Work backwards from your start date. Book the embassy or consulate appointment as soon as you have a host family and a date, because processing is slow and slots at some missions are booked months ahead. The national visa fee is €75, the residence permit you apply for after you arrive costs €100, and the visa itself is usually issued for three months, which is the deadline that catches people out.
This post is the schedule. If you need the requirements themselves, who needs a visa at all, the age limit, the A1 German, what your host family has to provide, those are in the au pair visa guide for Germany. The figures below come from the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Employment Agency and § 45 AufenthV.
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First: which route are you on?
Three different timelines hide behind the word "visa".
If you hold an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, you need no visa and no work permit. Skip to the arrival section.
If you are a national of Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom or the United States, you can enter Germany without a visa and apply for the residence permit at the immigration office once you are here. Your timeline starts on arrival, not before, but it is not relaxed: processing takes time, and the age limit still applies until the office decides.
Everyone else applies for a national visa (category D) at the German mission responsible for where you live, before travelling. A Schengen visa does not work for an au pair stay. That is the timeline below.
As soon as you have a host family and a date
Two things happen in the same week, and neither can be hurried later.
Book the appointment. You apply at the mission responsible for your place of residence, and you cannot shop around for a consulate with a shorter queue. Check that mission's website the day you decide, because booking systems and document lists differ from one to the next. The Federal Employment Agency's own advice is to apply as early as possible before the planned start.
Check your passport's expiry date. It has to cover the whole planned stay. Renewing a passport takes weeks in most countries and it is the one document nobody can work around.
If your 27th birthday falls anywhere near this period, treat the whole timeline as urgent. You must not have reached 27 when you apply for the residence title, and the limit must not be passed before the immigration office decides.
While you wait for the appointment
Use the waiting time on the things that hold applications up.
Get the au pair contract signed. It sets the start and end dates (at least six months, at most a year), the hours of as a rule no more than six a day and 30 a week, your 1.5 rest days and four free evenings, the €280 pocket money, the four weeks of paid holiday and the at least €840 towards your German course. Your mission will want to see it.
Ask your host family for the insurance confirmation, and ask early. "My host family will arrange it" is not something you can show at a counter. Make sure the cover starts on your first day in Germany.
Work on your German. A1 is required, and some missions check it with a short conversation at the appointment rather than only reading a certificate.
Collect the rest: biometric photos, passport copies, the application form, and whatever else your mission's list names. The au pair preparation checklist is a printable version of this pile, and it also covers what you need after you land.
At the appointment
Bring the originals and the copies, even the ones you think are optional. Missing one document usually means a new appointment, and a new appointment usually means the next free slot rather than next week.
Expect simple questions: why Germany, what you know about your host family, what experience you have with children. Answering plainly in imperfect German is better than a rehearsed speech.
Pay the €75 fee. Check in advance how your mission takes payment, because several do not take cards.
Then stay reachable. If the mission asks for another document, the answer time is yours to lose.
After the decision, before you fly
The Federal Employment Agency has to approve the placement before the visa is issued, so the decision is not purely the mission's. Do not start work before you hold the visa.
Once it is in your passport, book the flight and tell your host family two things: your arrival time, and that you will need two appointments in your first days. It is much easier for them to book those than for you to do it from abroad.
The first weeks in Germany
Two deadlines, and they run at the same time.
Register your address within two weeks of moving in (§ 17 BMG). You need your passport and a confirmation from your host family that you live at their address. Keep the certificate.
Apply for the residence permit before the visa expires. The visa is usually issued for three months; the permit is applied for at the immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) for the place you live, and issuing it costs €100. Take your passport with the visa, the registration certificate, the contract, the insurance confirmation and biometric photos. Book the appointment in your first week even if the date is far off, because waiting times in the bigger cities regularly run past the three months.
What else belongs in those first days, the bank account, the phone, the weekly plan, is in your first week as an au pair in Germany.
The dates that actually bite
- Your 27th birthday: you must not have reached it when you apply, and it must not pass before the decision.
- Your passport's expiry: it has to cover the whole stay.
- The appointment slot: the queue, not the paperwork, is usually what sets your start date.
- Two weeks from moving in: address registration.
- Three months from entry: the usual life of the visa, and so your deadline for the residence permit.
Plan the whole year while you are at it. The au pair program timeline lays the stay out month by month, including when your holiday and your course fit, and the schedule checker is what you will want once the weekly plan exists.
Frequently asked questions
When should I book my German au pair visa appointment?
As soon as you have a host family and a start date. The Federal Employment Agency advises applying as early as possible before the planned start, because processing takes time and appointment slots at some missions are months out.
How much does the German au pair visa cost?
The national visa fee is 75 euros, according to the Federal Foreign Office. After you arrive, issuing the residence permit costs 100 euros under section 45 of the Residence Ordinance.
What do I take to the visa appointment?
Your mission's own document list is the one that counts. It usually includes your passport and copies, biometric photos, the signed au pair contract, the health and accident insurance confirmation and the completed application form.
How long is the au pair visa valid?
The visa is usually issued for three months. Before it runs out you apply for a residence permit at the immigration office for the place you live, and the stay itself lasts at least six months and at most one year.
What happens if I turn 27 while my application is being processed?
The age limit must not be passed before the immigration office decides, so a birthday during processing is a real risk. The Federal Employment Agency advises applying well before your 27th birthday rather than close to it.
This page sums up published rules and is not legal advice. The German mission in your country and the immigration office for the place you live decide your case; the au pair guide for Germany carries each figure with its source.
AuPairSync keeps your contract, your insurance papers and your visa documents where both you and your host family can find them.