Can My Au Pair Extend Her Stay in Canada?

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My Au Pair’s Working Holiday Visa is due to expire and she wants to extend her stay…

We have had a number of families ask us if their Au Pair can extend her Visa or stay beyond her Visa expiration.  Wouldn’t this be lovely if International Experience Canada allowed back to back Working Holiday Visas?

Unfortunately if an Au Pair’s Working Holiday Visa is due to expire she cannot extend it.  International Experience Canada now only offers Visa holders one opportunity to take advantage of the program and once the Visa expires, another term is not possible.

Are there other options?

Yes, since Au Pairs have a valid work permit, they can extend working if they switch over the the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The Employer has to apply for an LMIA ( Labour Market Impact Assessment) and once approve, the Au pair can apply for a new work permit.

There are some costs involved but having stable childcare in place with someone you trust in priceless!!

And certainly worth it if you have found an awesome Au Pair who wants to stay longer in Canada!!

***We can refer you to an Immigration Consultant who can assist you with this process.***

Not sure on how to start the process, email us at [email protected] to get you started

For most this process is time consuming and slow.  This process should be commenced at least 6 months prior to the Working Holiday expiration.

Is your Au Pair interested in going to school in Canada?  A study permit may also be an option.

Travelling 

Remember, the Working Holiday Program is meant to promote youth mobility abroad and is not intended to be used as a means to residency.  While it is understandable why so many young people fall in love with out beautiful country and want to stay, those who wish to stay should speak with an immigration consultant about the chances of them remaining long term.

Canadian Au Pair Solutions

Au Pair Confidential

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Au Pair Confidential

Should you have a confidentiality agreement

in your Au Pair Contract?

Confidentiality agreements are not solely for employees of celebrities or the super wealthy. They are an effective tool for protecting anyone’s privacy, including conversations about sensitive work or family matters. By proactively addressing these matters and providing guidelines and concrete examples, a confidentiality agreement can protect your personal and professional affairs.

Whether you have something written in a contract or not, an Au Pair must respect the private family matters of her family.  Some families choose to write their privacy expectations into the Au Pair contract while other families address their concerns casually.

Think about all the things you say and do every day, as well as the texts, emails, and documents that may be open in your home. Wouldn’t you want to safeguard these important materials and your privacy?

This is the opportunity for the family to set their standards and expectations. Worst case, your family has cause for separation from an Au Pair who shares a play by play of your latest family drama on Facebook with other Au Pairs.  We could preach on about the value in keeping this type of drama out of earshot of the Au Pair as well but that is another matter entirely.

Confidential files

Here are a few reminders when it comes to privacy and confidentiality:

  1. Ask your Au Pair to use discretion and not gossip with others about private family issues. She should refrain from using names of family when getting advice for general issues. Above all, request that she not gripe or complain about your family on social media. Despite how private the group settings or audience, if the information is out there for people to see, then it can be shared and is out of the Au Pair’s control.
  2. Ask your Au Pair not to post photos or video of the children in emails, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or anywhere online without parental permission.
  3. Ask your Au Pair not discuss important issues about the child to child’s teacher or medical professional without parental knowledge.
  4. Ask your Au Pair not share personal details or information about the children online or in nanny chat groups (ages, names, or where they attend school).  It’s okay to get feedback and ask questions in such groups but do not reveal so much that the family is identifiable to strangers.
  5. Ask your Au Pair not to read the family’s personal mail, emails, or snoop into their personal affairs.  This is especially applicable if your Au Pair will be sharing the family computer, iPad or other devices.
  6. Ask your Au Pair not to enter the parents’ bedroom, closets, drawers, or private bathroom without permission.

silence

Au Pairs deserve privacy and respect too!

If you wish for your Au Pair to respect your privacy then you too should respect hers. Be courteous and don’t snoop around in your Au Pair’s personal matters (or in her room!)  It’s not your business who she dates or is friends with. Think of your own work environment and how inappropriate it would be for your employer to ask questions about your personal affairs, who you keep company with or what time you went to bed last night.  Yes, your Au Pair lives with you but she is not your daughter and she IS an adult. If there are concerns about the Au Pair breaching any of the terms in her contract, sit down and talk to her.  You don’t need to conduct an investigation into your Au Pair’s personal affairs behind her back.  If you have questions, just ask.

Similar to your expectations of an Au Pair, be careful about sharing too much on social media.  Your Au Pair also deserves privacy and talking to other host families about your Au Pair’s habits or cleanliness (for example) using on-line forums is not respectful.  It is certainly okay to vent frustrations or talk in generalities but if what you are saying can in any way identify the Au Pair, think twice and walk in her shoes.  If your comments are questionable, hit delete.

