The mandatory weekly schedule for your au pair (IND requirement)
A signed weekly schedule covering all seven days is a condition for your au pair's residence permit. This is what it must contain and how to build one.
Many host families assume a weekly schedule is something for later, once the au pair has arrived and the rhythm becomes clear. The IND sees it differently: a written weekly schedule covering all seven days is a condition for the residence permit, and host family and au pair both sign it.
What the IND wants to see
The schedule must show three things:
- How many hours of light housekeeping the au pair does per day, within the limits of at most 8 hours a day and 30 hours a week.
- Which two days a week the au pair is off.
- Who does the light housekeeping tasks besides the au pair. The scheme is cultural in nature, so the household cannot lean entirely on the au pair.
The schedule is part of the application your agency files. Without a signed schedule the file is incomplete.
Why it is a good idea even without the IND
The signed schedule is more than a formality. Host family experiences keep showing the same pattern: the conflicts that surface after arrival are almost always about hours and free time. When does the day start, does a weekend outing count as work, and is free actually free? A schedule that is on paper and signed by both before arrival removes those discussions before they can start. How the hour limits work exactly is covered in how many hours can an au pair work.
How to build it
Start with the fixed anchors of your week: school times, working days, sports and standing appointments. Plan the au pair's tasks around them, add up the hours per day and check them against the limits. Then pick the two fixed free days and note who does the remaining tasks. Ready-made examples are in our weekly schedule templates.
Schedule done in an evening
In Opairly you build the weekly schedule with tasks and hours, the app warns you about the limits of 30 hours a week and 8 hours a day, and you export the whole thing as a signable PDF for the agency. Try 30 days free →
The schedule as a living document
Something always changes after arrival: a sports club on a different evening, an extra school activity, a free day that shifts. Update the schedule and talk the change through, because the signed document is the agreement you both fall back on. The wider preparation for arrival, from awareness declaration to insurance, is all in the au pair arrival checklist.
Sources
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