Visas and documentation

Any New Advice About International Travel During an Au Pair’s Extension Year?

by cv harquail March 2, 2017
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There are some things I would never test. —  Whether the rope bridge across the gorge could hold me. — Whether that snake was was harmless. Or whether I could get my extension Au Pair back into the US after taking her with us on an international trip. With Federal Agents inspecting documents of passengers […]

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What If Only One Host Parent is a U.S. Citizen?

by cv harquail February 28, 2017
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Here’s one of those “finer points” of the Host Parenting situation where we need some of you Agency experts to weigh in. The US State Department (not the Au Pair Agencies themselves) “(1) Require that the host parents are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents”. What happens when one parent IS a citizen but the […]

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Visa Questions for Extension Au Pair Who Wants to Travel Home

by cv harquail September 8, 2016
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Readers, here’s a topic where I’m in the dark. Have any of you experienced this issue and found a solution? We have a fabulous au pair and are looking to extend her for another year. Her visa expires in October. We are essentially getting no help from our agency about how to extend her.   

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Is It Too Late To Extend? Any J-1 Workarounds?

by cv harquail January 18, 2015
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Imagine it — you have an au pair you love. She didn’t want to extend. Now she’s changed her mind, but the agency says it’s too late. Is it really too late? Dear Au Pair Mom– We just ended the year with the world’s best au pair.  She is a part of our family. The […]

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Lost Passport Delays Au Pair’s Arrival. Should we match or move on?

by cv harquail January 17, 2015
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Dear Au Pair Moms– We’ve got a crazy delay in our Au Pair’s arrival that messes up my carefully made plans. Specifically, we are looking at a 3-5 week gap, maybe longer, to figure out childcare and wait for our au pair who lost her visa. Can you advise me what to do? Our old au […]

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Switching Your Au Pair to a Different Visa is Difficult and Costly

by cv harquail February 24, 2013

Many a host parent has wished to keep a great au pair forever and ever– or at least longer than the legal year plus year extension.   And many an au pair (including a few of my own, and their friends) have gone to great lengths to find a legal or vaguely legal way to […]

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F.A.Q.: Must we use an Au Pair Agency to engage an Au Pair?

by cv harquail January 14, 2012
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Must we use an Au Pair Agency to engage an Au Pair? Yes. Sure, you can go it alone, but then you would not be operating within US Law. We emphatically recommend that you use an approved agency to find and retain your au pair. Following the laws and regulations protects both your family and […]

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Travel Outside the USA … Paperwork-related cautionary tale

by cv harquail May 10, 2011
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Sometimes no matter how many different sources we check, we don’t get enough information to make international travel with our au pairs go without a hitch. JamaicaMom sent this story, and wonders if there was some stone she left unturned, some box she failed to check, some egg that failed to hatch, some colloqualisim that […]

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How risky is it to travel when her J-1 Visa is soon to expire?

by cv harquail March 17, 2011
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Smart Risks vs. Risky Risks Everything is risky, including traveling with your au pair outside of the US while she is on a J-1 visa. We know from previous conversations that even though a visa may still be valid, a customs person could deny your au pair re-entry into the USA. But how real is […]

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Au Pair Extensions: How do they work if her visa isn’t extended?

by cv harquail September 9, 2010
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Hi AuPairMom, I am a new au pair mom this year. I love my au pair, we have a lot in common and she loves the kids. I was very happy to hear that she is interested in extending for 6 months, maybe even a year. But there ‘s a little bit of a glitch: […]

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