hi there,
i live in spain and would like to hire a US citizen as an au pair in our home. we're not going through an agency. unfortunately, now that we're down to the nitty gritty, we're realising just how difficult it is to get a visa for her.

could anyone please tell me if there is any such thing as an au pair visa? or an intercultural exchange visa? i know there are student visas but she would need to enrol in a university course or something similar wouldn't she? it's a bit late for that now i think, plus she would have to pay the college fees!

we tried going down the standard "trabajo por cuenta ajena" route but i believe we have to prove that nobody else in our area could do the job etc. which for au pairing or english teaching would be difficult. i say english teaching because i could also offer her an english teaching position. with regard to the au pair title, i think they consider it ayuda doméstica or something like that, even though it's not the same thing.

i would love to get some feedback and hear how other american citizens have managed to come to spain as au pairs.

would much appreciate hearing from you!
thanks,
laveva

hey laveva...

quote:

we tried going down the standard "trabajo por cuenta ajena" route but i believe we have to prove that nobody else in our area could do the job etc. which for au pairing or english teaching would be difficult.

while it will be very difficult to prove that you need an american as an au pair, it is not so difficult to provie you need an american as an english teacher since it is not likely that you have legal native english speakers in your area willing to take the job.

at any rate, to make sure you do this right, you should have a sit down with a lawyer.

saludos,
jer...

thanks very much jer for the quick reply. i'm going to call a "extranjería" lawyer tomorrow, see what she comes up with. i guess i could insist the teacher has to be a native english speaker (which she does actually have to be) and not only that, but american english to boot!
i'll be sure to post the outcome for future reference!

Proving that the job can't be filled by a Spaniard isn't really the hard part. All you have to do is officially post the job listing and qualifications necessary (which must fit her description exactly) with the local employment office. After a certain period of time (a month?), you can get a certificate saying that no one who was qualified applied (which will almost certainly be the case).

The hard part is usually proving that you are going to employ the person full time (40 hours a week). They will want to see your past tax, employment and social security records to check that you are really going to employ this person and that you are all paid up. As I understand it you have to be an official business entity to do this (not sure if those who are autónomos can do this--that would be a good question for the lawyer). If the employer isn't a big super-legit company/organization, the process can take a long, long time (my SO is going on 18 months!) and may never pan out.

I wonder if you could find an agency that would do the paperwork for you and skim a bit off the top.

Or maybe in the long run it would be simpler to just get her over on a student visa and then try the paperwork...

EDIT: I just saw your other thread... I'm not sure where you are, but in Madrid, it takes three or four months just to get an appointment to start the process... And then many more months to get all the papers in and to eventually receive a response.

Also, if approved, the person would have to go back to the US, go to a consulate to have the visa issued and then re-enter Spain with the work visa (same goes for the student visa--though it's a different and shorter process)...

Long story short, if you want to employ this person in the next six months, I think you'll have to do so under the table. As long as she doesn't travel outside of the country, she should be fine.

no problem laveva.

mariposita, i thought that one also had to prove that the job can't be filled by another eu member as well. in other words, forst a spaniard and then a member of another eu country. is that wrong?

yes, you have to be a company (s.l., s.a., etc...) to hire someone, autónomos cannot do it as far as i know.

saludos,
jer...

quote:

i thought that one also had to prove that the job can't be filled by another eu member as well

I'm not sure if other EU folks can go to these employment offices and look for jobs... But I do know that you don't have to prove that a Spaniard/EU citizen can't do the job, only that one with the necessary credentials did not apply for the job during the time the job was listed with the employment office. Which is much easier to do. I've never heard of anyone not getting past this hurdle.

One thing that does count a bit against most US citizens is that when you list the job--unless the person has a degree that is homologado--you can't make their level of education required. Also, when you list the job, you have to be specific as to the job title (they have a list of these). The person will then have to work only in this field.

hi mariposa & Jer,

well, to be honest i didn't know that you had to be a fully-fledged company! i spoke briefly to someone in the extranjería dept. yesterday and mentioned i was autónoma but she didn't say anything more about it. anyway, i do understand now it's a very long process - the first appointment just for me to present the papers was in february 08! she also explained i would have to hire her for a 40-hour week for a full year... perhaps if i mixed the two jobs (au pair and teacher-if they accept an autónomo offering the job that is) we could prove that we can offer 40hours work.

quote:

As long as she doesn't travel outside of the country, she should be fine

mariposita, i know this should be ok during her initial stay (no one's going to come looking for her!), but do you know how this might effect her future chances of returning to the country as a holidaymaker, student or full work visa?

appreciate it!!

Laveva,

Out of curosity why aren't you going through an agency? If you did they would sort out all this paperwork for you or at least make it much simplier and you could have an Aupair in less than three months. Is the issues hours? Because most Aupairs only work about 25 hours a week. Also Aupairs usually attend classes while they are in their host country, thats pretty standard. In fact, I think they may be required to as it's a cultural exchange. Also if you got someone over on a student visa you wouldn't need to get a work visa because the person is allowed to work up to 25 hours a week anyway. If you've already found someone you like I've known families in the states who after exploring all the options bring them over through an Aupair agency so that the process is totally legal. All I'm saying is that you have options that may be simplier than the ones your exploring.

Best of luck,
Bonnie