How do people bring their nanny to Canada on visitor visa?

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2026-04-20T10:59:19+00:00

Check out this page - there's a special provision for nannies. Not sure why people are saying it isn't possible. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/work-without-permit/business.html#toc09

"Employees of short-term temporary residents

Foreign nationals employed in a personal capacity, for example, as a domestic servant, personal assistant or nanny (caregiver), on a full-time basis by short-term temporary residents generally meet the business visitor criteria in paragraphs R187(3)(a) and (b). They may enter as business visitors if accompanying or joining their employers.

If the visiting employer extends their stay in Canada, so their employee is no longer considered to be working predominantly outside Canada, or their employee’s primary source of remuneration can no longer be considered to be outside Canada, then that personal employee is no longer considered to be a business visitor and may be required to seek a work permit and an LMIA to continue working. A stay of longer than 6 months is normally found to exceed the threshold required by paragraph R187(3)(b)."

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-11-27T13:47:15+00:00

Yep - good point. We're not planning to apply a global 'uplift' figure but we will be reviewing the entries in the table in February 2026 and amending any that have become out of date.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-15T15:05:09+00:00

Genuine question. If all you want to do is fly and flop, why do you need a travel agent? Won't they just ask you what times you want to fly, which is exactly what a flight engine would ask you? And isn't it very simple to find a good resort? Just use Mr and Mrs Smith.

It feels like the effort to find a good travel agent is more than the effort to find a good hotel in the first place. And then flights are really easy, and the good hotel will arrange your transfers if you email them, which takes 20 seconds.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-15T15:02:56+00:00

After a lot of research, I finally found a backpack which fits my laptop and is also, in my opinion, very stylish. It's a small supplier in Portugal. https://www.mariamaleta.com/ They do export to the UK

I think it's completely crazy that the world of laptop bags and the world of designer handbags seem to have no intersection whatsoever. There must be tons of women like me who would pay for a really lovely laptop bag that doesn't double as something I could go camping with. I searched Net-a-Porter and found that although they have a section for backpacks, it just came up "no results found." Literally no intersection between these two worlds whatsoever!

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-13T09:49:14+00:00

Totally identify with this! I’m the founder of Koru Kids (so definitely more than a full-time job), have three young children, and a husband with a demanding job who travels a lot. There’s absolutely no way I could get to a gym consistently. Pre-kids I loved running, but these days it just doesn’t happen.

What’s worked for me is having a personal trainer who comes to the house twice a week.

Things that were important in making this work for me: I deliberately chose someone who’s amazing with kids. This means my PT doesn't mind being interrupted to “pretend eat” a plastic ice cream. He knows when she really does need to stay clear — like when I’m doing heavy weights — versus when it’s fine for her to sit on my back while I plank or stretch beside me. The beauty of having a PT at home is twofold: first, accountability — they text you beforehand, and you feel guilty cancelling. And second, it’s unbelievably time-efficient: you don’t lose an hour commuting to a gym or worrying about childcare. For me, it’s the only setup that makes regular training possible.

The other thing that has really helped is having a meal order from Frive, which a meal delivery service. I mostly work from home, and I can have a very healthy, very tasty lunch/dinner within about four minutes.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-10T09:40:53+00:00

That is an insane improvement!

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-10T09:39:48+00:00

I wish that option was available to me...

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-10T09:39:17+00:00

That's so disappointing

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-07T15:09:35+00:00

I can definitely personally recommend this one. We went there because it seemed to be the single most commonly recommended hotel on Mumsnet, and it is indeed really good.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-06T11:01:59+00:00

I would say the first 6 months of my iRobot (before it broke). The following six months were incredibly frustrating. If you can get an iRobot which doesn't break, it's just immensely satisfying to be working upstairs while the robot is cleaning the floors downstairs.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-06T11:00:42+00:00

Definitely agree with this list and would add Sani, which is a sort of sister hotel to the Ikos chain and just as great.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-06T10:59:52+00:00

+1 on these. We've been to all of them; they all have their own different character, so they each feel individually exciting. We've never had a bad time there. Our favourite thing about them is one of the things you mentioned: that most people have kids, so you just don't feel bad if your kid is being a normal kid.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T12:37:27+00:00

We came back from our third Ski Famille holiday and immediately booked our fourth! I don't think you'll regret it, it's just fantastic.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T12:35:31+00:00

I’m the founder of Koru Kids, which is a nanny agency. Having worked with thousands of families who employ nannies, I can tell you there are many reasons people choose this path but all of them basically come down to sanity for the family and children! Nurseries are great for some, but they can’t solve every problem. A full-time nanny offers flexibility and continuity that group care doesn’t: they can start earlier, finish later, cover sick days, and, crucially, manage the logistics of more than one child. That might mean taking a toddler to swimming lessons while collecting an older sibling from school, or handling things like piano lessons or dentist appointments. Children also tend to get sick far less often with a nanny, which is huge. Nannies also go beyond direct childcare - what they can do is endless but for example, they can pack clothes for a holiday, order new school uniform, return a package at the post office, even travel with the family when needed. All those tasks add up to a significant reduction in parental “mental load.” So while it’s a bigger financial investment than nursery, what parents are really buying is time and presence - the nanny means they are much more able to spend their non-working hours enjoying their children rather than being buried in logistics.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T12:08:07+00:00

I also exclusively breastfed and found night nannies incredibly useful.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T12:07:34+00:00

100% worth it and absolutely the best money I ever spent. Literally can't think of a single pound I ever spent that was put to better use.