Communication is the most important component in the Au Pair/Host Family relationship.  Contracts, Handbooks and face to face discussions all play a huge role in the success of the experience for both sides. If you are hosting an Au Pair or even hiring a nanny for that matter, you must be an effective communicator. The relationship WILL suffer and/or end in disappointment and failure if you cannot address key issues with your Au Pair.

The Canadian Au Pair Solutions Team

The Importance of Host Family References

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Imagine you are an Au Pair (or perhaps you are an Au Pair).  Wouldn’t you like to see letters of reference for potential Host Families, just as Host Families expect to see a number of written references for their Au Pairs?

The Importance of References 

Type Writer

Just Ask!

Requesting or offering references is an important step in the Au Pair / Host family matching and interviewing process that many forget.  Every family can talk via Skype about how wonderful they are but can they provide any references to back it up?  We have heard a number of stories in recent months about Au Pairs arriving in Canada, meeting their new Host families and being surprised that the situation was not at all what they expected or “signed up for.”  Could this have been thwarted if the Au Pair had asked the family for references?  Was the family honest about past Au Pairs? Was the family honest about their requirements? (Huge one)

It should be a HUGE red flag for an Au Pair if a family does not offer up references from past Au Pairs.

Au Pair holding globeWhat would you expect if your daughter wished to Au Pair overseas?

If our daughters were to travel abroad and potentially live with another family for a year we would certainly want to see a few letters of reference from past Au Pairs or family friends of the Host family.  Every Host family should be willing to provide such references.  Perhaps letters from babysitters who can vouch for the family’s cleanliness, attitude, punctuality, habits etc…  Letters of reference from friends of the family who have known the family for a decade or more are also helpful.  Along with those letters of reference, families should also be willing to provide the Au Pair with contact details for the references.

Always imagine that the Au Pairs you are communicating with are your own daughters.  How would you want your daughter to be treated and what questions would you want her to ask of prospective Host families?

Au Pair writing letter of reference What goes into a letter of reference?

Families should request outgoing Au Pairs write them a letter of reference before they depart.  Keep this letter or email on hand to forward to future Au Pairs.  The letter should include information about the kids, what it was like to live with the family, and a bit about the community.  With respect to letters of reference from friends of the family, these should be updated annually so that the comments reflect the changing family dynamics, ages of the children etc…

Canadian Au Pair Solutions helps families navigate through the Au Pair hosting process.  We discuss the importance of reference letters and explain how to complete thorough background checks on your potential Au Pairs.  There are many steps that go into assuring a successful experience with your Au Pair.  Finding “the right” Au Pair is only part of the process.  A great deal of the success falls upon the Host Family being well-prepared and fully understanding what being a supportive Host Family looks like.

The Canadian Au Pair Solutions Team

Taking Your Au Pair on Vacation

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It’s Vacation Planning Time!

Looking to get away this summer and planning a family trip with your Au Pair?  This is something we have done and it takes good communication to ensure things go well.  Here are our tips for planning a family vacation with your Au Pair.

Know your Au Pair

Before you plan your trip and invite your Au Pair, get to know her first!  Don’t assume that your Au Pair will be a good travel partner or that she will even want to join you just because you are going somewhere exotic in the dead of winter.  Consider how having a young adult on vacation with you may impact your vacation goals and how the Au Pair will react in a variety of vacation scenarios.  Is she the type who will get lost, miss the last bus, or come crashing back into the condo or hotel at 3 in the morning?  Will she be sullen if the weather turns bad or will she sulk because she finds she has spent all her money in the first two days?  Hopefully you do not have an Au Pair who will do any of these things but if you aren’t sure, you might opt not to invite your Au Pair.

Explain that it won’t be as glamorous as it seems (hint “privacy”)

Does your Au Pair have a good grasp on the type of family trip you are planning? Vacationing with a family means close quarters living, dealing with kids at all hours, fewer distractions for kids (toys etc.), travel delays, less abundance of food choices and chosen restaurants may be more geared towards getting the kids fed quickly than enjoying a beer on a patio.  Privacy may be minimal.

Not only will your Au Pair’s privacy be limited compared to home but yours will be too.  Travel often means tight living quarters.   You need to consider how this will be handled if you and your husband wish for some quiet time to yourselves, especially if you are sharing a small condo and your Au Pair does not have her own room.

Are you taking her because you need her to work or because you are treating her to a new experience?

This is an important aspect of the vacation and your Au Pair will want to know what you expect.  You will need to discuss wages, time off, responsibilities etc… IN ADVANCE of your trip.   Will you be paying for everything including accommodation and food?  Who will pay for airfare?  Communicate, communicate, communicate!  If you are not requiring her to work while away then make it clear what you do expect from her.  Will she still be required to help out as a family member would or is she simply allowed to “tune out?”

