I'm entertaining the idea of having my younger sister over for an extended stay over the summer/fall. While here I'd help support her in exchange for her looking after our kids. If she's here less than 6 months do you think she could do this on a visitor visa?

Other option is BUNAC - which would allow her greater flexibility and not be as "grey". She could take off and do a ski-season after if she wanted etc.

In particularly the latter option would either of us need to do anything formal to recognise this arrangement? Would she be be employed by us etc?

You would need to look into WCB issues. She cannot be employed by you without the necessary status and being a visitor does not do so.

You need to look into the whole live-in caregiver program thingies

Would you really bother with that crap in the OP's situation? I know I wouldn't.

That's kinda where I was leaning, avoid the crap, treat it like an extended holiday for her the helps us out, nothing formal.

Looking into the care-giver stuff, it seems like she would need 6-months relevant experience and so on which doesn't really fit with the situation for me. I'll keep reading and see if there are ways to avoid some of the formality as she's a family member.

I think BUNAC might make most sense then she can head off and do what she wants, and maybe when she's with us we keep it simple and informal.

I wouldn`t but each to their own.

A friend of ours is doing just this. Thought she would have a relative over for 6 months. It`s turning into a nightmare.

Perhaps you should PM the OP and not leave things so cryptically ?

Oh, I am happy to let all in on it.

Essentially, she is not assisting the family at all and is refusing to contribute to any expenses. She has had a couple of medical issues, no insurance, and is refusing to pay her saviours back.

If I intended to do what the OP is, I would not look into any real legal issues and would just treat the whole thing as an extended holiday. However, I would choose my visitor very carefully

and make sure they've got medical and travel insurance...

and a return ticket.

I do however, have a friend who has exactly this arrangement with her mum. Mum comes over and stays for 6 month periods, providing full time childcare for the two tinies in return for board and lodging or whatever whilst said friend works f/t, then pops off, then comes back for another 6 months. It's saving her a lot of money, and allows the grandparent to bond with the children etc. I have no idea about their insurance status.

This is kind of what I was thinking, though it wouldn't be full time as the wife isn't planning on going back to work full time. We'd maybe just do something with no visas if my sister only fancied visiting for a couple of months. I think if she wanted to come longer I'm going to suggest she gets the BUNAC visa anyway so that she can do other work if she wanted either while with us or after if she wanted to travel. Either way I'm going to investgate formalising the child-care portion but reckon it will be way easier to leave it informal.