5 countries where Americans can still become an au pair (Norway just slammed the door)
Norway used to be one of the easiest doors into Europe for a 20-something American with zero connections. Since March 2024, it isn’t. The country stopped issuing first-time au pair visas to non-EU citizens entirely, and it hasn’t reopened the program since.
That’s not the end of the story, though — it’s actually proof that au pairing is a real visa most people never think to check, not some backpacker myth. Five countries still run one Americans can use, and the pay, hours, and paperwork are wildly different from country to country. Here’s what each one actually requires, no TEFL cert or teaching degree involved.
1. Germany
Germany’s au pair visa opens to non-EU applicants between 18 and 26, and the deal is straightforward: up to 30 hours a week of childcare and light housework in exchange for room, board, and roughly €280 a month in pocket money, plus a small language-course subsidy on top. You’ll need at least A1-level German going in — enough to order coffee and understand a toddler’s meltdown, not fluency.
Contracts run 6 to 12 months. Not bad for a program most Americans assume doesn’t exist.
2. France
France’s version, officially the jeune au pair visa, caps work at 25 hours a week — five hours a day, informal babysitting included — and pays a minimum of €320 a month. The catch: you’re required to take at least 10 hours of French classes weekly, which, depending on how you feel about mandatory school as part of your visa, is either a built-in perk or a scheduling headache.
The initial contract runs 6 to 12 months, and it can stretch to a maximum of 24 months total if you and your host family actually get along.
3. Netherlands
The Dutch program allows up to 30 hours a week split across light household duties and childcare, with two guaranteed days off and pocket money that can reach €340 a month. The one non-negotiable part: because Americans are non-EU/EEA citizens, you can’t apply directly. You have to go through an IND-recognized au pair agency, which handles the residence permit application on your behalf.
Yes, that means paying an agency fee most Europeans skip entirely. It also means your paperwork is far less likely to get bounced back for something you didn’t know you were missing.
Psst — thinking about actually doing this? I put everything I know about leaving the U.S. for good into one no-fluff guide: visas, jobs, country picks, the works — grab it here.
4. Spain
Spain has a genuine quirk built into its au pair visa: Americans applying have to enroll in a Spanish-language course as part of the paperwork, and if your host town doesn’t actually offer one nearby, the visa doesn’t work at all. That’s worth confirming before you say yes to a family in a small town. Spain’s visa rules have shifted before, so it’s not the kind of thing to assume stays static year to year.
Pay works out to around €280 a month, and most families expect close to 30 hours a week, babysitting included, even though Spain doesn’t set an official hourly cap the way Germany or France does.
5. Austria
Austria is the best-paid stop on this list by a wide margin: au pairs get a minimum of €551.10 a month as of January 2026, for a maximum of just 16.5 hours a week. Do the math and that’s easily the best hourly rate of any au pair program in Europe, and it comes with the lightest workload too.
The trade-off is competition and paperwork. Visas go through an Austrian embassy appointment that can take up to six months, and you’ll need A1 German and a legalized, translated birth certificate before anyone even looks at your file. If Austria’s ski-season work visa didn’t already convince you the country takes its visa system seriously, this will.
None of these programs make anyone rich. That was never the point. They hand you a legal way to live in a country most people spend years trying to move to on a work visa, plus a host family who already has a spare room and dinner figured out.
Worth noting: Norway isn’t the only country that’s tightened its rules lately, so treat every number here as today’s rules, not forever rules. If au pairing doesn’t sound like your speed, teaching English abroad or one of the other jobs that come with a visa built in might fit better.
So — spend a year raising someone else’s kids in Vienna, or keep scrolling job boards from your childhood bedroom? Your call.
