Yes, you can legally hire a nanny from another country, and hiring a nanny from another country generally runs through one of four federal visa paths: the H-2B temporary worker visa, the J-1 au pair cultural exchange program, the EB-3 employment-based green card for long-term hires, and a narrow B-1 domestic employee visa that applies only in unusual circumstances. Each route has different eligibility rules, costs, and timelines, and picking the wrong one can sink the effort before the nanny ever boards a plane.
Which Visa Fits Your Situation
Start by defining how long you need the nanny and how the arrangement will look day to day. The H-2B is built for temporary needs and has a strict cap. The J-1 au pair program is a cultural exchange with age limits and hour limits, run through a sponsor agency. The EB-3 is the path for a permanent, full-time hire, but it can take years. The B-1 is available only to a small group of employers, mostly U.S. citizens who live permanently abroad and are traveling to the United States with a domestic worker they already employ overseas. If you live full-time in the United States, the B-1 is not an option for you.1U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 402.2 – Tourists and Business Visitors
The H-2B Route for a Temporary Nanny
The H-2B visa lets U.S. employers bring foreign workers in for temporary, non-agricultural jobs, and a nanny position can qualify when the need is genuinely temporary.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers You cannot use it to hire an open-ended, year-round nanny. USCIS asks the employer to show the need fits one of four categories: a one-time occurrence, a seasonal need, a peakload need, or an intermittent need.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Guidance on Temporary Need in H-2B Petitions
For most families the realistic option is the one-time occurrence category. You would show either that you have never employed a nanny and will not need one afterward, or that a specific short-term event created a childcare need your household does not normally have. Caring for an infant until the child reaches preschool age is a common example. Seasonal and peakload arguments are harder in a household setting because USCIS expects those categories to involve recurring business cycles.
Congress caps the H-2B program at 66,000 visas per fiscal year, split evenly between the October–March and April–September halves.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers Those slots frequently fill within days of opening. For fiscal year 2026, DHS and DOL authorized up to 64,716 supplemental visas on top of the base cap, but that authority is temporary and not guaranteed in future years.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Increase in H-2B Nonimmigrant Visas for FY 2026 Timing your petition to the cap opening matters. Note that as of January 2025, the worker no longer has to come from a country on a designated eligibility list.
How the H-2B Process Unfolds
The H-2B process crosses three federal agencies and runs at least five to six months from start to arrival.
First, request a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor’s National Prevailing Wage Center. This sets the minimum wage you must offer for a nanny in your area. DOL recommends submitting the request at least 60 days before you need the determination, and processing times fluctuate.5Flag.dol.gov. Processing Times
Second, file Form ETA-9142B, the Application for Temporary Employment Certification, with DOL between 75 and 90 calendar days before the nanny’s intended start date.6U.S. Department of Labor. Form ETA-9142B – H-2B Application for Temporary Employment Certification Your offered wage must meet or exceed the prevailing wage, the federal minimum wage, or any applicable state or local minimum wage, whichever is highest.7eCFR. 20 CFR Part 655 Subpart A – Labor Certification Process for Temporary Employment in the United States
Third, recruit U.S. workers. DOL will not certify your application unless you first show no qualified American workers are available. After DOL accepts your application, you have 14 calendar days to begin recruitment, which includes placing newspaper advertisements on two separate days (one must be a Sunday, unless the area has no Sunday paper).8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 78B – Recruiting Requirements Under the H-2B Program You must keep accepting referrals from U.S. applicants until 21 days before the nanny’s start date. A qualified, willing U.S. applicant will kill the certification.
Fourth, once DOL issues the Temporary Labor Certification, file Form I-129, the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, with USCIS, attaching the original certification.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker Fees include a base petition fee plus a mandatory Asylum Program Fee of $600, reduced to $300 if you have 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. Most households qualify for the reduced rate.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H and L Filing Fees for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker Premium processing is available for an extra fee.
Finally, once USCIS approves the petition, the case moves to the U.S. embassy or consulate in the nanny’s home country. The nanny completes the DS-160, pays the visa application fee, and attends an interview.11U.S. Department of State. Consular Electronic Application Center – Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application (DS-160) A consular officer verifies documents, confirms qualifications, and assesses intent to return home when the work ends.
