Au pair marriage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Au pairs come here mainly to get citizenship. I dont understand why people support that.

None of our au pairs were interested in that at all - yes some of their friends from South America were open to falling in love and getting married - as are a lot of women in their 20s from the US. We know some who have gotten married and had kids and stayed married. I guess the question is why you oppose that - it sounds like you are concerned that POC are immigrating legally. Hmmm.

[Anonymous]

Not the PP and don’t have any issue with legal immigration. Yet, the post indicating that most APs come here for at least a green card is true.

[Anonymous]

I really think this assumption is based on a limited data set, perhaps those who recruit au pairs from traditionally "sending" countries (ie latin america or eastern parts of Europe). Our Western European APs certainly havent had this mindset. I wonder why folks care if this is something of interest to their AP, as long as it doesnt interfere with their duties. I think folks need to be realistic that you and your kids are a big part of their time in the US, but they are young women (generally) who are at the same time of life as American young women who are exploring opportunities, trying to figure out their futures.

[Anonymous]

Our ap is mid-20s, has a college degree and is a native English speaker. She is also not white. We've hosted many other au pairs who had no interest in staying here longterm but everyone is an individual. For our current AP it makes a lot of sense for her to stay here. She now has a much easier way to do it (I guess?) through her boyfriend, now fiancé. She is super hardworking and doesn't neglect her childcare or family "duties" because of her bf, he works a ton as well and they occasionally hang out together with our family. He's a lovely young man, also in his mid-20s, with a challenging but good job (where he is happy and well-liked), is a good citizen and seems like an overall good guy. We are happy for her.

[Anonymous]

Our French AP was clearly here to get married and stay. She accomplished her goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our French AP was clearly here to get married and stay. She accomplished her goal.

NP - we've had 5 French APs and none had this plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Au pairs come here mainly to get citizenship. I dont understand why people support that.

Why not support it?

[Anonymous]

We have had several APs from Central America and none of them were interested in staying here after their term ended.

[Anonymous]

Two of our aupairs were successful at their husband hunt.

These are women between the ages of 19-26, yes, they are looking for spouses. Some don't have the best job opportunities back in their home countries. The US gives them a visa to come here knowing the rate of return to their home country is around 70-80% in any given year. There are only 20,000 aupair visas granted a year. It's not a huge number of people who come and stay using this visa.
But yes, it's one of the only visa programs for 'unskilled' people without degrees. Of course, it is an avenue to immigration for many who do not have the money for higher education or to come here on a student visa.

Whether you 'support' that or not, that's on you. As long as childcare is ridiculously expensive and there are dual working households, the aupair program will be supported. The immigration rate is not newsworthy.

[Anonymous]

they should go to city hall and get married and get the paperwork for green card going ( and have official celebration when they had had time to plan it). once they marry they submit paperwork and she can request for a work permit. work permit once approved comes within 3 months-might be longer now. and then you basically wait it out and fill out more paperwork and wait and such. Once they start the paperwork she is legal to stay. Once she gets the work permit-she is legal to work. She will get a temp green card if approved (will have to do fingerprints and pictures) and then more paperwork later she will get the 10 year green card. once she is married for 5 years she can apply for citizenship.

[Anonymous]

So is there any need to have the marriage before her ap term is over? Or can they just get married right at the end of her term?

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t she have one month for travel once her term is over? If so she can do it then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Au pairs come here mainly to get citizenship. I dont understand why people support that.

You don't deserve US citizenship any more than she does. You did nothing to earn it and it was just an accident of your birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t she have one month for travel once her term is over? If so she can do it then.

This is unclear to me because she is an extension au pair. Do they still get the “travel month”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our wonderful au pair has been dating her boyfriend for over a year and they’ve begun discussing marriage. We support her and her boyfriend is a good guy. Can anyone who has navigated this with their au pairs give any advice? They are planning to get married at the end of her time with us (July) and she would like to keep working (as a babysitter) if it works out, which we would be happy to do. She was likely to be our last ap anyway as our kids are getting older, and she’s been such a wonderful ap it would be hard to follow her.

Please please please have her consult an immigration attorney. There is some room for error here and this is a carry specialized area of law. A mistake could get her barred from the country for up to ten years.