Application Process

Being an au pair abroad is an exciting opportunity but it is important to make sure you are working for the right family and have the support that you will need during your stay – both locally and in the UK. It can take a little time to plan this and get everything right so you feel excited about your stay. It is worth the effort though! There are a few steps to the procedure but Blue Stamp will assign a trip planner to help you through the process and make sure that everything is in place in good time.

Deposit and First Stage Application

To apply for a place on the programme we will require a £150 deposit (fully refundable if your application is not successful) and the following documents, all of which can be completed or uploaded via your MyAccount which we will create for you:

Application form
‘Dear family letter’. You should write a letter (in Spanish or in English) to introduce yourself (name, age, where you are from, a little information about your family, hobbies/interests, education, likes and dislikes, work experience, childcare experience, why you want to become an au pair and your future plans.
Au pair agreement.
Photographs: 2 passport style photographs of you smiling plus a few photographs with some children you have looked after or family/friends (the more we have, the better but about 5 is ideal).
If you are not a native English speaker you will need to take an Online English level test. This is to check that you will be able to encourage a good standard of English for the children whom you are looking after.

References

Once your application documents are submitted, we will inform you whether you have been accepted onto the programme. This usually takes about a week.

We will then request the following:

Two references; one character reference and one childcare reference. These references should not be supplied by a member of your family but for example from a teacher, employer, somebody for whom you have done babysitting etc. The references can be submitted in either in Spanish or English.
A medical certificate, to be obtained from your GP to state that you are fit to work as an au pair. We can provide sample text here to help your doctor if necessary.
Police report, a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate, suitable for work with children. We can support you with an application for a DBS but you will have to pay if you do not already have one.

Once these documents are received will start matching you with your Spanish family.

Introductions & Visa

Once we have an interested family we will send you their details to you. If you like the look of the family profile we will match you. At this point, some families request a video chat or phone call before the final decision is made (for beginners, this would be in English).

Your Spanish family is selected very carefully, taking into account all the information you provide, therefore placements are overwhelmingly successful. However if you do not like the suggested family, you are entitled to turn down a family once during this stage of the application.

Visa

At this stage of the process we would suggest that you apply for your visa as you will now have all the information you need to apply for a student visa which includes the host family address where you will be staying and a letter from the language school. Blue Stamp will provide these documents for you.

Confirmation

Confirmation and start of the programme.

From here your prospective Spanish family will communicate with you via email and phone or video call and you will all get the chance to ask further questions and build your relationship.

The programme proposed dates are provisional. Even once confirmed it is important for au pairs to be flexible regarding the dates and length of stay as the family might need you to come a little earlier or leave later. The more flexibility you have with dates, the bigger range of options we will have to select the most suitable family for you.

In the unlikely event that we cannot find a suitable family, we will let you know 4 weeks before the planned starting date.

Please do not buy any flight tickets before the process is finished and we have confirmed the placement.