Netherlands biggest au pair agency about to lose its license over abuses
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) plans to revoke the license of Nina Care, the biggest au pair agency in the Netherlands, after multiple reports of abuses. Parents report au pairs who shout at children, aren’t qualified, or even suddenly disappear. One parent is filing charges of identity fraud, Nieuwsuur reports.
Nina Care is the largest au pair agency in the Netherlands. According to the company, it will match 1,500 parents with an au pair this year. For comparison, according to the IND, 2,310 people came to the Netherlands from outside the EU under the au pair scheme last year.
The IND imposed 40 fines, amounting to almost 100,000 euros, on Nina Care after complaints from parents and au pairs. “We have issued multiple warnings and held discussions about how things should be done differently,” the IND told Nieuwsuur. “Nina Care has shown on all fronts that it cannot or does not want to improve.”
Revoking the company’s au pair license is the final step, the IND said. The founders of Nina Care, sisters Jasmijn and Lyla Kok, are contesting the decision. As long as Nina Care’s appeal is ongoing, the permit remains valid.
Parents Nieuwsuur spoke to accused Nina Care of not screening au pairs properly. Au pairs told the program that Nina Care matched them to a family after one conversation. At other au pair agencies, the screening process can take weeks.
Nina Care told the program that the conversation takes about an hour, and it asks for references, among other things. But Jasmijn Kok added that references “are only checked in case of doubt.”
The au pair scheme allows young people from other countries to temporarily live with a host family in the Netherlands. The au pair takes care of the children and does light household tasks in exchange for the opportunity to experience Dutch culture for a year.
In 2021, the Netherlands introduced new rules to prevent abuses around au pairs. According to the IND, there are signs of fraud and young people illegally living in the Netherlands after their au pair period is over. Parents Nieuwsuur spoke to confirm these signals. Several said that their au pairs disappeared unannounced.
According to Nina Care, it sometimes happens that au pairs “from a third world country” decide to stay in the Netherlands after their year as au pairs. The company said that this is not the intention, but there is little it can do about it. “During the screening, we try to find out what someone’s motivation is, but what ultimately happens is up to the girl herself.”
Nieuwsuur also discovered that Nina Care uses photos and data of families in its client database to recruit au pairs, without these families' permission. For example, Nieuwsuur found a fake profile of one family on an international platform where host families and au pairs can find each other. Nina Care wrote to over 500 au pairs using this fake profile. According to the program, Nina Care did this with at least six families.
The company acknowledged that it had abused its customers' personal data in this way. “We have adjusted this and are now doing it differently,” Jasmijn Kok said.
