Au Pair Ban by Administration
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Anonymous
We had a new au pair arriving in few weeks. Now she can't come. We have no childcare. She has been planning this for a year and already quit her job and gave up her apartment to come, so she's unemployed and homeless. It's pretty darn close to a crisis for us and her. |
Anonymous
Exactly. This sucks. Without full time school in the fall, how are people ever going to get back to work without options for childcare? |
Anonymous
Are you sure? It isn’t clear if you already have a valid visa whether you are allowed to enter the country. Has this been clarified? It seems no new visas will be issued but what about au pairs already holding valid J-1 visas? |
Anonymous
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Current au pairs are in the drivers seat. You better treat them well or they will rematch.
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Anonymous
She doesnt have her visa yet, so she's under the ban. She was supposed to have her appointment a long time ago, but COVID cause delays. She had an appointment for this week. |
Anonymous
| Can the au pair agencies survive this? |
Anonymous
Ugh. That’s awful. |
Anonymous
| The ban will affect all individuals who are currently outside of the US and do not possess a valid J-1 visa that can be used for entry. Note that consulates have been closed for the past few months so no recent Js have been issued. Furthermore, there is a ban on travel from several countries (Schengen area, UK, China, and Brazil) to US so au pairs from these countries are precluded anyway. The gist is that individuals already here can stay. However, they cannot depart because they will not be issued new visas to re-enter (if they have an expiring visa). While the ban is set to expire on 12/31/2020, it is unlikely to be rescinded should DJT be re-elected. Remember, the Muslim Ban was allegedly going to be 90 days but it is still in place and effectively permanent three years later. The public just forgot about it. |
Anonymous
Only .03% of American families with children use au pairs. Which is to say rhat while APs are an option, they so rare as to be statistically irrelevant to the search for child care. The intent of the order was to increase work opportunities for Americans. Lots of displaced waitresses would love to have that job. Au Pairs are really just here for fun. I mean, we are all trying yo pull together as a country and help each other out right? |
Anonymous
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most of the consulates have been closed so anyone who has been waiting for a visa for months has not been able to get one. and now will not get one this year
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Anonymous
Hmm, not everyone wants a “displaced waitress” for childcare. I have lots of lovely waitress friends and they all like kids on a superficial level and they would have no problem baby-sitting for 3 hours on a Saturday but looking after kids for 45hours is very different. Au pairs might be here for fun, but if you filtered the APs properly it wasn’t that hard to find qualified childcare with lots of experience with kids that a waitress simply doesn’t have. Also most independent adults who are not used to childcare might absolutely dread being home with kids PLUS the parents. It’s not like anyone right now working as a nanny or else will have the normal/ideal nanny conditions. I can’t see people who aren’t used to working with kids being reliable. I can see lots of people thinking that’s what they want to do because they “like kids” and then realizing looking after kids full time during Covid isn’t fun and quitting after a bit, leaving parents in a tight spot. Finding reliable local childcare is hard on good days, let alone right now, where qualified childcare is rare gold and everybody else is just winging it. |
Anonymous
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All of this is for cheap labor
aupairs are really just for cheap childcare, the whole idea of cultural exchange is nonsense. In fact, the immigrants here are the ones that exploit the aupairs the most (ironically). H1B is nothing more than cheap IT labor. sorry the jig is up time to pay a fair wage. |
Anonymous
You realize that IT people make upward of 100k on average? You also realize that while for some family it might not be about the cultural exchange, for APs it very much is the only way they can come live in the US for a year at almost no cost and is very much about the cultural exchange for them? Host families will be able to afford other form of childcare, the only one who will lose out are all those people who will be denied the opportunity to come here and experience it. If one wants to find cheap labor they can always find cheap labor, no need to join the AP program (not saying some families don't join it for financial reasons). |
Anonymous
You dodged a bullet. She's dim witted. What kind of bozo quits their job in the middle of a pandemic? Anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together should have anticipated disruptions. |
Anonymous
During a pandemic, we don't want people moving around that much. That's the whole point of the stay at home order. We dont WANT people vacationing in Florida or New York, much less flying in from Thailand or Brazil. Movement is the virus spreads. The girls can come in 7 months when this expires. 7 months of waiting isn't a huge deal if the experience is that critical to them. While I had great APs, it's hard to believe your version of the program where girls come here to experience an American family and wouid be content with severe limitations on travel, socializing, etc. On an average year over half of APs are in rematch. That's a high attrition rate. Also, they sued and got a huge settlement, and are still facing other legal challenges. It simply makes no sense to bring a young person all the way here to have a limited cultural exchange while she is covered under crappy, minimal insurance and the courts in the east coast are looking to shut the program down. This pandemic may well be the fork in the program. And at this point, I think few families will care that much. |