Au pair guide
The au pair guide to the Netherlands
Practical, sourced answers about living and working here as an au pair. Every article names its sources and the date it was last checked.
Before you arrive
What to sort out before you fly.
Your first week
The deadlines that start the moment you land.
- Your first two weeks in the NetherlandsThe four things with a real deadline attached, in the order they have to happen, and what your host family can and cannot do for you.
- Pinnen, iDEAL and TikkieArriving with cash and a card from home, then finding the supermarket will not take either, is a common first-week surprise. What pinnen actually means, why iDEAL and Tikkie both usually need a Dutch bank account, and what to do about a Tikkie before you have one.
- Registering at the gemeente and getting your BSNYou must register in person at your gemeente within a set deadline after arrival, and it produces the BSN that almost nothing else works without. What to bring, who can go with you, and what to do when the appointment is not on time.
- Collecting your residence permit cardYour residence permit card is what actually gives you the right to start au pair tasks, and you may not begin before you collect it. When to report to the IND, what to bring, and why the card date matters more than your arrival date.
- Getting a Dutch SIM cardYou need a Dutch number in your first week to be reachable, and none of the practical steps require a BSN, a Dutch bank account or a credit history if you start prepaid. What a subscription needs that prepaid does not, and where prepaid SIMs are sold.
- Paying for public transport in 2026Dutch public transport is now paid with a contactless bank card, phone or watch instead of a dedicated travel card. What OVpay actually is, why the old OV-chipkaart is being phased out, and when you need a separate OV-pas instead.
- Check in and check out, every single timeForgetting to check out of an NS train is the single most common way new arrivals lose money on Dutch public transport. What it actually costs, the narrow window for a correction, and what happens if an inspector catches you without a valid check-in.
Your first month
Settling in.
- How many hours you actually have to workThe IND sets a daily cap, a weekly cap and a minimum of full free days for au pair tasks, and none of them move for evening babysitting, being on call, extra pay or a family holiday. This article states the limits, the four things that quietly break them, and what to do if they already have.
- What light housework does and does not includeThere is no official list of what light housework means, which is exactly why it becomes an argument. This article states what your permit actually allows, light supporting tasks, only for your host family, only at their address, always with someone else available, and never you alone responsible for the children or the house.
- The TB test at the GGDIf your nationality is not exempt, you must take a tuberculosis test within a set window after your residence permit is issued, not after you arrive. Both nationality branches, what the appointment involves, and why the exemption list has to be checked at the time you read this.
- Registering with a huisartsRegister with a huisarts (GP) in your first weeks, before you actually need one, because it takes time and many practices are closed to new patients. What to bring, what to do when every practice near you says no, and the number that is not a doctor.
- Getting a bikeA bike is usually the cheapest and fastest way to get around a Dutch town, and buying one has more traps than it looks, a stolen bike, a subscription that does not suit you, or paying too much for a wreck. What to ask your host family first, and how to check a second-hand bike before you pay.
Living here
Everyday life in the Netherlands.
- Cycling rules that cost moneyDutch police fine cyclists often, and the amounts are large next to au pair pocket money. What lights, a phone in your hand and the wrong cycle path actually cost, and what happens to a bike the city removes from the street.
- Supermarkets, statiegeld and opening hoursGrocery shopping is usually an au pair's first solo errand, and a wrong assumption, a closed shop on Sunday, an unscanned loyalty card, a crushed can the machine refuses, costs money and confidence in the first week. The main chains, the deposit system, and who actually decides when a shop is open.
- Post, parcels and rubbishOrdering online and separating your rubbish both run into rules that are more local than they look, a parcel held for a limited time at a pickup point, and a waste system that can differ street to street. What a Dutch address looks like, what a PostNL point asks for, and why there is no single national answer for the bins.
- Dutch public holidays, and what is actually closedThe Netherlands has a fixed list of officially recognised public holidays, but Dutch law does not make any of them an automatic paid day off, and what closes on each one, shops, schools, BSO, trains, differs by day and by municipality. The dates for the rest of 2026 and for 2027, and what to actually expect.
- School holidays in the Netherlands, region by regionThe Netherlands splits school holidays into three regions, Noord, Midden and Zuid, so a friend in another city can be on holiday in a week you are not. The 2026 to 2027 dates, which of them are fixed and which are only advice a school may deviate from, and how to find your own region.
- The Dutch school day, and whether Wednesday afternoon is actually freeDutch primary schools set their own daily timetable within a legal minimum, so what time the children come home, whether Wednesday afternoon is free, and whether the school uses a continurooster all depend on the individual school, not on a national rule. What the two common models are, and why you have to ask.
- How Sinterklaas actually works, and what your role isSinterklaas is a three-week children's festival, separate from Christmas, that most au pairs end up helping run, shoes by the heater, a sack of presents on 5 December, sometimes a homemade surprise and poem for the adults too. What actually happens, what is expected of you, and how to handle Zwarte Piet if it makes you uncomfortable.
- What happens at 20:00 on 4 May, and why the country goes silentOn 4 May the Netherlands holds two minutes of national silence at 20:00 to remember everyone who died in the Second World War and in conflicts since, and interrupting it, talking, laughing, playing music, is genuinely upsetting to Dutch people. What is expected of you, what the half-mast flag means, and how 5 May is different.
- School holidays do not add hours to your weekNo school and no BSO during a school holiday can make the week feel heavier, but your daily and weekly limits do not move. This article states that rule plainly, a school holiday means the same hours arranged differently, not more hours, and it points you to the regional dates so you can plan around them early.
- Can you take a side job or get paid extra for babysitting?Your residence permit does not allow a side job or any other paid work, and extra paid babysitting for your host family is not allowed either. This article states that rule and why being offered more money does not change it, and points you to your agency for what to do if it is already happening.