In my experience while vacationing in Hawaii, we have not required our Au Pair to work regular hours or any set schedule.  Vacation was essentially “time off” for our Au Pair.  In exchange for accommodation and food, we asked her to be helpful with dishes and meal prep and make up her bed etc…  just like a member of the family would.  She paid for her flight and aside from sporadic babysitting (which we paid her an hourly wage for), she essentially could do as she wished.  We enjoyed sharing Hawaii with our Au Pairs because we were able to showcase a part of the world with them that they would otherwise not get to experience given the geographic distance from their home country.

Sleeping Arrangements

Absolutely discuss sleeping arrangements when discussing the family trip with your Au Pair.  Will your Au Pair have her own room? Will she be sleeping on a pull-out couch?  Will she have to share a room with kids? This may impact her decision to join you on vacation and thus it is an important aspect to discuss.  She most certainly will need her own bed but how you arrange sleeping quarters will be between you and your Au Pair.

Travel Visa

Where is your Au Pair from and does she need travel authorization from your destination country? Not all countries can enter the USA or other nations with ease.

Give your Au Pair options

Your Au Pair should not have to join you for every excursion or dinner but she should at least be invited. If you have invited your Au Pair on vacation with you then you should be anticipating the extra expenses. If you are headed to a theme park, aquarium or out for a good meal, your Au Pair should be included.  As far as cost goes, you should offer to pay for meals.  If you do not feel comfortable paying for entrance fees etc… then make sure you  have a discussion about this extra cost BEFORE you leave on vacation and that you and your Au Pair agree on how these extra costs will be managed.  There is nothing more uncomfortable than when neither party knows who is going to foot the bill.

This being said, there are some activities that come with exorbitant cost (such as ski lift tickets in Whistler or tours on a cruise ship).  These activities should be planned ahead of time and discussed with your Au Pair.  I suggest that these costs should be the Au Pair’s unless you require the Au Pair to come along as part of any childcare duties.  Any activities you plan and expect your Au Pair to “work” should be your responsibility to pay for.

If your vacation happens to come close to your Au Pair’s birthday or Christmas, perhaps a good idea for a gift would be an “experience” while away.  Lift tickets, bungee jumping, zip lining or any fun excursions make great memories and gifts.

Souvenirs and other “optional” purchases

You should not feel like you are on the hook for buying your Au Pair souvenirs, specialty coffees or extravagant treats while you are on vacation.  These are the “extras” that she can foot the bill for. Remind her to set aside money in the months before the trip.

This  is what random babysitting on your trip may be good for.  A few evenings of babysitting or mornings when you and your partner can take off to the beach alone may put a few more dollars in your Au Pair’s pocket for t-shirts, postcards and other fun items she wishes to buy to remember her trip. Remind her about baggage limits and whatever she buys needs to fit in her carry-on.

Wifi / Internet etc…

Depending on where and how you are travelling make sure you have a conversation with your Au Pair about the availability of wifi and internet where you are going.  Some places have free wifi but others (like cruise ships) charge an arm and a leg.  Prepare her for the ability (or lack thereof) to keep in touch with family and friends while away.  This may also help her plan for the extra costs that come from paying for service abroad.  It may also have a huge impact on whether or not she wants to join you on your family trip.  No wifi or internet may mean no-go.

Packing

Now that nearly every airline charges extra for luggage, be clear with your Au Pair regarding what she needs to pack.  Can she get away with only packing a carry-on?  Can any incidentals be put in the family’s luggage to help save on baggage fees?  Remind her of the limitation on liquids in carry-ons, especially if she has not done much travelling before her Au Pair year.

Help your Au Pair plan her activities

Before you go, help you Au Pair research and plan any activities she might like to do on her own.  Show her a map of where you are going in the event she wants to venture out in the evening, go shopping or head to the beach on her own.  This will help you plan family activities as well and give you an idea of which days she may want to join you and which days she prefers to adventure off on her own.  Definitely plan for some separation during your family trip.

Explain the concept of gratitude before you go

One thing that many host families complain about when they return from vacationing with their Au Pair is that the Au Pair did not say thank you or express gratitude for the multitude of things the host family did to ensure it was a great trip.  Before you go, ensure your Au Pair understands that this trip is not a drop in the bucket and (especially if you do not plan for your Au Pair to work while on vacation) that you would love for her to show her appreciation from time to time. The Gen Z generation doesn’t always show their gratitude like we would have when we were in our late teens or early twenties and instead of stewing about this and becoming resentful, tell them what you expect in advance.

This of course works both ways.  Always thank your Au Pair for the help she gives you while on vacation, whether being paid or not.

Hopefully these tips are helpful!

Canadian Au Pair Solutions