Which countries can au pairs come from? Are Thai au pairs allowed - seems mad but I think they're not!

[CoffeeAndCarrotCake]

I've found a few girls who seem like they'd be fantastic au pairs / nannies, but they're from Malaysia, China, Brazil and Thailand. From what I've managed to find out, au pairs are only allowed into the UK if they're from an EU or Commonwealth country. I've never looked into this before but it seems mad that people from any other country in the world are simply not allowed to work here. Am I missing something?!

Hi. I posted something similar earlier this year. No you're not missing something they not allowed in aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The best place to look is the offical websites (Eg UK Gov immigration). Some non EU/Commonwealth are allowed in on a study visa, this means they have to study up to or over 15 hours a week. The problem here is that then sometimes they want you to pay for this and it becomes expensive. In the end we gave up and settled on eastern europeans, both of whom (I am on no 2), fingers crossed have been brill. If anyone else can get them in please let me know as we would love a mexican. Byeeeee

The other thing I found, before I got very far, is that they can't afford the air fare and want you to pay at least half. Again, very expensive.

Does anyone know if Yanks can come over as au pairs? I'm sure a friend did this in university (I'm from the US but now live over here) but this was, like, two decades ago so not sure whether rules have changed.

Maybe on BUNAC?!

INF16 - Au pairs

The following countries are part of the Au Pair Scheme:
Andorra, Faroe Islands, Monaco, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greenland, San Marino, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey

European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals: Not part of scheme but can come to the UK to take au pair placements.

There are special rules concerning Romania and Bulgaria

There is also the Working holidaymaker (INF 15) scheme. Malaysia is on the list. China, Brazil, and Thailand are not. But, quite a lot of Brazilians also have Italian citizenship so they can come in on their Italian passport as an EU citizen. So it's worth asking about their passports.

Countries which qualify for the Working Holiday: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/immigrationlaw/immigrationrules/appendix3/

Thanks for that link AN.

No problem. Oh, and I share your pain. Would love to have an American come work for us. But, there doesn't apprear to be any way to do this. When my neices are old enough I might bring them over one by one for the summer.

There was a very sad case at the end of last year when 2 ladies died at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester days after giving birth. One of them was from Thailand, and her sister came over to help with the baby so that Dad could continue to work. She was sent back to Thailand because she did not have the right visa. As far as I know she's not been allowed back.

Terrible! To think that she wasn't able to stay in such desperate circumstances. I think I might just focus on EU / Commonwealth people. Not that I'm shallow or anything, but when the Thai girl said that her favourite hobby is cooking, I think my husband and I fell in love with her! Not quite the same if the potential au pair from Hull says it!

AN
What about the BUNAC progam though? There just seems to be loads and loads of American au pairs on the Almondbury website. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that an agency doesn't filter out the candidates who don't have the required visas for the country in question though.

that is really strange that the romanian and bulgarian aps need to get the wrs registration done. with that they are classed as working and not cultural exchange??!

the whole immigration system is changing and the aupair scheme is beeing replaced by something else. it just seems a bit complicated to me. however you will always be safe with someone from the eu.

until the change, there are either eu aps who dont need any visas or anything, than the ap scheme aps who need a stamp in the passport (which they receive at the border) or some of them might need to apply for this ap visa before travel but i cant find which at them moment but think tureky falls in this category)

bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/

www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ngintheuk/tier5/aupairs/

www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

btw i thinki almondubry places all over europe, hence the american aps on their books.

www.aupair-agency.com/aupair-visa-UK.htm

I have learnt from past experience to not even look at details of anyone from Mexico, Thailand etc unless they already have visa (very rare) - just gets very frustrating because otherwise you find loads of fab people and are not allowed to employ them.

Turkish au pairs need a visa, which they can get when you've written your letter of invitation to them. They also need to register at the local Police Station when they arrive. This costs about £32.