Does anyone know what the legal situation is re au pairs and visas?

[Wilbur]

We are about to hire a new au pair. Our last lovely au pair was from Australia and had a full work visa for the UK so there was no problem with hiring her. I am now looking at Great Au Pair and see that many of the girls there say that they have no visas. Now I know that there are only a few countries that are official au pair suppliers as defined by the Gov't, but what is the situation if you want to hire someone on an au pair type contract - do you have to apply for a visa for them, or expect them to do it? I have a possible candidate from Canada who is a friend of my cousin, and another from the USA but obv at the moment neither of them have visas. Anyone know anything about this? Or should I just stick to looking at girls form the EU?

UKVisas.gov.uk

You can use UKVisas to look up what the visa requirements are, depending on where the au-pair/mothers help is coming from. There is a lot of free movement now for EEA citizens.

For some countries, such as Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and others - the au-pair will need to register under the Worker Registration Scheme .

Where the au-pair is an EEA citizen, they are more a live-in mothers-help than an au-pair. They would be a worker in the UK like any other.

Canada & USA - not eligible for au-pair scheme . According to the quick search at ukvisas.

Thank you (again!) nannynick - will go and look at the websites now.

For the one from Canada, if she is in her 20s, she can apply for a Working Holiday visa. This allows her to come into the country and work for you for 12 months. You do not have to sponsor this visa. She gets it herself. This is of course good because then you aren't liable for the things she does when she is here.

As for the US, forget it. Much too difficult. I am American and would actually like to hire an American nanny. But, it's too much hassle. I just go for the commonwealth countries and working holiday visa candidates.