Taking your nanny, butler, or PA with you for a summer in Europe sounds simple. You already employ them. They know your family. Why wouldn’t they just come along?
Because employment laws change at every border. The contract you signed in New York may not protect you in London or Paris. The visa your nanny holds might not let them work in the country you’re visiting.
Get it wrong and you could face fines, unpaid tax bills, or even prosecution.
Morgan & Mallet helps families with staff from eight offices: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Switzerland, Antibes (near Monaco) and Dubai.
Rules checked on 15 October 2026. This article is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice.
Can I take my nanny or housekeeper with me when I travel abroad?
Yes, but your employee needs the right to work in each of the countries you visit, a contract that covers international travel, and insurance for the countries you’re visiting.
Get those in place before you go and you can do it legally.
Traveling nannies earn $70,000 to $150,000 a year in the US, according to Morgan & Mallet’s 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report. They earn more because the job is more complicated.
They have to manage different legal systems, different time zones, and travel maybe for months at a time.
Morgan Richez, our co-founder, gets the question a lot from families based in Dubai:
“All the people from Dubai, they travel a lot, especially during the summer season, and they would like to travel with the nanny or with the housekeeper overseas, in Europe or even [in the] US.”
In our Annual Report, only 4.82% of nannies in Morgan & Mallet’s database travel regularly with families. Only 2.36% can do rotational work.
Travel is quite common for employers we work with to ask for. In our 267 job ads in the US since 2022, 17.6% said the job would have international travel and 13.9% asked for a passport (how we count).
Does US employment law apply when my household staff works overseas?
Partly. Minimum wage and overtime law (the FLSA) in the US doesn’t apply to any week your employee works in a foreign country (29 USC 213(f)). US tax and Social Security usually still do, as the tax section below explains.
Local rules on working hours, rest days and overtime can apply wherever the work is done. Your US contract doesn’t override that.
What we make sure we do is to write the contract under the law of the country where the employee will spend most of their working days, and put the other countries into its travel terms.
It’s the most sensible approach we find, but not a legal rule, so make sure to check it with an employment lawyer.
That’s how we set up a New York lawyer’s summer nanny who worked in the UK, France and Ireland. The full case is in our guide to paying household staff through a business.
Does my nanny need a work visa to travel with me?
It depends on their passport, where you’re going and how long you’re staying. US citizens can visit the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180, but tourist entry doesn’t mean they can work there.
A butler serving dinner at your rented villa in Provence is working, even if it feels like a holiday.
Since 10 April 2026, the EU’s Entry/Exit System records visitors’ fingerprints and photo at the border (EU). ETIAS, the EU’s travel authorisation, hasn’t started yet.
France has a short-stay exception. Household staff working for a private employer during the employer’s stay in France, for three months or less, don’t need a French work permit (French labour code D5221-2-1).
They still need the right to enter France.
The UK has no exception like this. A domestic worker travelling with you needs an Overseas Domestic Worker visa, even with a US passport.
They must have worked for you for at least a year, can stay up to six months, and the visa costs £726 (gov.uk).
US citizens also need an Electronic Travel Authorisation just to visit the UK (gov.uk). Switzerland needs a permit for any work, even a short stay, applied for before arrival (State Secretariat for Migration).
For staff with non-US passports, it gets harder. A housekeeper on a UAE visa can’t just fly to London for the summer and start working. The UAE visa doesn’t cover the UK.
Morgan sees the same mistake happen with staff hired in Dubai:
“Many clients… they hire some housekeeper[s] and nann[ies] in Dubai on [a] permanent basis, but they say, ‘Oh, you know what, during the summer I would like the housekeeper to travel [to the] UK or France with me.’
“Because with the visa they can’t travel [to the] UK or France with the UAE visa.”
Families hire housekeepers in Dubai, where salaries are lower, and then want to bring them to Europe. The visa doesn’t work that way.
Outside Dubai, we don’t arrange visas. Laurine Mallet, our co-founder:
“We don’t manage at all the visa or whatever. If, for example, a client would like to employ a candidate, the candidate need[s] to have his document[s].
“We are not going to try to make the visa for the candidate, or to call the embassy.”
Passport matters. According to Morgan & Mallet’s placement data, employers hiring traveling staff mostly look for candidates with EU, UK, or North American passports.
A nanny with a British passport can work in the UK and move around Europe with far fewer hurdles.
A family assistant search we worked on for a client in 2025 said: “The role will involve frequent travel throughout Europe, and having an EU passport is strongly preferred for ease of mobility.”
Can I bring a nanny or housekeeper from overseas to work in the US?
Only through a few routes, so most families in the US hire someone who can already work here. In our job ads in the US since 2022, 16.1% said candidates must already be allowed to work in the US.
A house manager search we ran in Miami in 2024 wanted it and said it very clearly: “No visa sponsorship provided; candidates must have the right to work in the US and reside near Miami.”
