UK immigration rules have changed. To come to the UK to work as an au pair you must be a citizen of the European Economic Area (EEA). Special rules apply to Bulgarian and Romanian citizens. Please see Bulgaria and Romania for more details.
You can also work in the UK under the Youth Mobility Scheme as a citizen of Australia, Canada or New Zealand, or you can be a British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen, or British National (Overseas).
Please see Youth Mobility Scheme and UK Home Office website for more information and links.
We cannot help you come to the UK as an au pair, nanny, or housekeeper, if you do not meet the criteria above. We still get lots of enquiries from people from:
South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, etc)
The Philippines
Africa
Turkey (unless you have a visa issued prior to the scheme closing in November 2008)
Sorry - we cannot help. You may be able to work in some European Countries, but we do not have information regarding these requirements
European Union (EU) countries are currently:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Irish Republic, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
European Economic Area (EEA) countries are currently the EU countries, plus:
Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
Swiss nationals are also able to visit and work in the UK.
Read about the changes to UK Immigration taking place in November 2008 - The Youth Mobility Scheme
Becoming an au pair is a fantastic way to experience the culture of a foreign country, develop your language skills, meet new friends, and see the world.
We are here to help you travel as an au pair. You can read what families and au pairs have said about our site in our Testimonials and Survey Results.
Universal Au Pairs offers a service to au pairs looking for families. On this website we have a number of useful pages explaining to a family the way in which the au pair scheme should work. We advise you to read these pages to help you to understand the expectations that a family will have and the things that you can do to make your experience as positive as possible.
Please complete the Au Pair membership Form, and make sure that you complete the Dear Family Letter, and add a 'head and shoulders' photograph. Au pairs with a nicely written Dear Family Letter and a photograph receive around SIX TIMES as many family contacts. Remember that you can come back to your form and add the photograph later, if you need to.
If you are interested in travelling as an au pair we suggest that you take the following steps:
- Check that you are able to stay as an au pair in your country of destination, and what the requirements are for visa and work permit, etc. Please see the UK Home Office website for further information.
- If possible take some time to speak to friends and colleagues who have had experience of the UK
- Look at information available about your country of destination in newspapers, magazines, other publications, and on websites
- Read the information that we provide here for families in order that you understand the lifestyle that you may live as an au pair, paying particular attention to the hours you are likely to work, your free time, your study time, time allowed to attend college courses, the household duties, and how much pocket money you receive. See also Useful Information for further information and links
- Read carefully the registration form and think about how you will answer the questions to give any potential family the information they will need in order to invite an au pair that fits in with them and their lifestyle
- Get as much of the additional information as you possibly can. You can always add more later, but the more complete the form and information, the more likely that you will be contacted by a number of families
- Be honest. The family will want to check references and will want to interview you over the telephone. If you are not honest in your answers then the way you appear to the family may not be a correct interpretation and they may send you home!
- Speak to a number of families to get an idea of the different types of au pair placement available so you can select the one that is best for you
- Before starting with a family check the information that is given to you by the family. If they have had a previous au pair ask for contact details so that you can check a reference. If not, ask if you can speak to one of the teachers of the children just to check that the family is genuine
- Don’t be nervous that your English is not so good. It will soon improve. Sometimes you will find it easier to communicate your questions by email, and perhaps you will need a friend to help you translate your questions. A good family will be patient with you.
- Before travelling ensure that both the family and your parents/relatives in your home country have your travel details and contact telephone numbers. The dialling prefix for the UK is 0044, and delete the first 0 in the UK number
- Make sure that you call your parents/relatives once you have arrived safely
- Try and make sure that you carry enough money with you to make a return journey if things do not work out
- The family should not charge you for anything once you arrive, however you will be expected to pay your own fees and travel costs to attend college. Ask the family to help in arranging the college before you travel.
- You will be expected to pay your own travel costs in getting to the family, and also when it is time to return home.
- Universal Au Pairs is not able to provide a support service to au pairs. Our service to you is limited to presenting your details to potential families, and providing general information on this web site.
- When you agree to come to your new family you will need to ask them to write a Letter of Invitation inviting you as their au pair. The family must send this letter to you before you book and pay for your travel arrangements. If the family do not provide you with a letter of invitation we recommend that you do not continue with that family.
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If you are a Citizen of the European Economic Area, including Romania and Bulgaria:
You have a right of free movement as an EEA citizen. This means you have the right to move to any member state (provided you do not have a deportation or exclusion order against you) and to reside for up to 3 months following arrival. If you want to live in a member state for longer than 3 months you need to exercise a treaty right or have permission from the member state to reside there. For the relevant forms, and for further information, please visit UK Home Office website .
Romanian and Bulgarian citizens who wish to travel to the UK as au pairs will need to complete form BR3 and obtain an Accession Worker Card, prior to starting work.
Please note that a Romanian or Bulgarian citizen wishing to work in the UK as an au pair must:
- have and intend to take up an au pair placement;
- be aged between 17 to 27 inclusive;
- be unmarried and not in a civil partnership;
- have no dependants.
If you do not meet these criteria, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO STAY IN THE UK.
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We will help you if we can.
Please feel free to forward any email that you receive, or to ask us any questions about anything of which you feel unsure. We CANNOT VERIFY A FAMILY'S EMAIL, OR GUARANTEE THEIR DETAILS, but if we feel suspicious, we will tell you. Please feel free to email
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, and allow us 24 business hours to respond. Normally we will be back to you within just a few hours. Please also READ THE FOLLOWING...
We are aware of scam emails inviting au pairs. Normally these tell you that your profile matches the family's requirements. You may then be sent several official looking documents and asked to submit a visa fee via Western Union, or similar, along with lots of personal information and a copy of your passport. We recommend that you never send any money. This should make you very suspicious.
If a family, or someone pretending to be a family:
- Asks you for money;
- Introduces you to a third party (a travel agent, for example) who asks you for money;
- Tells you they will help you with visas and/or work permits but that you will need to deal through a contact of the family, who after doing some 'work' 'for you' then asks you for money;
- Is unable to provide references that you can check;
- Seems to make everything happen too quickly, and makes you feel that you are being rushed in to making a decision;
- Appears to be offering you much more pocket money than you were expecting;
- Offers working conditions that sound 'too good to be true', such as world-wide travel and a car;
- Provides incomplete or inconsistent information on their membership form and in further communications, or:
- Makes you feel at all unsure or uncomfortable.
Then we strongly recommend that you:
Do not send them any money, and
Do not travel to be an au pair with that family.
We always recommend that you check some references for the family by speaking to a previous au pair if possible, and perhaps one of the teachers of the children, for example. You should check that the reference is genuine by, in the case of a teacher for example, telephoning on a number that is published for the school in a directory or on the school's web site. Then you can check that you are speaking to the genuine teacher, and that this teacher knows the family.
If a family introduces you to what they tell you is a 'travel agent' or similar, please be very careful. If the agent is bogus they could disappear with your money. This is why we recommend that you make your own travel arrangements with an agent or airline that you know is genuine.
If you receive an unsolicited email from an au pair/nanny promotion, or anyone else, telling you that you have won some money but need to make a payment to release the funds, we recommend that you do not respond to the email, and do not send any money.
If you become aware of any scam or immoral or illegal behaviour on this or any other site then please let us know by email to
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, and we will try to update the general guidance that we provide on this site for people wishing to travel as au pairs.
Please see the menu item Fraud
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