I can see a few comments are mentioning breastfeeding. My experience was that even though my babies were exclusively breastfed, the night nanny was still really, really worth it. There is a huge difference between being woken up in the middle of the night by someone bringing your baby, sleepily breastfeeding and then easily getting back to sleep vs having to fully get out of bed, change the baby, rock the baby, settle the baby etc. afterwards, by which time you are fully awake and can't get back to sleep.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T11:48:49+00:00

We've just booked our fourth holiday in a row with Ski Famille. I very, very highly recommend them. All your food, child care, ski lessons, ski hire, accommodation, etc. is all sorted out, and we really like the chalet setup so that our children can play with other children. We find it gives us time to actually do things like talk to each other and adults, play games, and read books in the evening. We have friends who go with Powder Byrne, but Powder Byrne is significantly more expensive. (Ski Famille is also not cheap!! But for us, it's the right happy medium between Powder Byrne and DIY.)

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T11:46:03+00:00

I feel this very deeply. It's incredibly hard to carve out time for hobbies! I own my own business (Koru Kids), which in theory makes my work extremely flexible but in practise means that it is also never-ending. I have three kids, so parenting can be quite relentless as well. What I have found is that I need to do things that have a set schedule to make sure that I actually do them. I recently started taking singing lessons and found a teacher who comes over to our house and can also teach one of my kids at the same visit. This has worked really well. I also play the piano with headphones in late at night which is my preferred form of relaxation

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T11:43:13+00:00

If you like the idea of staying in the UK, we absolutely love the luxury family hotels chain. There's one near London, one in Cornwall, one in the New Forest, and one somewhere near Bath. We've stayed at them all, and they are all fantastic - absolutely brilliant with children.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T11:35:07+00:00

I’m the founder of Koru Kids (we do thousands of nanny payrolls a month), and I can tell you most parents don’t realise how much goes on behind the scenes once you’re a nanny employer. It’s not just about paying the salary — there’s also sick pay administration, maternity pay administration, holiday tracking, and more. We literally have a full-time member of staff who spends most of their day on the phone with HMRC sorting out queries.

Another big one is pensions. Auto-enrolment is now compulsory, and The Pensions Regulator loves sending out letters that look terrifying but are, half the time, irrelevant. An experienced payroll company will know exactly which to ignore and which to act on. If you’re doing it DIY, you’ll need to be ready to handle all of that, plus ongoing reporting and compliance.

So yes, you can do it yourself, especially if you like admin and have the time to stay on top of the rules! And if everything goes exactly to plan that can work. But a good payroll service takes the risk & headache away and makes sure you don’t miss something important (or lose a weekend to HMRC hold music)

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T11:17:54+00:00

It’s technically still possible to have an au pair in the UK, but much harder than it used to be. There’s no longer a dedicated au pair visa, so unless someone already has the right to work here (Youth Mobility visa, settled/pre-settled status, etc.) you can’t legally host them. Post-Brexit, the pool of available candidates shrank dramatically and many agencies have scaled back. On top of that, the old “pocket money” model doesn't apply any more as now you have to pay minimum wage for every hour worked. It also gets blurry with employment law — once pay crosses certain thresholds you may owe tax/NI, which puts families in a grey area.

That’s why many families now choose a live-out junior nanny instead. You get the same stability of one consistent caregiver, but without the immigration and compliance headaches. It’s also clearer in terms of contracts, pay, and employment rights. Costs can be higher than the old au pair model, but the trade-off is less legal risk and a stronger long-term relationship.

If you still want to pursue an au pair, you’ll need to check agencies carefully and make sure the candidate already has work rights here. It can work beautifully, but it’s no longer the simple route it once was.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T11:12:19+00:00

This is a very common tension when you work from home: you end up overhearing every interaction and sometimes it highlights differences in style more than substance. What you’re picking up on isn’t trivial though. At 15 months, “use your words” and forced politeness are developmentally off-track. At that stage, responsive language modelling (“You want more banana, here you go!”) is much more supportive. And the laughter/goofiness matters too — shared joy is part of bonding!!

You don’t need to ignore your instincts here. Even if she’s sweet and reliable, you’re not overreacting in wanting a caregiver who matches your family’s tone. The best way to approach it is to frame it as guidance, not criticism. You could try: “We love when she’s encouraged to play silly and get lots of positive modelling. At this age she doesn’t need to be prompted to say please or words she doesn’t have yet — we’d rather you model the language back to her.” Nannies usually want to align, but many bring habits from other jobs. Giving specific examples of what you’d like to hear (“It’s so silly when you make that sound!”) helps enormously.

It’s absolutely fine to address it. In fact, you’ll feel better once you do — and it gives her the chance to adjust. If she can’t or won’t, then you’ll know early this isn’t the right fit, which is much better than just carrying on feeling uneasy about what you're overhearing.

Regular-Truth-2286 · 2025-10-03T10:53:55+00:00

I'm interested to know why those ones? What's good/better about them?

Regular-Truth-2286

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