Au pair arrival checklist for host families
What do you arrange yourself and what does the agency handle in the weeks before your au pair arrives? The full timeline, from IND application to the first municipality appointment.
Between "we have a match" and the day your au pair lands at Schiphol lie weeks of preparation. Part of that time is agency work you can only wait for. Another part is genuinely your work, and those tasks come with deadlines you do not want to miss. This is the full timeline.
What the agency does
An au pair from outside the EU can only come to the Netherlands through an au pair agency recognised by the IND. That agency files the residence permit application (the TEV procedure, including an MVV where the country of origin requires one). The IND must decide within 90 days and aims to decide within 2 weeks. The fee is 423 euros.
You cannot file this application yourself. What you can do: deliver the documents the agency asks for quickly and completely, because every week of delay on your side pushes the arrival date back.
None of this applies to au pairs from the EU. They need no residence permit and can in principle come right away.
What you arrange before departure
The awareness declaration
Host family and au pair sign the IND's awareness declaration together. In it you both confirm you know the rules of the au pair scheme: the cultural exchange character, the hour limits and the conditions for the host family. Your family must have at least two members, be registered in the Personal Records Database (BRP), meet the income requirement and not be related to the au pair up to the third degree.
The signed weekly schedule
This surprises many families: a written weekly schedule covering all seven days is an IND requirement, not friendly advice. The schedule must show how many hours of light housekeeping the au pair does, which two days a week are free, and who does the housekeeping tasks besides the au pair. Both of you sign it. The limits: at most 8 hours a day and 30 hours a week. Read the mandatory weekly schedule in detail, or use our weekly schedule templates to set one up quickly.
The insurance
Apply for the au pair insurance 2 to 4 weeks before departure. Coverage has to start before your au pair leaves the home country, otherwise the journey itself is uninsured. How this works, including the Dutch basic health insurance that follows later, is covered in au pair insurance: what, when and who pays.
Practical: room, documents, pickup
- Furnish the room: a private, furnished room with a bed, a desk and storage space is the norm in the sector.
- Ask your au pair to bring a legalised and translated birth certificate. The municipality needs it for registration and it cannot be arranged afterwards from the Netherlands.
- Book the BRP appointment at your municipality as soon as the arrival date is fixed. Registration must happen within 5 days of arrival, so you do not want to start hunting for a slot after the plane lands.
- Arrange the airport pickup and agree when the first pocket money will be paid, so the first weeks do not start with money stress.
Schedule ready before your au pair lands?
In Opairly you set up the schedule, house rules and emergency information in advance, and your au pair can already look along before arrival. Export the schedule as a PDF for the agency. Try 30 days free →
The deadlines after arrival
The first weeks after arrival follow a fixed order, because each step makes the next one possible:
- BRP registration at the municipality, within 5 days of arrival. Your au pair then receives a citizen service number (BSN).
- Collect the residence card at the IND once it is ready.
- TB test within 3 months of the residence permit being issued, if this was indicated in the application for the country of origin.
- Basic health insurance: it must start within 4 months of arrival. With the BSN your au pair can then apply for a DigiD, open a bank account and apply for healthcare allowance.
Put these dates in your calendar on the day your au pair arrives. The clocks start running from that moment whether you think of them or not.
Why these weeks matter
Conversations with host families keep producing the same picture: the problems that surface after arrival are almost always things that were never discussed before arrival. Unclear working hours, free days that turn out not to be entirely free, assumptions about meals and guests that everyone understood differently. The weekly schedule and the house rules are not paperwork for the IND, they are the agreements that carry the year. Get them in order before arrival and the year starts without noise.
For the days right after landing we have a separate guide: the first week with your au pair.
Sources
- IND. Residence permit au pair
- IND. Awareness declaration au pair (PDF)
- Aupairverzekeringen.nl. Step-by-step plan
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