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

Op - we have hosted 6 au pairs over 8 years and this is our first ap who wants to stay and become a citizen. I support her. She’s a wonderful person - hardworking, smart, kind and giving - and would be a wonderful addition to this country. She also suffered great personal tragedy while here - she lost her two closest family members to COVID - and she really has nothing to go back to in her home country.

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

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be careful - if there is a gap between when she is no longer an AP and before she gets the provisional green card, you really shouldnt pay her - could hurt her down the line. I am not an expert, but would hate to jeopardize her chances at the green card

Yes, I understand that she cannot work legally while waiting (though I’m not sure if that applies to someone waiting for a status change after marriage?).

Poster is correct. There is a time between getting married and getting green card that she can't work legally.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Process is long and document heavy. Has he paid taxes, for example?
Start the process now. My first AP did it and it took several years and that as before covid. And much longer to become US citizen.
It is not an automatic process. Lots and lots of paperwork.

It’s not complicated and long process at all.

Signed by au pair who got married 3 years ago.

Op - do you have any advice about the process? How long before your marriage did you start paperwork etc? Most of the information online seems to be about bringing a spouse or fiancé to the US from abroad but she is already here. Do they need to do anything before the marriage, and does the marriage need to take place while her au pair term is still valid? Have you gotten your green card yet? And work permit?

Anonymous wrote:Process is long and document heavy. Has he paid taxes, for example?
Start the process now. My first AP did it and it took several years and that as before covid. And much longer to become US citizen.
It is not an automatic process. Lots and lots of paperwork.

It’s not complicated and long process at all.

Signed by au pair who got married 3 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be careful - if there is a gap between when she is no longer an AP and before she gets the provisional green card, you really shouldnt pay her - could hurt her down the line. I am not an expert, but would hate to jeopardize her chances at the green card

Yes, I understand that she cannot work legally while waiting (though I’m not sure if that applies to someone waiting for a status change after marriage?).

As part of the green card application, she will apply for work authorization. The work authorization comes in fairly quickly. You can always pay the husband instead or pay her after the authorization comes in. She will need to pay taxes on any income earned during this time. Immigration does not talk to the IRS - it's not a big deal.

Thanks. Yes, she’s been very good about paying her taxes during her time here. I’m happy for her that she found a good guy, they are super cute together and he’s amazing with our kids and dog, so I know he’s a good one!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be careful - if there is a gap between when she is no longer an AP and before she gets the provisional green card, you really shouldnt pay her - could hurt her down the line. I am not an expert, but would hate to jeopardize her chances at the green card

Yes, I understand that she cannot work legally while waiting (though I’m not sure if that applies to someone waiting for a status change after marriage?).

As part of the green card application, she will apply for work authorization. The work authorization comes in fairly quickly. You can always pay the husband instead or pay her after the authorization comes in. She will need to pay taxes on any income earned during this time. Immigration does not talk to the IRS - it's not a big deal.

Anonymous wrote:Be careful - if there is a gap between when she is no longer an AP and before she gets the provisional green card, you really shouldnt pay her - could hurt her down the line. I am not an expert, but would hate to jeopardize her chances at the green card

Yes, I understand that she cannot work legally while waiting (though I’m not sure if that applies to someone waiting for a status change after marriage?).

Be careful - if there is a gap between when she is no longer an AP and before she gets the provisional green card, you really shouldnt pay her - could hurt her down the line. I am not an expert, but would hate to jeopardize her chances at the green card

Yes she can get married and stay here. She will be a green card holder. It takes time to go thru the process though. After 2 years they have to go to a review sort of process to make sure still married and they are actually living together and it’s not a sham marriage for a green card. If that all goes well the green card extends. I think after 5 years ( but might be 10 I can’t remember) she can apply for Citizenship

Anonymous wrote:Process is long and document heavy. Has he paid taxes, for example?
Start the process now. My first AP did it and it took several years and that as before covid. And much longer to become US citizen.
It is not an automatic process. Lots and lots of paperwork.

Yes, he has paid taxes and is a working citizen in good standing. They can still get married right, and then she just waits for the green card? I realize there’s a lot of paperwork but once she is married she can stay here, correct?

Process is long and document heavy. Has he paid taxes, for example?
Start the process now. My first AP did it and it took several years and that as before covid. And much longer to become US citizen.
It is not an automatic process. Lots and lots of paperwork.

Anonymous wrote:Married to a U.S. citizen? Otherwise I don’t think she can stay

Yes, to a US citizen. He came here as a child (from Ukraine) but is now a citizen.

Married to a U.S. citizen? Otherwise I don’t think she can stay

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.