Host Family

Few things to know before hiring an Au pair

• Au pair is a cultural exchange program. Au pair comes to experience a new country.

• Au pair can work up to 30 hours per week, 5 days per week, upto 8 hours per day 

• Au pair can be an extra pair of helping hand for host family.

• Au pair can help with childcare and do only light household tasks. 

• Au pair cannot be used as a full time  cleaner or for hard household tasks. Au pair is not a housemaid

• In return host family need to provide food, accommodation and pocket money to Au pair

• Host family need to have sufficient income to prove that they have money to have an Au pair

• In Netherlands only an IND recognised agency can apply for Au pair visa for Non EU Au pairs.

Food and Accommodation

• Need to have an independent room for Au pair

• Room heating is important. Au pairs may not be able to cope with the low room temperature settings as in Netherlands. Sometimes it can lead to Au pair getting sick.

• Food need to be provided to Au pair on all days even if its a free day for Au pair

Income requirements

• Income requirement of 1,5 times the legal minimum wage in The Netherlands for 1 year

• For 2024 Income requirement with holiday allowance is 3,354 Euros. For single parent it is 2652 Euros.

• Documents for Employees - Employment contract, Payroll slips for the last 3 months

• Documents for Self employed - Extract from Chamber of commerce, Statement of income self-employed, Provisional or definitive  tax assessment (IB-aanslag)

Cost for having Au pair

• For a non EU Au pair it cost around 2500-3000 euros for  agency fee and visa processing. Around 450 euros a year for Au pair insurance. Plus return flight ticket, if family decide to pay.

• For a EU Au pair it cost around 1200 euros agency fee and no cost of visa processing.

• Monthly cost: 340 Euros pocket money, 20 Euros for mobile subscription

• Non Mandaory expenses- 35 euro for travel card,  Museum card, Dutch language course

Big Mistake

Many host familes need household help for more than 30 hours per week. But the Au pair rules allows only 30 hours a week. So during the interview host family ask Au pair to work for more than 30 hours a week. Au pairs accepts all conditions during the interview to get a visa. After coming to Netherlands, host family make them work 40-50 hours a week. Then Au pair realise that its physically not possible to handle this much work. Then the Au pair start looking for a new family(rematch) or plan to go back to own country. If you plan to have a housemaid who can do overall cleaning and do all cooking then Au pair is not a good option.

FAQ

1. Who pays for flight ticket of an Au pair?

An Au pair moving to Netherlands from Non EU countries need to have a return flight ticket. Their is no specific rule on who pays for it. So it can be paid by Au pair or host family or shared.

2. What if the Au pair quit the program?

Au pair program is not a employment or a job. It is a cultural exchange program. So the family or Au pair can quit the program anytime. In general  most Au pairs stay for 1 year. But some families can force Au pair to work more and then Au pair can change the family. In that case family need to find another Au pair

3. Au pairs coming to Netherlands are from which countries?

In Netherlands around 30% of Au pairs are from Philipines. Around 25% of Au pairs are from South Africa. The South African Au pairs speak Afrikaans which is very similar to Dutch language. So many Dutch families prefer South African Au pairs. There are more Au pairs from Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia etc. There are hundreds of Au pairs from European countries like Spain, Italy etc in Netherlands. But since most of European Au pairs are not registered with an agency there is no proper estimate of their numbers.

4. Is it the most economical way of childcare?

If the Au pair stays for the full 1 year it could be an economic option. For a childcare centre family pays per child. If there are 2 kids family pays double the cost. For an Au pair the cost remains the same if its 1 or 2 children.