The au pair program has a lot to offer your family:
Enrich your family life
Hosting an au pair in your home brings a happy vibe along with it. The daily routine becomes lighter when the au pair supports you with daily tasks. There is more time for real contact, with the children and with each other.
Discover new cultures
Basically, the au pair program is a cultural exchange. Children develop multilingualism in a playful manner when in the presence of an au pair. They also discover habits, customs and dishes from other countries. And vice versa, you introduce the au pair to the Dutch way of life.
More peace of mind in your family life
A family’s daily life can be hectic at times where you are busy every day with school/daycare pick and drop off, cooking, preparing lunch trays and other tasks. These daily tasks are necessary, however can be time-consuming. Hosting an au pair in your home makes it a lot easier for you to complete your weekly planning calendar. You will spend more quality time with the children and with each other.
Develop a close friendship
An au pair will be part of your family for one year. During this time, you become attuned to each other and create a familial relationship. The children often develop a special bond with the au pair. Families often stay in touch with their au pair after departure and at times they even visit each other in the home country of the au pair.
Read more about the program below:
Au pair
According to Dutch law, an au pair is a foreign young person between the ages of 18 and 25 who lives with a host family for a year as part of a cultural exchange programme. ‘Au pair’ is a French term and literally means ‘on an equal footing’. The au pair does not become an employee of yours, but an equal family member. As a host family, you offer him/her a home and involvement in your family life. For example, you celebrate birthdays and holidays together such as Sinterklaas and King’s Day. It is of course nice if you occasionally undertake a typical Dutch outing with the au pair, such as a visit to the Keukenhof or the Zaanse Schans.
Work
The tasks of an au pair are also defined in Dutch law. The au pair is allowed to perform ‘babysitting and light household tasks’, and this is only allowed for their own host family. Babysitting tasks, may involve, playing with the children, taking care of the children (for example giving food, bathing) and taking the children to play dates or sports activities. Light household work includes, for example, cleaning the dishwasher, vacuuming or preparing a (simple) meal.
Conditions for host families and au pairs
Dutch law imposes conditions on families and young people who want to participate in the au pair program. For example, host families must consist of at least two people (of which at least 1 child is under the age of 14 according to our own policy) and also that the host family has sufficient income. The host family must also provide the au pair with a private, lockable room in the main house, as well as a bathroom (this may be shared with the host family). Au pairs may not have been an au pair in the Netherlands previously and must leave the Netherlands after the end of the year.
Working hours
An au pair may perform the above-mentioned tasks for a maximum of 30 hours per week, a maximum of 8 hours per day. An au pair is also entitled to at least two days off per week. Preferably, these days fall on the weekend. Within these frameworks, you are free to draw up a schedule for the au pair yourself. This schedule must be signed by all parties before the arrival of the au pair.
Leisure and holidays
If the au pair is not scheduled for work, he/she has time off. These free hours can be filled as how it seems fit to your au pair. Au pairs spend this time on video calls with their family back home, meet up with other au pairs, go to the gym, or follow a Dutch language course.
Au pairs are entitled to at least two work weeks of holiday on an annual basis. As this does not seems to be a lot of time, however, in practicality au pairs often get more weeks off or long weekends. You can plan the au pair’s holiday in mutual consultation around your own holiday schedule. You can also take the au pair with you on holiday, but this is by free will of both parties.
Au pair literally means 'on an equal footing'
Visa and residence permit au pair
Au pairs usually need a visa and a residence permit to be a legal resident in the Netherlands. Au Pair International submits the application to the IND on behalf of the au pair. If we have determined that the placement meets all legal conditions, this application will be approved by the IND.
Administrative duty, duty to provide information and duty of care au pair agencies
All au pair agencies recognized by the IND have an administrative duty, a duty of information and a duty of care. This means, that we must keep a file of each placement, that we must inform the IND about relevant changes during the placement, that we inform your family and your au pair well about the program and that we also offer guidance during the placement when any questions or problems arise.
But isn't an au pair at home very expensive?
Contrary to what the general perception is, an au pair is often a less expensive option than regular childcare. You can participate in the au pair program from around €500 per month. In return, an au pair can provide care for up to three children and for a maximum of up to thirty hours a week. An au pair’s work hours can also be somewhat flexible. Babysitting in the evening if the two of you want to go out for dinner and if your child is sick, he or she can simply stay at home with the au pair. An au pair can also assist you with some light housework in between, such as tidying up the living room at the end of the afternoon and preparing a simple meal. Imagine! This is how relaxed your evenings can be when you come home after a busy work day!
If an au pair lives with you, do you still have privacy?
It takes some getting used to in the first few weeks, but soon you become friends with the au pair and at a certain point she just becomes part of your family. It doesn’t feel like you have ‘a stranger’ in the house, but rather a niece or the girl next door. Furthermore, au pairs also have their own plans. In the evening they often have video calls with their own family back home or go to the gym and over the weekends they normally go out with friends. At Au Pair International we have an extensive event program where we encourage au pairs to quickly create contact with other au pairs to enjoy their time and go out. This way during the weekends you have enough family and privacy time with each other.
Isn't it very elitist to have an au pair at home?
We don’t think so, and when we look at our customer base we see a lot of diversity. In general, host families are highly educated, internationally oriented dual-income families with children. Most host families live in the Randstad, but we see that the program is also becoming increasingly popular outside the Randstad.
Are you looking for a successful experience?
Au Pair International has been guiding host families for more than 14 years. In a no-obligation introductory call, we inform you on how you can make the period as a host family a success!