Hiring an Au Pair away from another family?

[Anonymous]

Our current live in nanny is going back to school full time and leaving us next semester. She and our children have become very good friends with an AuPair..

The Aupair is done with her contractual 2 yr agreement with her family in June and wants to stay in the USA but not with her family. She really wants to leave the family now.

To stay she said the family needs to sponsor her, but she doesn't want to stay with that family.

Is there anyway we can hire her legally?

[Anonymous]

What agency is she with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our current live in nanny is going back to school full time and leaving us next semester. She and our children have become very good friends with an AuPair..

The Aupair is done with her contractual 2 yr agreement with her family in June and wants to stay in the USA but not with her family. She really wants to leave the family now.

To stay she said the family needs to sponsor her, but she doesn't want to stay with that family.

Is there anyway we can hire her legally?

No.

If she wants to stay in the US, she needs a visa. There are no working visas given to child care workers. She could apply for a student visa but once on one it is not legal for her to work in the US unless it is <20hrs per week of University sponsored "work-study". Yes I know lots of folks do work on their student visa under the table, but they are breaking the law.

If she wants to break the match with her current family early, you could apply with her agency and get her in rematch. However, come June, she's got to go home since you can't extend and AP J-1 visa beyond 2 years. Once she returns home for 2 years, if she is still under 26 she could apply for and do another 2 years as an AP.

[Anonymous]

I am not sure-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our current live in nanny is going back to school full time and leaving us next semester. She and our children have become very good friends with an AuPair..

The Aupair is done with her contractual 2 yr agreement with her family in June and wants to stay in the USA but not with her family. She really wants to leave the family now.

To stay she said the family needs to sponsor her, but she doesn't want to stay with that family.

Is there anyway we can hire her legally?

No.

If she wants to stay in the US, she needs a visa. There are no working visas given to child care workers. She could apply for a student visa but once on one it is not legal for her to work in the US unless it is <20hrs per week of University sponsored "work-study". Yes I know lots of folks do work on their student visa under the table, but they are breaking the law.

If she wants to break the match with her current family early, you could apply with her agency and get her in rematch. However, come June, she's got to go home since you can't extend and AP J-1 visa beyond 2 years. Once she returns home for 2 years, if she is still under 26 she could apply for and do another 2 years as an AP.

This exactly. There is no legal way she can stay in the US after June and work for your family. I suppose you could sign up with her agency, she could request a rematch (she will have to wait two weeks after requesting it), then you could request to be matched with her. Then you could have her until June. But you'd have to pay the full agency fee most likely, so that will be around $7,500 just to match with her.

[Anonymous]

She could apply for a student visa so she's at least in the country legally. Then ou could hire her under the tablemifmyoure comfortable with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our current live in nanny is going back to school full time and leaving us next semester. She and our children have become very good friends with an AuPair..

The Aupair is done with her contractual 2 yr agreement with her family in June and wants to stay in the USA but not with her family. She really wants to leave the family now.

To stay she said the family needs to sponsor her, but she doesn't want to stay with that family.

Is there anyway we can hire her legally?

No.

If she wants to stay in the US, she needs a visa. There are no working visas given to child care workers. She could apply for a student visa but once on one it is not legal for her to work in the US unless it is <20hrs per week of University sponsored "work-study". Yes I know lots of folks do work on their student visa under the table, but they are breaking the law.

If she wants to break the match with her current family early, you could apply with her agency and get her in rematch. However, come June, she's got to go home since you can't extend and AP J-1 visa beyond 2 years. Once she returns home for 2 years, if she is still under 26 she could apply for and do another 2 years as an AP.

This exactly. There is no legal way she can stay in the US after June and work for your family. I suppose you could sign up with her agency, she could request a rematch (she will have to wait two weeks after requesting it), then you could request to be matched with her. Then you could have her until June. But you'd have to pay the full agency fee most likely, so that will be around $7,500 just to match with her.

You've got to be kidding! $7,500. for what exactly?
You don't know what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

$7,500 for the agency fee... if you don't believe me, go on any of the au pair sites. Cultural Care, APIA, Euraupair, Interexchange, etc - they are all about $7-8k in agency fees per year when you match.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our current live in nanny is going back to school full time and leaving us next semester. She and our children have become very good friends with an AuPair..

The Aupair is done with her contractual 2 yr agreement with her family in June and wants to stay in the USA but not with her family. She really wants to leave the family now.

To stay she said the family needs to sponsor her, but she doesn't want to stay with that family.

Is there anyway we can hire her legally?

No.

If she wants to stay in the US, she needs a visa. There are no working visas given to child care workers. She could apply for a student visa but once on one it is not legal for her to work in the US unless it is <20hrs per week of University sponsored "work-study". Yes I know lots of folks do work on their student visa under the table, but they are breaking the law.

