Au pair visa for Germany: the complete process

Which visa you need

An au pair stay in Germany runs on a residence permit for au pairs (§ 19c para. 1 Residence Act together with § 12 Employment Regulation). Before you can receive that permit in Germany, you need a national D visa from the German mission abroad that is responsible for your country.

A Schengen visitor visa does not work. It does not allow you to take up an au pair placement, and switching from a visitor visa to a residence permit inside Germany is not possible in this case.

You must be at least 18 and under 27 when you apply for the residence title. The programme lasts six to twelve months and you can do it only once.

The steps, in order

• Create your profile and upload your documents.
• We review your profile, then you complete the academy.
• You match with a host family and get to know each other by video.
• You and the family sign the au pair contract.
• You book your visa appointment at the responsible German mission.
• You attend the appointment and hand in your documents.
• The mission decides. If approved, you collect your passport with the D visa.
• You travel, register your address in Germany, and apply for the residence permit.

Documents you will need

The exact list is set by the mission responsible for your country, and it is the only list that counts. In practice, almost every mission asks for the following.

• A passport valid well beyond the planned stay, plus copies.
• The completed national visa application form and biometric photos.
• The au pair contract, signed by you and the host family.
• Proof of basic German, usually A1 (Goethe, telc or ÖSD).
• School certificates and, if you have them, childcare references.
• Proof of health insurance cover for the stay, paid by the host family.
• A motivation letter in your own words.
• The visa fee.

The fee

The national visa costs 75 euro, payable in local currency at the mission. Some missions add a small service charge if they work with an external appointment provider. You never pay aupairo anything — as a placement agency we are not allowed to charge au pairs (§ 296 para. 3 Social Code III).

The Federal Employment Agency

For an au pair visa the German mission normally involves the Federal Employment Agency, which checks that the placement really is an au pair placement: pocket money of 280 euro per month, board and lodging free of charge, no more than six hours of work a day and thirty a week.

This internal step is one of the reasons a decision takes weeks rather than days. You cannot speed it up, and neither can we. What you can do is hand in a complete, consistent file, because incomplete files are the most common reason for delay.

How long it takes

Processing time depends almost entirely on your country. From South Africa a decision often arrives within about four to eight weeks. From Kenya six to twelve weeks is realistic. Some countries have waiting lists of many months just for the appointment.

We publish the current figure for every country on our country pages and keep them updated in one place. Treat every figure as an estimate. The mission decides at its own discretion, and nobody can promise you a visa.

After you arrive

Register your address at the local registration office within two weeks. Then apply for your residence permit at the foreigners authority before the D visa expires. Your host family has agreed to help you with both appointments, and we stay with you through the first months.