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filipino au pair/nanny

Annamh
Jun 19, 2013
7
Question

Hello Dear All,

we are currently employing (legally) a filipino au pair/nanny. It is a one year standard au pair contract for non-EU au pairs which will expire in February next year. We have a great relationship with this person and obviously are very sad thinking about her departure. Are you aware of ANY WAY I can either prolong this au pair contract or transform it into another domestic employment type of job (or any other arrangement) so that she can stay with us or return to the Philippines and come back to us? We are not affiliated with any embassy so I imagine this will be supremely difficult as she is a non-eu citizen. She previously worked in the Netherlands for a year, and in February has to move on after a year in Belgium... What do I do? I was hoping somebody will have some advice. Also - if you know an immigration lawyer or anybody else who can advise us in this matter that would be fantastic. thank you and best wishes, Anna

I

I believe anyone can try legalizing themselves, or used to be able to, by getting a full time contract. That is immensely expensive for the employer, count on at least 2k per month. Do a bit of googling and you might find a link to this, I certainly did about a year ago. I really wouldn't employ and immigration lawyer unless you are unable to read through the information available on the net.

Jun 19, 2013 17:35
Annamh

thank you very much. I will check this. I understand that you must prove that an equivalent local worker is not available in order to employ a foreign, non-eu worker. I think all this can be very tricky hence my question about a lawyer... :-(.
Anna

Jun 19, 2013 17:52
LMLM

Annamh- sorry to hijack your thread but I was just wondering how you went about finding and hiring your au pair/nanny in the first place? Did you find her through an agency? We're looking for someone but would like it to be legal. If there's an agency that you'd recommend we'd really appreciate it.

Jun 20, 2013 09:27
ao

In theory if you employ her full time you as employer can apply for a work permit for her. This would be the type B permit, which is time limited (max 12 months, but can be renewed). The problem as you point that the work permit will be granted only if you can show that it is not possible to find equivalent employee locally. Unfortunately for nanny this does not seem very probable.

You could try asking from the immigrant services directly what your chances are. You'll find the contact details here http://www.emploi.belgique.be/defaultTab.aspx?id=4888

Jun 20, 2013 18:17
Annamh

Hello LMLM believe it or not but I did it all myself, or rather with a help of an american friend who is on her 6th au pair (unfortunately contracts for non-eu au pairs are only for 1 year consequently all the enormous paperwork is for one year too). I looked at a website called aupair-world.net. For me it was important to hire a filipino nanny previously working in NL. This way I could interview a couple of people in person at home before making my choice. There are agencies who can help you and it is easier to get things done in flanders and brussels than in wallonia where the barriers to non-eu domestic workers and au pairs seem to be higher. But I am living in wallonia and it did happen so it is possible. If you hire an eu-based nanny you will save yourself a ton of paperwork. You will find all the contractual information and logistics son the aupair world website... In terms of agencies I am aware of one such agency called DoubleDutch in Antwerp. They have a website too. good luck, Anna

Jun 21, 2013 07:51
Annamh

Dear AO,

thank you for your useful answer. I will do this.

Jun 21, 2013 07:53
annab118

Hello there, not sure if you managed to work through the issues you had back in 2013 with your favored employee.
I’m in the same boat so looking for any further advise or results.
Thanks

Aug 22, 2019 21:46