The United States Information Agency, which administers the J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa Program, has released new rules on the participation of au pairs in the J-1 program. The following are highlights of the changes announced:

* The existing requirement that au pairs ENROLL in six hours of academic credit at an institution of higher learning has been amended and au pairs are not required to ATTEND such courses.

* The rules governing the selection and placement of au pair participants are being changed "in order to enhance the ability of an au pair host family to more actively participate in the selection of the au pair participant that the family will host." A report by the organizational representative interviewing the au pair participant must now be provided to the host family. References must also be provided to the host family and the au pair must successfully complete a personality profile based on a psychometric test that measures the differences in characteristics among applicants against those characteristics considered most important to successfully participate in the au pair program.

* Au pair sponsor provide all host families and au pair participants with a statement from the Agency providing an overview of the au pair program.

* Au pair participants that will care for children under the age of two must have no less than 200 hours of documented infant child care experience. This experience must involve the direct care and supervision of infant children.

* Au pairs will receive, prior to departure from their home country, a pre-departure package that both clearly describes their prospective child care responsibilities and enumerates unacceptable behavior.

* Au pairs will continue to receive not less than eight hours of child safety instruction and not less than twenty-four hours of child development instruction. The USIA is, however, amending this requirement to specifically require that no less than four hours of the child safety instruction be infant related and that not less than four of the twenty-four hours of child development instruction be devoted to training for the care of children under the age of two. Child safety instruction shall be provided by the American Red Cross or other recognized experts in the field of safety instruction. The child development instruction is expected to include topics such as stress management and Shaken Baby Syndrome.

* The USIA notes that au pair participants are covered under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and must receive federal minimum wage.

* An au pair may not provide more than 10 hours of child care on any given day or more than 45 hours of child care in any given week.