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This article draws upon ethnographic fieldwork on Slovak au pairs in the United Kingdom during 2004 and 2005. Connecting the macro level of regulations (i.e. immigration rules regarding au pairs, the visa regime and access to the labour market) with the micro level of relationships within host households, I examine the migration experiences of Slovak au pairs during the time of EU enlargement. I argue that the abolishment of the UK visas and unlimited access to the UK labour market affected the working conditions of au pairs and enabled Slovak citizens to make au pairing part of larger migration projects. The experience of au pairs demonstrates that when considering the role of migration status in the experience of paid domestic workers, we have to consider the wider context of being a migrant, not merely the particular visa regime.

Drawing on interviews conducted between 2013 and 2015 with childcare workers and their employers, this article focuses on the employment of paid home-based childcare in Slovakia, where local families prefer to employ local childcarers, rather than migrant childcarers. After a brief discussion of previous studies on home-based paid childcare and social policies, I introduce the concept of care loops and summarize family-oriented policies in Slovakia. I explain that relying on social networks and trust results in hiring local women rather than migrant childcarers. I then examine the motivations of working mothers for hiring childcare workers. I show how mothers use both structural (social policy) and cultural factors (ideals of motherhood and childrearing) to explain their childcare choices. I argue that hiring full-time childcare workers is both a way to fill the care gap and a response to a cultural preference for mother-like care for infants and toddlers. This cultural preference also results in hiring part-time childcare workers who are responsible for micromobilities of care and who help parents to manage care loops.