American au pair - anyone used one?

[MizZan]

We are thinking of offering an au pair position to an American woman (recent university graduate), but I'm finding myself a bit stumped on the visa issue. It seems Americans do no qualify for the standard au pair visa. Has anyone on here used an American au pair before? If so, what kind of visa did they come over on? How did they get it? Any issues at all?

Any help/advice/experience appreciated!

We had some fabulous American applicants for our job but as far as I can make out-they cannot work legally as a nanny or AuPair in this country.

the list of au pair countries is really limited - its basically EU plus commonwealth. I dont see how you could get an american either.

my only advice is - avoid all aplicants with potential visa problems, however good they are. there are loads of people who can just hop on a plane tomorrow.

Americans can get a Bunac visa which allows them to work for a maximum of six months in the UK. She would qualify for this fine if she is a very recent graduate (it's targeted at students and brand new graduates), and would be able to work as an aupair.

As far as au pairs go, six months is a reasonable time frame.

Here is the website:

\link{http://www.bunac.org/USA/workinbritain/\Bunac Work in Britain}

thanks science teacher! will look into it.