lately seem so unstable I can just see them declaring all EU citizens who weren't here pre-referendum need to go home immediately or something else disastrous.

Do you mean do you think we need to clarify we wouldn't pay for a work permit or something? (Unless you would.) It's likely to be far too expensive. I've never had an au pair stay longer than a year so it's sort of something I think I can probably keep my head in the sand about until next year. They've never stayed less than a year, that said, and I do worry that ominous next steps from the HoC could make them want to go back earlier than they might have. But I am really not sure what we could offer to help them realistically.

One way to mitigate the risk is possibly to go for a Tier 5 person as that situation would probably not change. I can't see au pair visas being top of anyone's list in the negotiations. I've never had any luck recruiting someone from that scheme previously but I know others have.

Yeah :( Are you putting a Brexit clause into any new contract? We are also looking for an EU au pair (our existing one has done a fabulous job of ensuring DS speaks another language fluently, and we want to keep that up), but I'm concerned what may happen when another idiotic politician does something stupid. I have no idea what such a clause would say, obviously, but feel the need to at least flag to the au pair that something could.

I know, the government websites are all over the place regarding au pairs. I am 100% per cent sure, though, that if you turned up at customs and immigration at Heathrow saying that you were planning to stay for a year to work as an au pair for 25 hours a week of childcare you'd be turned away. I can't be bothered to dig out the info around this to be honest as I am too busy vetting tens of EU candidates.

A really determined person could lie and say they were here for a holiday, I guess.

Canadians, OZ, and KIWI are eligible for what I think is called at Tier 5 Visa. If you want an English speaking person, this is a route that you can be sure is bona fide.

Anyway, after Brexit who knows what will happen.

Interesting OVienna - the DWP is pretty clear that au-pairing isn't working, so you'd think you didn't need a work visa. But then there's the implicit tone that it's supposed to be cultural exchange and they expect to learn English (which wouldn't apply to the US).

No, US nationals can't au pair in the UK.

The Louise Woodward case has nothing to do with it, it's a straightforward immigration matter. US nationals need work permits to come here to work and there is no au pair visa (I am originally from the US).

I mean - girls who come here as students I think can still work up to 20 hours a week but you'd need to look into this. It tends not to be worth it.

Au pairs in the UK are about £100 p/w. Anyone can call themselves an au pair and they don't have to go through a regulated agency. The system is totally different here.

Kelly I live in the US and a lot of families don't use an au pair because the cost works out to be about $25k a year. Au pairs can only go through an agency, I think there are 6 or 10 of them, and the hiring family pay $6k for the visa annually per au pair (part of the $25k cost). If you just need afterschool care it is so much easier and cheaper to hire a local on $15/hr and send your kids to the camps which are plentiful and reasonably priced for school holidays.

The Louise Woodward case woke up authorities here that families were using au pairs instead of daycare or a nanny. Personally I would never leave my 8 week old baby with an 18 year old, but with the high cost of childcare I can understand why people do it as the savings are life changing.

It would not surprise me if the UK has, in retaliation, made it difficult for American au pairs to go to the UK

Has anyone actually been sent a list of questions recently. I've realised the original post is going back some time so may not be on people's radars anymore.
I am registered with au pair world recently and have been contacted by a few Americans although one girl is now saying that US girls can not au pair in the UK. Can anyone shed light on this ?

Oh I hadn't thought of that. Interesting. But - I had one couple apply, which sparked me to actually add that part to my profile to avoid wasting people's time. Then I got another. It's only happened one other time in my nearly eight years of recruiting for them...

Yes.

Perhaps 'couple' is being searched for and throwing up your profile?! I've not had a couple apply, ever.

they're not their -