Au Pair in Germany: Visa, Hours, Pay, and Red Flags

You’re about to move into someone else’s home and look after their children. Some days that sounds like an affordable year of German. Other days it sounds like becoming live-in help with no lock on the bedroom door.

Germany treats an au pair stay as a cultural exchange, not a job. You live with a host family, help with childcare and light housework tied to the kids, and use the rest of the week for a German course and a life of your own. Pocket money, a private room, meals, a language-course subsidy, and paid holiday are the deal, not extras.

The stay is capped at 12 months, once in a lifetime, even if you switch families. It does not lead to permanent residence on its own. If a family stretches the hours, skips the course money, or treats you like a full-time nanny, that is not how this is supposed to work. Get the hours in writing before you book a flight.

Who can go

You usually need to be 18 to 26 when you apply. Under Section 12 of the employment ordinance (BeschV), you must still be under 27 when the residence title is requested.

Families and visa posts often expect you to be unmarried and without children of your own, and in good health. Married applicants can still be admitted. Some consulates ask for a medical exam.

The host family must speak German as their mother tongue. If German is only a family language, you cannot come from the same country as the host parents. At least one adult in the household normally needs German, EU/EEA, or Swiss nationality.

A1 German is required, not optional. A certificate helps the file. Many embassies and foreigners’ offices still check spoken A1 in the interview: everyday phrases, introducing yourself, answering simple questions if the other person speaks slowly. Informal childcare experience (babysitting, younger siblings, volunteering) helps families trust you, even when it is not on a certificate.

If you are not an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen, you typically need a signed au pair contract, a host family invitation letter, proof of A1 German where they ask for it (certificate or interview), health and accident insurance covering Germany (the family arranges and pays for it), and a passport valid for the full stay.

If a family wants you to start next week but has no written schedule and no private room you can lock, do not book flights or a visa appointment until those are fixed.

Pay, hours, and what the job is allowed to be

You do not get a wage. You get pocket money of at least €280 a month, a private room in the family home, and meals with the household.

The family must pay at least €70 a month toward a German course (or €840 for a full year in one sum), as long as course costs actually arise. They must also cover public-transit or other travel to the nearest suitable course, on top of that subsidy. On a full year you get four weeks of paid holiday.

They must take out health insurance (including pregnancy and birth) and accident insurance. Liability cover is usual and should sit in the contract. If insurance is missing, do not start.

Federal Employment Agency rules cap the work at 30 hours a week and 6 hours a day. Typical days look like school runs, homework, play, children’s meals, and light housework connected to the kids. You are not there for heavy general housework, care of elderly or sick relatives, full-time nanny hours with no cultural exchange, or work for anyone outside the household.

You get at least 1.5 days off each week, at least one free Sunday a month, and enough time to attend class. Write the weekly hours into the contract. “We’ll be flexible” is how unpaid overtime starts.

How long you can stay, and how the visa works

The usual minimum is six months. Some agencies or consulates accept shorter stays; the legal maximum is 12 months in total under Section 12 BeschV. You get one au pair stay in Germany. Leaving early or changing families does not reset the clock.

EU/EEA and Swiss citizens can start once the family and contract are in place. You still register your address after you move in.

Most other nationalities find a family, sign the contract, then apply for a national visa at a German embassy or consulate before travel. Do not start work until that visa (and later the residence title) is in place.

Citizens of some countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, the UK, New Zealand, Israel, and South Korea, can enter without an au pair visa and apply for the residence permit at the local foreigners’ office (Ausländerbehörde) after arrival. Book that appointment as soon as you can; appointments often take weeks. You still should not work as an au pair until the title is granted.

After you arrive, register your address (Anmeldung) and finish any steps the foreigners’ office asks for.

Standard Federal Employment Agency model contracts use 14 days’ written notice on either side. Serious breaches can end things immediately. Put the notice clause in the contract before you start, so you are not arguing about it from the spare room.

If you want to stay in Germany after the year, start the next permit months ahead. Common paths are a student visa, vocational training (Ausbildung), Federal Volunteer Service (FSJ / BFD), or a skilled worker visa once you have a qualifying job. You cannot stretch the au pair year past the 12-month lifetime cap.

When to take the placement, and when to walk

Video calls and the contract tell you more than the listing photos. Use them to decide whether this is an exchange or cheap live-in help.

Signs you can say yes

Good families are direct about expectations and still warm. Plain feedback is normal in Germany; shouting, condescension, or cold indifference is not. For how that tone usually lands at work and at home, see German Directness.

You get a written weekly schedule in advance that protects your German classes. Parents welcome questions on calls, offer to put you in touch with a previous au pair if they had one, and suggest regular check-ins once you arrive.

Your room is private, heatable, and lockable (roughly 9 to 12 m² is a solid size; a cupboard with a bed is not). Your free time is yours.

Signs to walk, or to leave

Leave the call, or use your notice, if bluntness turns into hostility: insults, raised voices, or dismissal of homesickness dressed up as “honesty.”

Be careful when hours are only “flexible,” or when asking for a roster gets guilt (“we thought you were family, not watching the clock”). That is how unpaid overtime starts. Deep general housework for the parents (scrubbing bathrooms, adult laundry, cooking for adults) is not au pair work; child-related tasks are.

Isolation is another hard stop: they discourage outside friends, police your free evenings, or enter your room without permission. So are late pocket money, missing course money, or illegal “deductions” from either.

An agency is optional. It can help with contracts and disputes. Prefer RAL-certified agencies from the Gütegemeinschaft Au-pair e.V. directory when you use one. AuPairWorld’s Germany guide is a common matching starting point; still read the contract against the rules above rather than trusting the listing.

Useful links

• Federal Employment Agency: au pair rules
• Federal Employment Agency: downloads (model contract and leaflet)
• Gütegemeinschaft Au-pair e.V.: RAL-certified agencies
• AuPairWorld: Germany regulations and country guide