Au Pair and EduCare Regulations

Au Pair

Au Pair is a domestic assistant from a foreign country working for, and living as part of a family. The most common is that au pairs are involved in caring for children and housework, in general, being rewarded for some small aid money for personal use.
Generally, each country establishes standards of age (usually tend to be women between 18 and 26 years) and working time (in Europe, you usually work part-time and the rest of the time I devoted to learning national language, while in the United States require them to care for children throughout the day.)
The name Au pair comes from the French and its meaning is 'equal',   meaning that the person is not an assistant or housekeeper, but a family member.

Au pairs must have some requeriments:

• aged between 18–26
• practical childcare experience for 200 hours (minimum) if looking after a child under 2
• have completed their secondary school education.
• be proficient in spoken the language of the country
• no criminal record

Regulations pertaining specifically to the Au Pair category are found at [22 CFR 62.31].

Through the Au Pair program foreign nationals between 18 and 26 years of age with the home life of a foster family, became one more, not just a housekeeper. There, the au pair will provide a range of services such as housekeeping and children, the latter being limited service to no more than 10 hours per day and up to 45 hours a week.

Au pairs receive financial compensation for their work. This remuneration is set in the United States, for example, according to the Law Fair Labor Standards as interpreted and implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor

The Au Pair program beneficiaries have to defend themselves in spoken English (for U.S.) and must complete at least six hours of academic credit or its equivalent in an accredited U.S. educational institution after high school.

Host families are required to pay $ 500 to cover the cost of academic work required of the au pair.

The au pair can not work in families that have children younger than three months, with the exception that, during working hours, a parent or adult to take responsibility for staying home.

Nor can care for children under two years if they do not have 200 hours, a minimum of experience in child care, just as they have experience with special care if the child's family requires (which will be accredited by the family).

Program sponsors are required to select both host families and au pairs in the function to a series of selection criteria in the regulations.

Those interested in participating in the program should contact these sponsors for information.
Also, before being selected for the program, the au pair will receive guidance and information of the program and the country they will travel.
Please refer to the regulations for details. Pre-arrival information for all exchange visitors is defined at [22 CFR 62.10(b)(1-8)] and specifically for au pairs at [22 CFR 62.31(f)]. Orientation material (post-arrival) is defined at [22 CFR 62.10(c)(1-7)]. Selected host families also receive specific information from the sponsor. Orientation for host families is discussed in the regulations at [22 CFR 62.31(i)(1-4)].

  The sponsor will also provide the au pair training and knowledge in areas such as child development and child safety. This training will be held for a minimum of eight hours referred to infants and 24 on child development in children under two years.

Before starting the program, families and au pairs sign an Au Pair Host Family. In the event of questions regarding refunds or other adjustments host families and au pairs should refer to their agreements. The Department of State does not have jurisdiction over contractual obligations.

EduCare

The Au Pair program includes the EduCare component. The EduCare component is only for families who have school-aged children and require childcare before and after school hours. Accordingly, au pairs participating in the EduCare component may not be placed with families having preschool children, unless alternative, full-time arrangements are in place for their supervision.

The EduCare au pair may work no more than 10 hours per day, and a maximum of 30 hours per week. Au pairs participating in the EduCare component receive 75 percent of the weekly rate paid to au pairs. EduCare au pairs must complete a minimum of 12 hours of academic credit or its equivalent during the program year.

The host family is required to provide (up to) the first $1,000 toward the cost of the au pair's required academic course work. Please refer to the regulations for details.