The Dutch immigration service IND has withdrawn the licence which allowed the Netherlands’ biggest au pair agency to bring in people from outside the EU. The decision follows a media report which highlighted problems with the service provided by Nina Care.

According to Nieuwsuur, which interviewed parents who used the agency, the girl they were matched with often had no clue about what was expected of her, or disappeared unannounced.

“On paper, they seemed experienced but in practice that would not be the case,” one parent said. Other parents spoke of au pairs drinking alcohol on the job, yelling at the children and taking away toys as punishment. One parent arrived home one day to find the au pair gone, while another disappeared on holiday.

Nina Care has now been fined 50 times for failing in its duty of care. Half of the fines – totalling €110,000 – were for “serious failings,” while others had to do with administrative shortcomings, Nieuwsuur said.

The agency blamed its “rapid growth” for the situation.

“The company has repeatedly broken the rules over the past two years and has not shown that it can or wants to improve,” IND spokesman Gerard Spierenburg told broadcaster NOS. “We have no confidence that this will change.”

EU countries

Owners Lyla and Jasmijn Kok told Nieuwsuur in a written statement that they understand and support the IND’s position. Nieuwsuur said hundreds of au pairs are currently working in the Netherlands via Nina Care.

The sisters plan to continue their agency focusing on au pairs from other EU countries.

The IND is contacting the families involved.

Last year 2,310 people came to the Netherlands from outside the EU via the au pair ruling.