NANNYING IN GERMANY

Au Pairing In Germany

If you hold a passport from any European member country, you are able to work without restriction in Germany. Luckily, Germany has a working holiday agreement with New Zealand. Under the working holiday programme visa holders are able to stay in Germany for up to 12 months.

To be eligible for the working holiday visa applicants must:

• Be 18 and 30 years
• Not accompanied by children
• Hold a Valid Passport
• Have proof of sufficient funds
• Have return air tickets or equivalent funds
• Show proof of health insurance valid in Germany for the duration of the stay.

What does au pair mean?

"Au pair" is an originally French expression and means 'on par' or 'equal to' the family. As an au pair, you will help your host family look after their children and do light housework for 30 hours a week. You will be treated as an equal member of the family and you will be expected to help with family chores as you would at home or a flatting situation. You will be integrated into family life and you will receive free board, lodging and some pocket-money.

As an au pair in Germany, you will:

• improve your knowledge of the German language
• experience a foreign country
• prepare yourself for further education and your professional future
• learn to know Germany and the German way of life
• grow as a person and become more independent
• make contacts and find new friends

Requirments for being an au pair in Germany;

• You are aged 18 to 30 years old
• You are unmarried and have no children
• You have a good knowledge of the German language
• You have gained sufficient experience in childcare (minimum of 2 references from regular babysitting, experience in a kindergarten or as a nanny)
• You know how to do daily housework
• You are prepared to adapt to your host family's daily life.
• You want to stay in Germany as an au pair for 10 to 12 months

Your duties:

First of all, you have to be a loving and responsible childminder. Your host parents are putting their children in your care, trusting and relying on you to look after them to the best of your ability.

Some of your possible duties:

• occupying the children in an interesting and creative way
• reading books to them
• taking them for a walk
• putting them to bed
• changing nappies
• preparing simple meals
• taking them to kindergarten etc..Your exact duties vary, depending on the age of the children.

Light housework; you should always ensure that the house and especially the children's rooms are neat and clean. Don't wait to be asked to do it.

These can be your typical duties:

• hoovering
• tidying up the children's rooms
• going grocery shopping
• doing the dishes
• washing and ironing etc..

Your working hours will be 30 hours per week. Your host family will set up a weekly timetable with you. Nevertheless, there may be last minute changes. So please be flexible and understanding. Your host family will appreciate it and will be more likely to let you have a long weekend off etc when possible.

This is what you get for your help:

• free board and an own room
• 255-320 Euros, pocket-money per month
• a health, accident and liability insurance
• a monthly ticket for local transport or the possibility to use the family's car
• 1-2 free days per week and 4 weeks of paid holiday per year
• time to attend a language course (you have to pay the fees yourself)

How to apply

You will need to apply at least 3-6 months before you want to depart to Germany because the visa application can take some time. We charge $150NZ for registration with us - this tells us you are serious about going to Germany as we will be investing time into fnding you the right job.

Download and install a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print these files.

A complete application includes:

• 1 application form
• 2 child care references (on our forms)
• 1 character reference (on our form)
• 1 medical certificate (on our form)
• 1 completed Police Check form
• 1 birth certificate
• 1 letter for the host family
• 4 passport photos and some other photos of you with children
• $150 registration fee cheques payable to Nannies Abroad

If you have problems downloading and printing these forms please email us now to have them sent in the mail.

Please be aware that we can only place applicants who provide us with a complete application. Download the forms above and complete all of them neatly in black pen. The character reference, childcare references and a medical certificate need to be completed by referees and your doctor. The character reference has to be from an employer/teacher etc. Please note that you have to have Tetanus, Polio vaccination and have Tuberculosis (Manitoux) test. The Tetanus and Polio vaccination can not be older than 10 years. You will also have to prove that you are not infected by Hepatitis B.

You should write a letter to your host family and put together a page with photos (showing you with children, friends or your family). Please send all these documents to us. We will search for a suitable family for you and will send you further information. The better your application is the sooner we will be able to find a family for you. You should allow up to three months handling time.

Why should I go to Germany?

Germany is in the heart of Europe and represents the European Union in foreign policy and for European interests on all levels. Germany has a great cultural history. Goethe, Schiller, Bach and Beethoven have influenced literature and music worldwide. Other personalities like Einstein and Nietzsche have also emerged from German history.

Since the German Reunification in 1990, the most important challenge for german policy and every single German is to bring East and West back together. The German landscape is beautiful and interesting. You should use your leisure time to travel through your host country (an au pair who stays for a year has a 4 weeks holiday).

There are a lot of regional differences between e.g. the northern lowlands with their hanseatic cities, the Bavarian Alps and its capital Munich, the cultural city of Dresden or the Rhineland, which was very important during the Roman Empire. Each region has its own traditions and ceremonies.

You should prepare yourself for your stay in Germany with a good travel guide - so that you can plan beforehand which places to visit and how to arrange your free time.

As an au pair you will experience Germany in a very special way. You will be able to participate in daily family life and this enables you to experience first hand the German culture and way of life. You will probably learn that most Germans are very fond of their family life, and their children play a very important role.

Some clichés of the Germans will turn out to be right, like the Germans' love of order and their punctuality (with exceptions of course...).
You will experience that people who take an au pair usually work a lot and do therefore enjoy their leisure weekends extensively with their family, play sports or go on holidays.

From time to time, you will surely have the opportunity to cook a typical meal of your home country. Germans love to eat good food and are usually happy and curious to experience something new. Since the 1950s Germany has given home to many immigrants whose traditional food has quickly entered the Germans' kitchens.

Besides the regional German food, you will therefore find a lot of food especially from Italy, Greece and other South European countries. A lot of families are very conscious of their health and well-being and do appreciate if you prepare vegetables and fruit for their children.

Germany is often a model for environmental conservation and most families are actively caring about it. Children already learn from a young age about recycling and know how to separate the rubbish for instance.

In Germany during your stay

The agency we work with in Germany screen their host families carefully. They will do their best to arrange a good match for you. They will care for you during your whole au pair stay in Germany. If problems or questions occur, you can always contact them. They will also be available outside office hours on their emergency hotline. If you don't feel comfortable with your host family, they will try to solve problems or misunderstandings. If this does not happen, they will try to find you another host family within a two week period. (This is only possible if you have not violated any au pair rules). You can only re-match once.

Every month, the office organises interesting au pair meetings in a couple of German cities. These meetings will enable you to exchange your experiences with other au pairs, to find new friends and to go on group trips: e.g. go to Paris and Amsterdam, visit museums, go ice-skating, participate in childcare training courses and a lot more.

When you arrive, you will receive an information package from our partner agency. In that you will find a booklet with useful hints, a list of other au pairs nearby etc.

Links

Working Holiday Visa section German Embassy

German Tourism Website

We can help with your airfares and organising your flights - see TravelCafe