Hosting an au pair in Germany

Are you living in Germany and looking to host an au pair? Then you’ve come to the right place.
Find out about the requirements for becoming an au pair host family in Germany.

Criteria for hosting an au pair in Germany

Do you have a room available and would like to host an Au Pair?

How can you qualify?

Does your family need an au pair? We’ll explain the criteria you need to meet to become an au pair host family in Germany.

More details below 👇.

Family checklist ✅

Checklist for your home ✅

Organisational checklist ✅

German host family Join the BUTRFLY network

Pour plus d'informations sur ces conditions 👇

General conditions

You must be able to cover the costs of an additional person living with your family (full board, accommodation, insurance and German lessons) and their pocket money.

🗣️ The host family is required to contribute €50 per month towards the cost of the au pair’s language course.

Pocket money is a minimum of €70 per week for 30 hours’ work.

The au pair programme is a cultural exchange between the au pair and your family. The young student goes abroad to learn the language and visit the country. This is why families wishing to host an au pair in Germany must speak the language of the host country at home, or at least with the au pair. The programme also requires the au pair to fit in well with the family if the stay is to run smoothly.

Accommodation requirements

The room provided must measure at least 9 m² and must be furnished 🛏️ with the essentials (bed, wardrobe, table, chair, shelving) or more if possible. It must have a window to the outside. The room must be lockable to ensure the au pair’s privacy.

⚠️ The au pair cannot share a room with your child(ren), only the bathroom.

If you do not have an extra bedroom, you can provide the au pair with a place to live outside your home. This could be an annexe in your garden, a maid’s room, a caravan, etc. Bear in mind that the au pair must be informed of this.

🦋 Advice: We recommend providing a room that is part of the same place where the family lives, in accordance with the values of the programme 👍.

Conditions for organising the stay

Contract

A contract 📑 must be drawn up between you and the au pair to define the framework of the stay. This document describes the obligations of the parties, including the services due, working hours, remuneration, length of stay, etc. Depending on the package you have chosen, we will draw up the contract for you and the au pair to sign.

The contract must be for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 1 year. ⚠️ It is not possible to renew the au pair’s contract even if it was for less than one year.

Work and free time

Au pairs are not allowed to work more than 6 hours a day and 30 hours a week. The au pair is entitled to one full day of rest per week, including at least one Sunday per month. In addition, the au pair is entitled to at least 4 evenings off per week.

⚠️ Overtime must be agreed in advance of the contract and must be compensated by free time or pocket money.

📅 For holidays, au pairs with a one-year contract are entitled to 4 weeks’ paid leave.

You must give your au pair time off so that she/he has enough time to visit the country, do activities, take language classes, etc.

🦋 Advice: We recommend that you discuss the future timetable with your au pair beforehand, so that it can be included in the contract.

On your dashboard, you have access to all the tasks that your future au pair will be able to carry out as part of his or her contract with you. Check only those you wish to entrust to the au pair. In general, an au pair can:

Look after your children, take them to school or to activities, walk them and play with them.
Help keep the house clean and do small household chores.
Prepare breakfast and simple meals.
Look after your home and pets 🐕 (if you have any).

Host an Au Pair by becoming a host family with BUTRFLY

Testimonials 👇

Read what our host families and Au Pairs have to say.

Relevance of matches. We've used Butrfly now for 3 years in a row to find our au pairs, from South Africa, Germany and the USA. Each time, the team was able to find us the rare pearl by listening to our expectations. What a time saver compared to other services! Thank you!!!

Great experience. Butrfly helped us recruit our 1st au pair. We were in an emergency situation and were delighted with the service and support. The profiles selected are really great. I highly recommend Butrfly.

Butrfly was able to understand our expectations and the way our family functioned, so as to offer us the best profile. And the support doesn't stop there, as the team is always available. The principle of videoconferencing between families to discuss our questions is also a real plus!

Butrfly saved us! After going through Aupair World and finding the wrong person, Butrfly found us a gem! Highly recommended!

Very good experience with Butrfly. We found an Au Pair for next year, and we were very pleasantly assisted in our search.

We are very happy with our experience. Our au pair is very pleasant, participates in family life and gets on very well with our children. Butterfly manages the introductions efficiently and then follows up on the file.

Our families tell you about it

Hear from guests on La Grande Famille podcast, hosted by Manuela Dizier-Chanfreau.

You’ll find feedback and valuable advice on hosting an au pair by entrepreneurial moms.