Advice needed - should I offer accommodation to a Slovakian visitor?

machairs

Hi

I don't post regulary to this board but I do read and follow loads of the good tips. I hope someone out there has some good advice for my because I'm stuck.

We have a spare room in our house. During term time we let it to students. Our student has just left for the summer break. I'm on unpaid maternity leave at the moment and the loss of this income hits us hard. In order to make some money from this empty room, I posted an advert on Gumtree offering the room for a short term (2 weeks). I have received only one enquiry from a 26yr old female from Slovakia who is visiting the City between the dates I offered. However, I am stalling over replying to her because I am worried.

My worries are;

Illegal Immigrant - but would they take the trouble to search through Gumtree if they were? Indeed would they know when or where they would land up:o

Not willing to leave at end of short term offer, language barrier, using us/our address for immigration purposes etc.

Ok, so am I being a big worry wart? Am I being discriminatory? Am about to miss a good opportunity for me and my family (10month baby, 6yr boy and dh) to meet someone from another culture and country? The list goes on.

Does anyone have experiences they can draw on and pass on any tips to me?


Thanks in advance.

Smashing

Slovakia is a member of the EU, so you're not going to end up with an illegal immigrant.
You need to contact them with any questions you have - how long would they be staying? What is their level of English?

dollop

id just be carefull doing things like that cause uyou never ever know who your taking into your house,esp if you have kids,i wish you good luck xxx and dont have any advice that i could offer you,but just be wary,have a great weekend.dollops xxx

seven-day-weekend

If they are a lodger they HAVE to leave, they don't have the same rights as a tenant.

I had a Japanese girl for a month. She was in a party from Japan over in the UK for a month to improve their English. The University paid for it. You basically have to be their mum for a month.

It might be worth contacting the Uni you normally get your students from to see if they do anything like this.

advanta

machairs wrote: »

Hi

I don't post regulary to this board but I do read and follow loads of the good tips. I hope someone out there has some good advice for my because I'm stuck.

We have a spare room in our house. During term time we let it to students. Our student has just left for the summer break. I'm on unpaid maternity leave at the moment and the loss of this income hits us hard. In order to make some money from this empty room, I posted an advert on Gumtree offering the room for a short term (2 weeks). I have received only one enquiry from a 26yr old female from Slovakia who is visiting the City between the dates I offered. However, I am stalling over replying to her because I am worried.

My worries are;

Illegal Immigrant - but would they take the trouble to search through Gumtree if they were? Indeed would they know when or where they would land up:o

Not willing to leave at end of short term offer, language barrier, using us/our address for immigration purposes etc.

Ok, so am I being a big worry wart? Am I being discriminatory? Am about to miss a good opportunity for me and my family (10month baby, 6yr boy and dh) to meet someone from another culture and country? The list goes on.

Does anyone have experiences they can draw on and pass on any tips to me?


Thanks in advance.

Well, to state the obvious, you really need to ask her. Does she speak English?, can she get a visa and so on? If you can't get that information
then you shouldn't take her in.

All you have given us is information that she is from Slovakia. You can't make a judgement on that basis. There is nothing wrong with Slovakia, it is a perfectly decent civilized and economically developed country, and I doubt its inhabitants are any more or less law-abiding than they are here.
Asking for people's experiences isn't going to be much use. That is a very small, biased sample.
Of course, I'm sure many people in Slovakia are unscrupulous scumbags who'll take you for every penny, as there are many such people in Britain.

machairs

Thanks for all the advice. I have taken it all on board and, after a great deal of thought and prayers, decided to offer accommodation to her. I've engaged in email correspondence over the weekend with her and each email I receive makes me surer I have made the right move.

Her english is very, very good. She is comfortable around children and animals and is very excited about visiting our city and staying with us. I have offered to meet her off her bus on Wednesday and give her a quick tour of the city concluded with a trip on the local bus to our home.

I'm hopeful that this will be a wonderful, cultural experience for her and our family.