I think my au pair might be lying about her age

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Also, IMO it's extremely difficult to guess age accurately. You shouldn't assume you're right - it's much more plausible that you are wrong than that she faked her age.

[Anonymous]

Besides the uncertainty of her age, how is she at her job?

[Anonymous]

Why do you care? If I thought she was a teen, I might care but I’m not sure I’d care if she used her younger sister’s birth certificate so she could stay in the program a few more years.

[Anonymous]

The whole au pair concept blows me away. It seems like exploitation. She’s doing your job for low wages and controlled housing, right? I don’t see how her “real” age is your business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Also, IMO it's extremely difficult to guess age accurately. You shouldn't assume you're right - it's much more plausible that you are wrong than that she faked her age.

That’s why I’m asking. For an American it would be obvious to me that I’m wrong. Faking all the documentation would be hard. I just don’t know how hard it would be for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you care? If I thought she was a teen, I might care but I’m not sure I’d care if she used her younger sister’s birth certificate so she could stay in the program a few more years.

Really, you wouldn’t care if a person living in your home and caring for your children was faking her identity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole au pair concept blows me away. It seems like exploitation. She’s doing your job for low wages and controlled housing, right? I don’t see how her “real” age is your business.

If it’s such a bad deal for au pairs they can just go home.

[Anonymous]

How would you plan on proving this? If she lied she made it through the visa process with fake documents. Do you think she’s carrying her real identity on her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you plan on proving this? If she lied she made it through the visa process with fake documents. Do you think she’s carrying her real identity on her?

I don’t think it is possible to prove. I guess I was hoping someone would say “no way the state department would never accept au pairs from a country where this wouldn’t be very difficult.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole au pair concept blows me away. It seems like exploitation. She’s doing your job for low wages and controlled housing, right? I don’t see how her “real” age is your business.

If it’s such a bad deal for au pairs they can just go home.

Exactly. There is nothing wrong with importing labor from abroad and then paying them below minimum wage in exchange for food and housing under a hilariously naive and outdated visa scheme

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole au pair concept blows me away. It seems like exploitation. She’s doing your job for low wages and controlled housing, right? I don’t see how her “real” age is your business.

If it’s such a bad deal for au pairs they can just go home.

Exactly. There is nothing wrong with importing labor from abroad and then paying them below minimum wage in exchange for food and housing under a hilariously naive and outdated visa scheme

I’m OP. I pay above minimum wage on top of housing, food, unlimited car usage, gas, phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is a crazy idea.

Why? Pretty easy to falsify a birth certificate

And get it past a passport office?

Americans are notoriously bad at identifying the age of people of different races and cultures. Accusing someone of visa fraud because an elderly person misjudged their age is pretty terrible.

Sure, it's not really that difficult in other countries to use others documents or falsify and pay a bribe. It is what it is.
The PP is probably correct, she probably just used someone else's documents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you plan on proving this? If she lied she made it through the visa process with fake documents. Do you think she’s carrying her real identity on her?

I don’t think it is possible to prove. I guess I was hoping someone would say “no way the state department would never accept au pairs from a country where this wouldn’t be very difficult.”

Sounds like you should contact the State Dept to ask about their visa vetting process. That’s the only way you’d get a clear answer.

[Anonymous]

Yes, her age and her name is probably falsified. This is common.

My cleaning lady has a false name and so does her assistant. Her husband (boyfriend?) had an accident and needed to be hospitalized and only then we found out that the age and name was different for him and the cleaning lady. I did not ask. They probably are illegal.

If she is staying at your home and she is looking after the kids, you want to know for sure. But, unless you are running her prints and have her driver license info you really do not know.

[Anonymous]

Would you do the same for your coworkers who do not appear their stated age?