§ The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes)The au pair scheme is an arrangement under which nationals of listed countries aged between 17 and 27, unmarried, and without dependants, may come to the UK for a maximum of two years to learn the English language and live with an English-speaking family. During their stay they may help with domestic tasks for a maximum of 25 hours a week in return for accommodation and pocket money.
The list, which is given in the Immigration Rules, currently includes 16 countries, including six of the 12 EU candidate countries. We have decided to extend the list to include those EU candidate countries which are not presently covered. These are Republic of Bulgaria, Republic of Estonia, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Poland and Romania. It is planned to lay the necessary amendments to the Immigration Rules today, coming into force on 18 December.
7WSFrom that date, young people who are nationals of these additional six countries will have the opportunity to spend some time in the UK to learn English and to gain an insight into our culture and way of life.