Everyone has a dream country or a place he/she wish to visit. For most Filipinos, USA is a land of dreams… the Visa though. Applying for a tourist visa can be costly and theirs a higher risk of not getting approved, unless you have a really nice asset(s) in our home country. I’m happy to share what I did to get into the United States with no Visa problem and a single question from the Immigration Officer.
Basically an Au pair is a type of domestic assistant working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, Au Pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a monetary allowance for personal use. To make it sound or readable better, The title comes from the French term au pair, meaning “at par” or “equal to”, indicating that the relationship is intended to be one of equals: the au pair is intended to become a member of the family.
To qualify for the Program here are the requirements:
- Proficient in spoken English;
- A secondary school graduate or equivalent; and
- Between 18-and-26-years-old.
- Capable of fully participating in the program as evidenced by the satisfactory completion of a physical.
- Personally interviewed, in English, by an organizational representative who shall prepare a report of the interview which shall be provided to the host family; and
- Successful in passing a background investigation that includes verification of school, three, non-family related personal and employment references, a criminal background check or its recognized equivalent and a personality profile. Such personality profile will be based upon a psychometric test designed to measure differences in characteristics among applicants against those characteristics considered most important to successfully participate in the au pair program.
- Disclaimer: This requirement info has directly been copied from the best source: The US J-1 Visa Website. Please be reminded that, this is only the Gov’t requirement, each agency may have additional requirements.
- Additional Requirement by Agency: Driver’s License
I’ll try to make this elementary as possible. And again, this is how I did it.
- Register with GreatAuPair.com then click on the tab J-1 Au Pairs.
- Fill out the form, submit scanned copy of docs and complete their online training.
- Look for a host family. (This is supposed to be the job of the Local Agency, that is if you want to give them commission — In my case NO)
- Start processing required/authenticated docs.
- After completing the requirements they will refer you to visit a local agency (in a different post). Please note that the Philippine government encourage us NOT to use any local Agency and apply directly, the thing is GAP referred me to them. I asked them why I have to coordinate with a local agency and I have to pay them –they diverted the topic which means they can’t answer it.
- Visit local agency and submit requirements, yes, again.
- Pay the fees and schedule a Visa Interview. (Visa application should be done by the Local Agency but I did it instead. Read my other post)
- Visa Interview Day at US Embassy. I was only asked one thing: “where are you going?” (Please note that you should respond with the City and State where you’ll be going and NOT ‘USA’. Lol; Other possible questions – What does your Host family do? How many kids? How old? What will you be doing there? For How long? How much is your Salary? Will you be attending school?)
- Receive/pick up Visa/Passport after a week.
- As soon as you receive your Visa, schedule an appointment with CFO.
- Attend CFO orientation.
- Get Ready to Fly!
TIP: Do not bring anything that might cause you not to be admitted in the Country. I followed all tips the CFO office gave me.
Oops. I’m Sleepy now. I’ll add more in the future. Thanks for reading!
*Disclaimer: All information in this blog is solely based on what I have gathered and personally experienced.