Au Pairs Residence Permits Will Be Modified

23 Aug 2010

With effect from 1 September, 2010, there would be changes relating to residence permits for au pairs will be modified. An au pair may no longer have children under the age of 18 back in their country of origin. The host family should have a common living room, one room for every two people registered at the residence plus a room for the au-pair. Furthermore, when assessing whether an application falls within the purpose of the au pair agreement - improving the au pair's language skills and broadening the au pair's cultural horizon - significant attention will be paid to the applicant's familial ties to the host family. The applicant and host family's mutual nationalities may also influence the assessment of an application.

A close family relative is defined as one of the host family parents being the applicant's relation from an ascending line, a sibling, a sibling's relation in a descending line, or one of the parent's siblings' relations in a descending line.

The new conditions will apply to all applications submitted after 1 September 2010. This also includes au pairs who already have a residence permit but who need to reapply after 1 September (for example, if the au pair is changing host families).