The J-1 Au Pair Program
The J-1 au pair program is a cultural exchange, not a straightforward job, but it is one of the most common ways families arrange live-in childcare from abroad. Families do not petition directly. The process runs through a designated sponsor agency approved by the U.S. Department of State, which handles matching and much of the paperwork.12BridgeUSA. Au Pair
Au pairs must be 18 to 26, hold at least a secondary school diploma, and speak English proficiently.12BridgeUSA. Au Pair Federal regulations cap regular au pairs at 10 hours of childcare per day and 45 hours per week. An “EduCare” track caps childcare at 30 hours per week in exchange for a heavier academic load.13eCFR. 22 CFR 62.31 – Au Pairs These are hard limits. Families that routinely exceed them risk losing the placement.
Even though the framing is cultural exchange, USCIS treats the host family as the employer for immigration purposes, which means completing Form I-9 and meeting basic employment obligations.14U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Exchange Visitors Families provide room and board, a private bedroom, and a minimum weekly stipend. For regular au pairs in 2026 the stipend works out to roughly $195.75 per week under the federal minimum wage calculation set by the regulations. Families also contribute up to $500 toward required academic coursework ($1,000 for EduCare), give at least one full weekend off per month, and provide a minimum of two weeks of paid vacation per 12-month term.12BridgeUSA. Au Pair On top of the stipend, families pay a program fee to the sponsor agency, which typically runs several thousand dollars.
The EB-3 Green Card for a Permanent Hire
Families who want a nanny for the long term, not a temporary stretch, can sponsor one for a green card through the EB-3 (Employment-Based Third Preference) immigrant visa. Nannies fall under the “other workers” subcategory, which covers positions requiring less than two years of training or experience. The job must be permanent and full-time, and the employer must first obtain a labor certification from DOL.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration – Third Preference EB-3
The EB-3 labor certification uses the PERM process, which is separate from H-2B. The employer sets the job’s minimum requirements, gets a prevailing wage determination, conducts recruitment to show no qualified U.S. workers are available, and submits the PERM application electronically.16Flag.dol.gov. Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) Once PERM is approved, the employer files Form I-140, the Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, with USCIS. The EB-3 “other workers” category has its own annual visa cap and historically long backlogs, so this path can take years. It suits families committed to a long-term arrangement.
What You Take On as the Employer
Hiring a nanny from abroad makes you a household employer, and the tax and wage rules apply the same way whether the visa is H-2B or J-1.
On payroll taxes: if you pay a household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages during 2026, you must withhold 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare from each paycheck and pay a matching 7.65% yourself.17Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926, Household Employer’s Tax Guide If you pay $1,000 or more in total cash wages to household employees in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026, you owe federal unemployment tax on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages for the year, paid entirely out of your own funds.18Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926, Household Employer’s Tax Guide Most states impose their own unemployment tax on top. You report household employment taxes on Schedule H with your Form 1040, and you issue the nanny a W-2 by January 31 of the following year.19Internal Revenue Service. Employment Taxes for Household Employees You will need an EIN before filing.
On wages and hours, federal law treats nannies as non-exempt employees entitled to minimum wage. Live-out nannies get overtime after 40 hours in a workweek at 1.5 times the regular rate. Live-in nannies have a federal exemption from overtime, though they still must receive minimum wage for all hours worked.20eCFR. 29 CFR 552.102 – Live-in Domestic Service Employees Several states override that exemption, so check your state’s rules.
On H-2B-specific duties, the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the whole approved period, free and clear of unauthorized deductions.7eCFR. 20 CFR Part 655 Subpart A – Labor Certification Process for Temporary Employment in the United States You must guarantee work hours equal to at least three-fourths of the workdays in each 12-week period (or 6-week period if the total job is less than 120 days). If work runs short, you still owe pay for the guaranteed hours. You must reimburse inbound travel and daily living costs to reach the job site once the worker completes at least 50 percent of the employment period, cover return transportation if you terminate early, and reimburse visa and border-crossing fees (though not passport costs) in the first workweek.21eCFR. 20 CFR 655.20 – Assurances and Obligations of H-2B Employers