Residence permit application for au pair status

Apply with this application for a residence permit if you intend to come to Finland to work as an au pair.

You can apply for a residence permit for au pairing if you have studied or taken an interest in

the Finnish or Swedish language
Finnish culture, such as Finnish history or politics.

The tasks of an au pair must be organised in the host family in a way that allows you to take classes in Finnish or Swedish while you are in Finland.

You can live in Finland on an au pair status for a maximum of one year.

The purpose of au pairing is to provide a young person aged 17 to 30 an opportunity to become acquainted with the language and culture of the country in exchange of light housework.

Expected processing time for electronic application

2–4 months
Expected processing time for paper application

2–4 months
Electronic application fee

380 €
Paper application fee

480 €

Au pairs are not housekeeping staff. To work as home help, apply for a residence permit for an employed person.

If you wish to allow your host family to follow the status of your application, attach a power of attorney to your application.

This is what you should do

Prepare:

1. You are 17–30 years of age, and you have not worked as an au pair in Finland or in any other country before

2. You have basic knowledge of the Finnish or Swedish language and of Finnish culture

Attach one of the following certificates to your application:

certificate of your studies in the Finnish or Swedish language
certificate of your studies in Finnish culture
documentation of your interest in Finnish culture

Your studies must take place abroad before you arrive in Finland.

The following certificates are approved:

certificate issued by an educational institution;
certificate of an online course you have completed if the company offering the course is responsible for the course content (WordDive or Alison, for example).

Please note that we do not accept online courses from platforms where anyone can set up a course to sell through the platform but the platform is not responsible for the teaching or the contents of the course (Udemy, for example).

3. You are enrolled on a language or culture course in Finland

Attach to your application proof of enrolment on:

a course in the Finnish or Swedish language that you will take during your stay in Finland
a course about Finnish culture and society.

4. You are not closely related to the members of the host family

Examples of too close relatives are your sister or brother and your first or second cousin. You can, however, come from the same country as a member of your host family.

5. You have a health and accident insurance for the whole period of your stay in Finland

Occupational accident insurance is not considered sufficient. You must have a private health and accident insurance covering all medical and pharmaceutical expenses in Finland without restrictions. Your insurance must be valid throughout your stay in Finland.

6. You have a health certificate, less than 3 months old, showing that you do not have any infectious disease which would prevent your au pair placement in a host family.

Because you will live with the host family and help with cooking, other household chores and childcare, it is very important that you do not have any infectious diseases that could endanger the host family or you.

Attach to your application a health certificate which states that you do not have any infectious diseases, such as:

salmonella
tuberculosis
hepatitis
measles or other pox diseases that children in Finland are vaccinated against at a certain age (thl.fi).

If you have a certificate of being vaccinated against one of these diseases and the certificate is still valid, you can attach the vaccination certificate to your application. As for the other diseases listed above, you are still required to submit a health certificate that has been issued less than 3 months ago.

7. You have a written agreement with your host family on your au pair placement.

If necessary, have the attachments translated and legalised.

General attachments

A valid passport accepted by Finland (um.fi). Present your passport when you submit your residence permit application
A passport photo complying with the photo guidelines issued by the police (poliisi.fi) or a photograph retrieval code you received from a photo shop
- The passport photo must be no more than 6 months old.
Colour copies of the passport page containing personal data and of all passport pages that contain notes
Document showing that you are legally staying in the country where you submit the application
Form MP_1 (pdf) (if you already are in Finland and apply for your first residence permit)

Application-specific attachments

A written agreement between you and your host family where you agree on the following issues:
- accommodation, rights and obligations during the au pair placement
- means of support and any benefits you may receive from your host family
- pocket money of at least 340 euros per month
- duties, and how the maximum of 25 hours reserved for the duties is distributed over the week
- at what times you must be available for your au pair tasks
- free time and free days (at least one full free day every week, and two successive free days at least every second week)
- courses you will attend (language course in Finnish or Swedish or other course where you acquaint yourself with Finnish culture and society)
a health certificate stating that you do not have any infectious diseases, such as:
- salmonella
- tuberculosis
- hepatitis
- measles or other pox diseases that children in Finland are vaccinated against at a certain age (thl.fi)
- if you have a certificate of being vaccinated against one of these diseases and the certificate is still valid, you can attach the vaccination certificate to your application to cover the health certificate requirement regarding that disease
Health and accident insurance for the whole period of your stay
Certificate of studies in the Finnish or Swedish language or documentation of interest in Finnish culture. You must have completed these language or culture studies abroad before arriving in Finland. Materials for independent study are not sufficient.
Proof of enrolment on a course that you will attend during your stay in Finland. This can be a language course in Finnish or Swedish or some other course where you acquaint yourself with Finnish culture and society.

Fill in the application:

You can fill in the application online in Enter Finland. The fee for an online application is lower than for a paper application. If you apply for your first residence permit in Enter Finland, you might not need to visit a service point when you apply for an extended permit.

If you cannot use Enter Finland, fill in a paper application. You will find a link to the application at the bottom of the page.

If you apply online via the online service Enter Finland, pay the processing fee:

with a credit card or with Finnish online banking credentials when you submit the application, or
when you visit a Finnish mission abroad to prove your identity.

If you apply with a paper application, pay the processing fee:

when you visit a Finnish mission abroad to prove your identity.

If you applied online in Enter Finland, you will receive notifications of your application's progress and of possible requests for additional information by email and text message.
If you applied on paper, you will receive notifications of your application's progress and of possible requests for additional information by email.

Read more on the page Processing of applications

Right to work

You may not start au pairing until the residence permit has been granted. Your au pairing hours may be 25 hours per week at maximum.

A residence permit for au pairing allows you to only perform au pair tasks. You do not have the right to work in Finland. You can continue au pairing until your residence permit for au pairing expires even if you apply for an extended permit on some other grounds.

The rights of an au pair

Your au pairing hours may be 25 hours per week at maximum.

You must have at least

one full free day every week, and
two successive free days at least every second week.

Your host family must give you enough time to attend language courses and for your cultural and professional improvement.

Your status as an au pair is comparable to that of a family member. You participate in the everyday activities of the family, and the amount of chores you are expected to do must not exceed the amount of domestic work and childminding performed by other members of the family.

If you cannot continue as an au pair with your original host family for some reason, you are allowed to move to a new host family. If your residence permit is still valid, you do not need to apply for a new residence permit. You can stay in Finland on an au pair status for a maximum of one year. If you wish, you can apply for an extended permit on some other grounds. Read more on the page Extended permit.