Every year, about 1,200 young people, mainly from outside the European Economic Area, come to the Netherlands to work as au pairs. Au pairs stay in host families, where they receive board and lodging. The purpose is cultural exchange: getting to know the Netherlands and its culture.
Conditions
Au pairs are allowed to do light domestic work. However, the stay in the host family must meet a number of conditions. These conditions are laid down in the Decree implementing the Foreign Nationals (Employment) Act (Besluit uitvoering Wet arbeid vreemdelingen, Wav).
- Au pairs are allowed to do up to 8 hours of light domestic work per day at the host family, with a maximum of 30 hours per week.
- The daily work schedule must be set out written in a language the au pair can understand.
- Finally, au pairs should have at least 2 days off per week, i.e. days when no work is done at all.
More information about the conditions that host families and au pairs have to meet can be found on the website of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).
Supervision of work by au pairs
Host families that fail to comply with the rules are violating the Foreign Nationals (Employment) Act (Dutch), which constitutes illegal employment.
If the Netherlands Labour Authority gets a report of a suspected violation of the Foreign Nationals (Employment) Act, it can inspect the situation. If it finds a violation, a fine may be imposed.
The police monitor compliance with the Environment Act and may find violations during an inspection. If a violation is found, a fine may be imposed.