The routes that do exist:
B-1 domestic employee visa. It’s for staff of a foreign national in the US on a visa such as E, H, L or O, or of a US citizen who lives abroad and is visiting (9 FAM 402.2-5(D)).
A US citizen family living in the US, or a green card holder, can’t use it.
The employee must usually have worked for you abroad already, at least a year for a foreign employer, at least six months for a US citizen employer.
You sign a contract with free room and board, the round-trip fare, and the higher of the minimum or prevailing wage.
Au pair (J-1). Only through a State Department sponsor, and for childcare only: au pairs are 18 to 26, work at most 10 hours a day and 45 a week, and get a weekly stipend (State Department).
It isn’t a route for a housekeeper or a career nanny.
Temporary work visa (H-2B). The need for the family has to be temporary, like for seasonal work, so it doesn’t often fit a permanent nanny or housekeeper job (USCIS).
Green card (EB-3). A family can sponsor a full-time live-in domestic worker, through a Department of Labor certification and then an immigrant petition. The worker needs to have a year of paid full-time experience, and it takes years (USCIS).
Morgan has seen how long it takes:
“In [the] US they are very tight about the visa, so we need to respect that. It’s very important, first of all, to offer the job to American people first.
“But when it comes to a very rich client, for example, [one who is] looking for a French nanny from France: I know a client… [who] pa[id] for the visa [and got] a lawyer to bring this lady from France.
“But the process is a long process, and you need to spend money.”
Pay goes by rules in the US whatever way. In our Annual Report, housekeepers in the US earn $90,000 to $160,000 a year.
Whoever you hire, you complete Form I-9 to check they can work in the US (USCIS). Talk to an immigration attorney before you promise a job to someone who isn’t yet allowed to work here.
What should a traveling nanny or staff contract include?
A traveling household staff contract should cover which countries the employee will work in and how many days in each location. It should say who pays for flights, accommodation, and meals.
And it needs to spell out how working hours apply across time zones and whether you need extra insurance. A standard US employment contract won’t cut it for staff who cross borders.
Travel terms need to be written down. If you expect your personal assistant to be available during a 14-hour travel day, that needs to be in writing.
Laurine says short-notice travel has to be part of the discussions on pay right from the beginning:
“If the candidate is going to travel a lot, it’s a part of the negotiation to explain, ‘Okay, so you are going to travel a lot.’ …
“Because a lot of candidate[s] maybe will accept the job, but after one month [they] would say, ‘Okay, I can’t work like that anymore,’ so [they] leave.”
The US Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers minimum wage and overtime for domestic workers in the US, but not for the weeks they work abroad.
When your employee works abroad, you might also need to follow local rules on maximum hours, rest days, and public holidays.
The EU Working Time Directive caps average working hours at 48 per week across member states. The UK isn’t in the EU, and its own 48-hour limit doesn’t apply to domestic servants in private households (UK Working Time Regulations).
How much does it cost to take household staff abroad?
It’s best to start with the salary (see the travelling nanny range above). Then add flights, accommodation, and travel insurance. Visa processing if needed.
There’s no standard travel premium. In our report, the travelling nanny range is higher than the nanny range in the US of $60,000 to $120,000.
Talking about UK families with ski homes in France, Morgan says families usually only fly in senior staff:
“When it comes to [a] traveling role, it’s only for [the] butler role or private chef role. But when it comes to housekeepers, they don’t want to move [a] housekeeper from [the] UK to, for example, Val d’Isere in France…
“They prefer to hire someone based in Val d’Isere.”
If your employee is a citizen of the US or resident, you usually still owe Social Security and Medicare (FICA) while they work abroad for you.
Staff without US status, like a housekeeper hired in Dubai, aren’t covered by FICA abroad.
Check workers’ comp and health insurance with your insurer before the trip, because many policies need an endorsement for work abroad. A payroll service can bundle those into one monthly bill.
If you’re managing payroll yourself, you need to track what you owe in every country where your staff works.
NDAs push costs higher too. Privacy agreements add 15 to 20% to base pay across all roles, according to Morgan & Mallet’s Annual Report. A traveling PA with a high-profile family can end up costing far more than the salary.
Do I need to pay taxes in another country for my household staff?
Potentially, yes. If your employee works in another country for more than a few weeks, you could owe employer taxes, social contributions, or pension payments there. It doesn’t matter where the contract was signed.
The US has social security agreements with the UK, France and Switzerland.
Under them, a worker from the US that you send abroad for up to five years stays in US Social Security only, if you get a certificate of coverage from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Without one, UK National Insurance or French social charges can apply. Income tax, like UK PAYE, is a separate question for your tax adviser.
For staff who aren’t covered, French employer charges for a household employee come to about 45% of gross pay, before a €2 an hour deduction (URSSAF).
The UAE has no income tax, but visa sponsorship and end-of-service benefits cost money instead.