If she wants to break the match with her current family early, you could apply with her agency and get her in rematch. However, come June, she's got to go home since you can't extend and AP J-1 visa beyond 2 years. Once she returns home for 2 years, if she is still under 26 she could apply for and do another 2 years as an AP.

This exactly. There is no legal way she can stay in the US after June and work for your family. I suppose you could sign up with her agency, she could request a rematch (she will have to wait two weeks after requesting it), then you could request to be matched with her. Then you could have her until June. But you'd have to pay the full agency fee most likely, so that will be around $7,500 just to match with her.

Agree with all of the above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$7,500 for the agency fee... if you don't believe me, go on any of the au pair sites. Cultural Care, APIA, Euraupair, Interexchange, etc - they are all about $7-8k in agency fees per year when you match.

And I agree with all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$7,500 for the agency fee... if you don't believe me, go on any of the au pair sites. Cultural Care, APIA, Euraupair, Interexchange, etc - they are all about $7-8k in agency fees per year when you match.

And I agree with all of this.

When she's already here, it's not like they can start from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our current live in nanny is going back to school full time and leaving us next semester. She and our children have become very good friends with an AuPair..

The Aupair is done with her contractual 2 yr agreement with her family in June and wants to stay in the USA but not with her family. She really wants to leave the family now.

To stay she said the family needs to sponsor her, but she doesn't want to stay with that family.

Is there anyway we can hire her legally?

No.

If she wants to stay in the US, she needs a visa. There are no working visas given to child care workers. She could apply for a student visa but once on one it is not legal for her to work in the US unless it is <20hrs per week of University sponsored "work-study". Yes I know lots of folks do work on their student visa under the table, but they are breaking the law.

If she wants to break the match with her current family early, you could apply with her agency and get her in rematch. However, come June, she's got to go home since you can't extend and AP J-1 visa beyond 2 years. Once she returns home for 2 years, if she is still under 26 she could apply for and do another 2 years as an AP.

This exactly. There is no legal way she can stay in the US after June and work for your family. I suppose you could sign up with her agency, she could request a rematch (she will have to wait two weeks after requesting it), then you could request to be matched with her. Then you could have her until June. But you'd have to pay the full agency fee most likely, so that will be around $7,500 just to match with her.

You've got to be kidding! $7,500. for what exactly?
You don't know what you're talking about.

If you weren't aware of the steep agency fees, you obviously aren't a HP! LOL. This is why everyone is under they impression that an AP is "cheap childcare" It actually runs about $24,000 a year to host an Au Pair, not including car payments if you provide a third car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$7,500 for the agency fee... if you don't believe me, go on any of the au pair sites. Cultural Care, APIA, Euraupair, Interexchange, etc - they are all about $7-8k in agency fees per year when you match.

And I agree with all of this.

When she's already here, it's not like they can start from scratch.

They charge you over $6,000 for the year even if you just want to keep the AP you already have in your home for a second year. If you don't believe the posts here, call the agencies and ask. Believe me, they don't cut anyone any big breaks. The agency fees are huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$7,500 for the agency fee... if you don't believe me, go on any of the au pair sites. Cultural Care, APIA, Euraupair, Interexchange, etc - they are all about $7-8k in agency fees per year when you match.

And I agree with all of this.

When she's already here, it's not like they can start from scratch.

They charge you over $6,000 for the year even if you just want to keep the AP you already have in your home for a second year. If you don't believe the posts here, call the agencies and ask. Believe me, they don't cut anyone any big breaks. The agency fees are huge.

Ok, I believe you. Whoever owns these agencies must be raking in some big bucks, maybe even more than regular agencies?

[Anonymous]

In addition to what other posters have said, even if you are comfortable with her working for you "under the table" - you should understand what she means when she says "sponsor" her. (And then it is not so "under the table," because your name is out there with immigration as connected to her presence in the U.S., though it is illegal for you to employ her.)

To elaborate: The easiest way for her to stay here legally is on a student visa. To get the student visa, she needs the school to certify certain things to USCIS. The hardest of these is that she has a "sponsor" - someone who takes full financial responsibility for her tuition and living expenses. The school will require you to fill out an affidavit and provide proof that you have somewhere in the realm of $30,000 in liquid assets (you can check the school websites for the forms to see how much each school requires; I advise checking community college foreign student website sections in your area to get an idea), and that you guarantee that if the student skips out on her tuition, you will cover it. Our AP was interested in us doing this for her, and while we would not have felt comfortable employing her illegally in the first place, we also did not feel comfortable guaranteeing her financially. But we got very familiar with the process, since we helped her with all her paperwork and looked into some of the immigration issues with her.