Found good au pair, now what do I do??

[nikki3boys]

Hi
I had an au pair 10 yrs ago but I found her through an agency. This time I found a really good girl from the Philippines, she ticks all the boxes and is willing to come over and start next month. I found her on au-pair world.com.

I'm really not sure what I have to organise next. She says she needs to get a visa for a domestic helper and I need to write a letter for her. I'm asuming she pays for a rtn flight? I was really hoping for an au-pair already in the UK cos its a long way to come if it doesn't work out for her??? but i guess this is the risk that is taken? She has been an au pair in Germany before though so she knows what she's doing and she is 25 ! Can anyone tell me what practical things I should be doing or checking before I actually invite her to come and put things in motion?
Many thanks
Nikki

Hi Nikki,

A Filippina does not qualify under the au pair scheme, which is for Europeans. As far as I am aware (you can check on the UK visas website), she won't qualify for a domestic worker visa either as she needs to have been working for you for a year already. We looked into bringing our nanny over from Romania a few years ago and this was one of the preconditions.

Maybe it would be easier to find someone closer to home?

She won't be eligible for a domestic worker visa. For that, she would have to be a domestic worker that you employed for at least a year while you lived overseas - and she is simply accompanying you as you return to the UK.

Nor is she eligible for an au pair visa.

ditto Mrs S

Thank you very much. I agree with you that she's not eligible. I'm glad I checked !!

I've now found a french girl and we've been emailing back and forth and we are both keen. I've contacted her references and she seems really good and we've even worked out her train timetable for her lessons at college.

I've written her a timetable of hours and duties which she's agreed to (about 20 hours) and have said that the other 5 hours or so will be bits and bobs as and when needed as my husband works shifts so needs to be a bit flexible. She has agreed to all this by email and we are speaking by phone this week just to make it more personal as I haven't seen her face to face.

I just have to "officially" invite her now - this may seem naive - but do I write up any kind of contract etc - is it worth the paper its written on, or is it just a loose arrangement??? Anything else I should be doing at this stage??

Any help appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.