Patricia Brunner

We are pleased to introduce this year’s recipient of the IAPA Au Pair of the Year Award: Lia Anahi Padilla Medina from Ecuador. Lia’s exceptional qualities and invaluable contributions to her host family set her apart from a pool of remarkable candidates. The announcement of the award was made on Saturday, March 16th, in the elegant setting of the Chrystal Palace in Krakow, Poland, a highlight of our annual WETM-IAC conference. Selected by a panel of five judges, Lia’s victory speaks volumes about her exceptional character and the profound impact she has made, especially during a challenging time for her …

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Envisage Global Insurance is a specialized international group insurance broker for the J1, work and travel, youth travel and cultural exchange markets. In business since 1998, the organization is now recognized as one of the leading providers of international insurance plans to organizations from all around the world that send and receive students and other young people on cultural exchange and youth travel activities.  Envisage Global Insurance prides themselves in having a global network of one of the most experienced teams to support their customers in the industry. Owned and operated by Envisage International Corporation, they are headquartered in Neptune …

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Background & Overview Published on October 30, 2023, the anticipated regulations aimed to enhance clarity and improve the US au pair program, but instead have caused confusion and are seen as harmful to the program and could have serious negative effects on all parties involved. IAPA had informed its members and asked them to write their comments and concerns to the Department of State during the comment period that ended 28th of January 2024.   Some Expected Negative Effects of the Proposed Changes: –    Shift from a cultural exchange to a labor program. –    Reduction in participation of host families …

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IAPA´s annual Au Pair of the Year Award  contest recognizes outstanding young individuals in au pair programs around the world by shining a spotlight on their contributions and promoting awareness of this meaningful cultural exchange. It’s also a fantastic chance to feature IAPA member organizations and their wor The Winner´s Prize The winner of the 2024 IAPA Au Pair of the Year Award will travel to Kraków (Poland) where the award will be presented at the Work Experience Travel Market and IAPA Annual Conference (WETM-IAC), taking place 16-18 March, 2024. Travel and accommodation in the conference hotel will be covered …

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StudentUniverse is one of the world’s leading travel booking sites for students and young adults under 30. Since StudentUniverse took off in the US in 2000, they´ve since expanded into the UK, Australia and Canada with the goal of helping students worldwide travel more for less. Through the years, students liked StudentUniverse so much that they were eventually acquired by Flight Centre Travel Group in 2015. They’ve partnered with more than 200 airlines including United Airlines, British Airways, Air China and more to give young people exclusive student flight discounts that can’t be found anywhere else. The Travel Services team …

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IAPA and our member agencies work with partners and supporters who provide valuable services for agencies, au pairs, host families. These are our associate members. We’re always pleased to add more of these service providers to our community as they support our members to get better at what they are doing and providing excellent service to their customers. Therefore, we are very pleased to welcome our newest associate member ENGINEHIRE from Canada. Enginehire is an all-in-one software system for running an au pair agency. They work with hundreds of au pair and childcare agencies around the world to help them …

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Get ready to celebrate International Au Pair Day 2023 As we prepare to celebrate #InternationalAuPairDay for the fifth year, we are delighted to see the growing excitement around this day. Agencies, au pairs, and host families alike are joining in the celebrations around this special day acknowledging the importance of au pairs! This year, we are inviting host families and au pairs to share messages of support on social media in reels, posts, stories and of course also in person.  Host Families Please take this opportunity to share your appreciation for your au pair under the following theme: “What we …

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