We just matched with someone for end of July (our current AP heads to CA at the beginning of July) - but we only considered extension au pairs so hopefully the travel issue won't be a problem at that point. We still need lots of help, especially if distance learning continues (we have 8 and 8 year old boys) and my husband and I have demanding jobs we are trying to manage remotely.

Anonymous wrote:I contacted a coordinator and her guess was that there might not be any until July or so at the earliest. But everyone is just speculating at this point. I'm not sure why folks are being so insulting about this reasonable question. Yes, disruption could continue for much, much longer, but there also is going to be some pressure to get things up and running at some point, presumably this fall.

I agree with this! This is a valid question and nobody knows the real answer, even the DoS will not be able to tell you now what is going to happen. I have already matched and paid the deposit for my August Aupair and I am still hoping she can come even if it is a bit later. With that said, if we hadn't matched yet, I wouldn't have matched right now with an out of country au pair. I would have looked into the 2nd year pool or waited closer to the arrival date to make a decision (Usually APs can come here within 6 weeks of matching).

Agree that there is a lot of uncertainty and you certainly can't plan for a summer arrival at this point - also query whether the pool will be tiny as parents wont want their children to come to the US given the severity of the virus' impact here.

I contacted a coordinator and her guess was that there might not be any until July or so at the earliest. But everyone is just speculating at this point. I'm not sure why folks are being so insulting about this reasonable question. Yes, disruption could continue for much, much longer, but there also is going to be some pressure to get things up and running at some point, presumably this fall.

You are really naive.

I can’t imagine that any au pairs will be allowed to arrive this year. You are putting the cart before the horse.

Why not just look for a summer nanny/babysitter and evaluate in June/July whether you’ll need anyone in the fall.

We have had Au pairs for years and our kids are pretty self sufficient except for driving. Our current AP is supposed to leave in July, although we might tell her to go once restrictions lift in June. We would normally have another come and have been interviewing. But what if kids are still distance learning in the Fall? Then we really don’t need any help. So hard to know what to do.