AP cancelled January match

[Anonymous]

I matched with an OO au pair for August and then the COVID and VISA ban happened and things got postponed till January. AP asked if we could wait for her and we agreed. Fast forward today she texted me to ask me if there is any way she could come sooner otherwise she would like to cancel the match. She is turning 27 in March and will age out the program. So I totally understand and support her decision. she told me she is hoping to match with a family who qualifies for the exemption added to the travel ban, she told me an AP from her city found such a family and got her visa for November. I believe the AP is making a good decision because this is her last chance. I was just wondering how common is this? are lot of APs coming through the exemptions? I am really just curious.

[Anonymous]

As many as can find families who qualify.

[Anonymous]

What exemption?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exemption?

National Interest Exception criteria for host families include:

Host families who are members of the medical community who are caring for those who have contracted COVID-19; and/or those involved in research related to COVID-19.
Host families who have children who may require specific care such as: medical, special education, or sign language and who have been diagnosed by a qualified medical individual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exemption?

National Interest Exception criteria for host families include:

Host families who are members of the medical community who are caring for those who have contracted COVID-19; and/or those involved in research related to COVID-19.
Host families who have children who may require specific care such as: medical, special education, or sign language and who have been diagnosed by a qualified medical individual.

do you have a source for this? we meet all of the aboive criteria

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exemption?

National Interest Exception criteria for host families include:

Host families who are members of the medical community who are caring for those who have contracted COVID-19; and/or those involved in research related to COVID-19.
Host families who have children who may require specific care such as: medical, special education, or sign language and who have been diagnosed by a qualified medical individual.

do you have a source for this? we meet all of the aboive criteria

scroll down on Cultural Care home page. https://culturalcare.com/

A number of au pairs have arrived or are arriving to our cluster this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exemption?

National Interest Exception criteria for host families include:

Host families who are members of the medical community who are caring for those who have contracted COVID-19; and/or those involved in research related to COVID-19.
Host families who have children who may require specific care such as: medical, special education, or sign language and who have been diagnosed by a qualified medical individual.

do you have a source for this? we meet all of the aboive criteria

Contact your agency, they should know. I am surprised most agencies are not proactively contacting families to know if they qualify. My agency didn't, I learned about it through my AP.

[Anonymous]

I'm applying for an NIE to bring an AP hopefully next month. Qualify bc I'm a doctor caring for covid patients. We use APIA, and they have webinars all about the NIE (I imagine many agencies have them - they are desperate to continue the flow of APs to the US!). Also depending on the reason for your exception, look for facebook groups that may crowdsource tips. There's one, for example, for MD moms. This has been helpful for me for the finer tips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm applying for an NIE to bring an AP hopefully next month. Qualify bc I'm a doctor caring for covid patients. We use APIA, and they have webinars all about the NIE (I imagine many agencies have them - they are desperate to continue the flow of APs to the US!). Also depending on the reason for your exception, look for facebook groups that may crowdsource tips. There's one, for example, for MD moms. This has been helpful for me for the finer tips.

My AP in APIA will be pleased to hear that there are new APs coming. Please encourage your AP to be active in the cluster and make friends with other APs. There is a good group here, but their social lives are limited.

[Anonymous]

We just got an out-of-country au pair though the NIE exemption process. She arrives on Saturday. I would encourage you to apply if your work at all touches on Covid. We are not doctors and it was granted easily. I think the people in the embassies are looking for reasons to say yes instead of reasons to say no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just got an out-of-country au pair though the NIE exemption process. She arrives on Saturday. I would encourage you to apply if your work at all touches on Covid. We are not doctors and it was granted easily. I think the people in the embassies are looking for reasons to say yes instead of reasons to say no.

+1 on the bolded one. OP here. It is really sad that agencies are not proactively contacting families to know if they qualify. Like PP I also learned it from my AP. I contacted a different agency I used to be registered with and they told me that some families with jobs not at all related to COVID (and No kid with special needs) have welcomed APs recently. If I had know that I would have tried with my AP before she cancelled. Although she hasn't found a new family yet, I don't want to waste her time just in case it doesn't work out. But again this is a lost opportunity for Au pair agencies to keep families in the program!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just got an out-of-country au pair though the NIE exemption process. She arrives on Saturday. I would encourage you to apply if your work at all touches on Covid. We are not doctors and it was granted easily. I think the people in the embassies are looking for reasons to say yes instead of reasons to say no.

What exemption did you use and what type of letter/proof did you provide?

[Anonymous]

I understand the visa waivers but how are they getting through the travel bans? Are those waived too? And are there flights? Or are they coming from countries without bans (not sure which ones they are).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand the visa waivers but how are they getting through the travel bans? Are those waived too? And are there flights? Or are they coming from countries without bans (not sure which ones they are).

They get on humanitarian flights if approved for waiver. Costs a little more but travel ban does not matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got an out-of-country au pair though the NIE exemption process. She arrives on Saturday. I would encourage you to apply if your work at all touches on Covid. We are not doctors and it was granted easily. I think the people in the embassies are looking for reasons to say yes instead of reasons to say no.

What exemption did you use and what type of letter/proof did you provide?

My husband, a lawyer who works with healthcare companies, just wrote a letter to the embassy. Most of his work has nothing to do with healthcare, but he has helped one client on covid- related work. He didn't stretch the truth in the letter. He just stated what he does and figured they would approve the exemption if they wanted to.

She was able to take a regular commercial flight from Central America and we got an Airbnb for 14 days so she could quarantine away from us.