To ask if you realise au-pairs are seriously under threat after Brexit?

[Dontblameitontheboogie]

On another thread discussing a potential au-pair who would be starting this summer, I was struck that not a single poster pointed out that it’s far from certain au-pairs will be able to arrive or even stay after 29 March!?!

I thought this deserved its own thread, and in AIBU rather than the “Brexit” echo chamber. People may not even realise they could be affected.

Even in a “Deal” scenario, au-pair status isn’t guaranteed, as far as I know. They won’t qualify for pre-settled status, as they’re here temporarily and won’t be able to provide proof of ordinary residence. So technically they could be here illegally from 29 March. Access to health care would be a worry, as would re-entering the UK after trips home - or getting here in the first place.

The current au pair scheme is an EU-wide arrangement, that allows young EU nationals to temporarily live in another EU country without exercising Treaty rights. Some countries, like France or Germany extend the scheme to au-pairs from outside the EU too, but the U.K. doesn’t.

In case of a no deal Brexit, the Immigration Bill that was passed last Monday means that EU citizens wishing to come here must have a job offer worth at least £30,000k. Some exceptions I believe, such as nurses and doctors, but I haven’t seen any mention of au pairs anywhere.

Check out www.saveaupairs.uk for more info.

To be honest, this is the least of my worries

Not just au-pairs. Butlers, valets, and house servants are all under threat. Oh, the humanity.

You just can't get the staff.

Not just au-pairs. Butlers, valets, and house servants are all under threat.

if you were trying to be funny, you failed miserably

I'm sure they existed before we joined the EU. Two if my aunt's were au pairs in France and Germany.

It'll just need the same easy to complete paperwork it used to need. Like many other things people seem to want to scaremonger about.

Have to admit, that's the mist first world issue do far, though. Well done!

Not a high priority concern for me either.
I don't like seeing kids being messed about. That's about the size of it.

Well tbh in my world Au pairs don't feature at all.so.it's not something that's really on my radar .

Au pairs don't just come from EU countries and people had au pairs before the EU so I don't think it'll be a problem.

Not something*

Well no one is going to have a job, and they'll be no food. So I supposed it's one less mouth for the middle classes to feed?

I think a lot of people do realise that, and more importantly au-pairs have realised that first because it is much much harder to employ them. You used to get hundreds of reply to an ad online, that has completely dried up for months.

Ignore the sneering from the idiots, since when it is a luxury to have an au-pair or a child minder

It’s ridiculous not to care about an issue because it doesn’t affect you personally. It will affect some parents across the UK (and British young people who want to work in the EU). And it’s not just a case of ‘we’ll go back to how it was before’. It is not 1968. We’ve probably lost the fucking forms we used to use. Oh and that’s not how immigration and the hostile environment works. FFS.

Except the 'paperwork it used to need' is long gone as are the people who processed it

FFS, it’s the least of my worries too (and I’ve never had an au pair, but know working families and single mothers who depend on them for affordable childcare).

I just thought it was worth pointing out as yet another badly thought-through consequence of Brexit. Especially when I see people talking about hiring young girls who could potentially find themselves in a very vulnerable position in a few months’ time.

Ignore the sneering from the idiots, since when it is a luxury to have an au-pair
You are kidding, right?

biscuit with all due respects most people are probably more concerned about more pressing things, than au pairs and house staff !

For some reason there is a strange anti au pair view on aibu which has not basis in fact.

I do realise this but we stopped having au pairs a couple of years ago.

gosh, I have friends who depend on their OPs in order to go out to work (they don't work office hours, and one would be classed an essential worker). How nasty and sneering some people are with their race-to-the-bottom attitude.

Well, there's lots of unemployed British people. They could do it.

This immediately made me think of....

OPs? Au Pairs!

Umm a childminder isn't a luxury, but an au pair absolutely is!

Lots of unemployed British people could act as au pairs? Jesus Christ. Do you know what an au pair is?

I don’t understand all these people sneering at the idea of au pairs being for rich people. Everyone I know with an au pair is on fairly low income but finds the 500/month cost more palatable than 1800 if they didn’t have one for their 3-4 kids.

So childcare options for parents get even harder. I don’t think that’s anything to brush aside.

I don't have one but an au pair is a lot cheaper than a childminder. 2 friends have them and both are single mums with full time jobs.