An employment lawyer or international payroll provider can tell you where the line is.
How do you handle payroll for household staff working in multiple countries?
We run payroll as the employer of record in the US, the UK and France. In Dubai, we arrange the visa, medical insurance and payroll through a licensed supplier.
The agency becomes the legal employer, deals with contracts, tax, pension, and insurance in those countries, and sends you one monthly invoice. The family doesn’t touch the legal side.
Laurine:
“Payroll, it’s only for [the] US, [the] UK and France, and the most demand [is] coming from France.”
The agency carries insurance for property damage, workplace injuries, and liability. In France, that coverage runs from the moment an employee leaves their home until they get back. In the US, our payroll includes medical insurance and criminal record checks.
In the UK, it covers pension contributions through NEST and damage insurance.
One employer of record means one invoice and one point of contact for the countries it covers. The alternative is setting up separate contracts in every country, each with its own tax, pension, and insurance rules.
Can I take my housekeeper abroad on a tourist visa?
Usually not. Having your household staff work in another country on a tourist visa is illegal in most places, even for short stays. France’s three-month exception for household staff, above, is one of the few exceptions.
The most common mistake families make is treating this casually.
Someone tells their nanny to pack a bag and come to Saint-Tropez without checking whether the visa covers work, whether the contract needs updating, or whether travel insurance is in place.
Other mistakes families make abroad
Another common problem: families in Monaco trying to use a Monaco contract for a housekeeper who actually works in the South of France. Morgan has seen this repeatedly. “You can’t play with the laws in France,” he says.
Families try this to avoid higher French taxes, but it’s illegal.
Cash payments are a risk too. Some employers pay 80% on the books and 20% in cash. In every country where Morgan & Mallet operates, this is tax fraud. It also leaves the employee without protections if something goes wrong.
What employment rules apply to household staff in the UK, France, UAE, and Switzerland?
Each country has its own labor laws for domestic workers. If your staff works there, you need to follow them.
United Kingdom. You must check your employee’s right to work in the UK before they start (gov.uk). For a domestic worker travelling with you, that’s the Overseas Domestic Worker visa above.
France. French labor law is strict. Full-time is 40 hours a week for household staff, and hours above that are overtime, paid 25% more up to 48 hours and 50% more from 48 to 50 (French labour ministry).
Household staff have a health check within three months of starting, then at least every five years (French labour ministry).
UAE. Dubai has its own rules. Domestic workers come under UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022, not the general labour law, and the household needs a work permit for them (UAE legislation).
Morgan & Mallet uses a supplier for visa processing in the UAE and can organize medical tests, health insurance, and onboarding.
Switzerland. Household staff salaries here are the highest in Europe. Any work needs a permit from the cantonal migration office before arrival, and staff from outside the EU and EFTA rarely qualify (State Secretariat for Migration).
Tax rules change by canton.
Geneva, Zurich, and Gstaad are the main markets. A butler in Switzerland earns CHF 110,000 to CHF 130,000, according to our 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report.
How do you find a nanny or housekeeper who can travel internationally?
Start with the passport. A candidate with an EU, UK, or US passport gives you the most flexibility. Then check their travel history. Someone who has spent five years working in different countries knows how international households run.
Morgan & Mallet’s placement data shows that employers hiring traveling staff mostly want one of these passports because it makes traveling easier.
Morgan & Mallet’s database of vetted candidates tracks who is willing to travel, who has the right visa status, and who has worked with multi-property families before.
Every candidate goes through a 90-minute structured interview, and availability or ability to travel is part of that.
Working with an international agency means one point of contact for everything. If you’re moving from London to Dubai, the same recruiter who knows your family handles the search in the new city.
Take household staff abroad the right way
The legal side of traveling with staff doesn’t need to be complicated. But it does need to be done properly.
Make sure your contract covers the right country, your employee’s visa allows them to work there, and your insurance and payroll are set up for cross-border work before you leave.
If you’re moving abroad rather than travelling, Morgan’s advice is to plan your staff with everything else:
“Before [you] move, it’s very important to organize everything… It’s very important to contact us before, to reorganize, and to make sure when they arrive [in] the country everything is set up already.
“So there is no gap: when they arrive, they’ve got everything ready; the household staff is ready as well. You need to anticipate, basically.”
If you’re planning to travel with your nanny, butler, chef, or PA this year, call +1 (646) 965-2308 or get in touch with us.
Sources: 29 USC 213(f); Social Security Administration; gov.uk (Overseas Domestic Worker visa, ETA, right to work); UK Working Time Regulations; EU Entry/Exit System; EU Working Time Directive; French labour code and labour ministry; URSSAF; UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022; Swiss State Secretariat for Migration; US State Department (9 FAM, au pair); USCIS (H-2B, EB-3, Form I-9); all checked 15 October 2026. Our Annual Report and our US job ads, 2022 to 2026.
