Au pair rules by country
Au pair rules are national, and the differences are large: a 45-hour week in the United States, 30 hours in Germany and the Netherlands, 25 in France, 16.5 in Austria. This section collects the rules per host country from the authority that sets them — a regulation, a ministry, an immigration service — and links each figure to that source with the date we read it.
Sources last checked: 18 Sep 2026
How these pages are built
- Every figure comes from an official source: a regulation, a court ruling, a ministry or a government agency. No agency brochures, no averages, no “typical” numbers.
- Each rule carries its source and the date we last read it, directly under the rule.
- Where we could not confirm a figure, the field is missing and the page says so in “What we could not verify”. Rules change; check the linked source before you sign anything.
- Costs are a separate question. Modelled cost ranges live in the cost calculator, never on these pages.
Host countries
United States (J-1)
Federal exchange-visitor rules: 45 hours a week, 1½ days off, education requirement, sponsor and DS-2019.
Germany
30 hours a week, €280 pocket money a month, €840 towards a German course, six to twelve months.
France
25 hours a week, at least €320 pocket money a month, French course, long-stay visa “jeune au pair”.
Netherlands
30 hours a week, 8 hours a day, two days off, one year maximum, recognised agency only.
Austria
16.5 hours a week including on-call time, at least €551.10 a month, notified to the AMS in advance.
United Kingdom
No au pair scheme: an au pair is an employee entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
United States, state by state
J-1 program rules are federal and identical in all 50 states. What differs is the state minimum wage published by the U.S. Department of Labor — and, in Massachusetts, a federal appeals court ruling on whether state wage law applies to host families.
All 50 states and DC (51) →