Au Pair Programme France

 

Au pair contract

To ensure that the placement of your au pair will officially be recognized in France, you need to sign the au pair contract, officially called "accord de placement" (agreement on placement), together with your au pair and add necessary supporting documents. You need to have it validated by the competent areal unit of the DIRECCTE (body in charge of companies, competence, consumption, employment and work, former supervisory board of work on departmental level) close to your home. The set of documents needs to be validated before your au pair leaves his/her home country or one week upon arrival at your home at the latest. The contract defines your rights and obligations, as well as those of your au pair. Please follow the instructions on our page Entry requirements for au pairs step by step.

Health and social insurance, as well as registration at the URSSAF

In France, au pairs are covered by health, maternity and accident insurance (for accidents at work) throughout their entire stay as an au pair.

To enable them to benefit from the insurance, you need to register your au pair at your local URSSAF (Unions de Recouvrement des cotisations de Sécurité Sociale et d'Allocations Familiales) as "stagiaire aide familial étranger". The registration should follow within 8 days upon his/her arrival at your home. At registration, you need to ask for a form which you will take along to insure your au pair at the social security (Sécurité Sociale). You also need to obtain the au pair's social security number, which is necessary in case of illness.

Afterwards, you will receive a nominative declaration (déclaration nominative simplifiée (DNS)) from the URSSAF every three months. It will help you calculate the contributions you need to pay on a monthly basis. You only need to pay employers' contributions and these are not deductable for tax purposes.

Liability insurance

We recommend that you extend your family liability insurance to cover your au pair as well. Otherwise, you have the opportunity to take out an individual insurance policy for your au pair.

Sign a contract

Both au pair and host family must sign a contract before the au pair leaves his/her country, in order to be officially acknowledged as an au pair. The contact should include information about your duties and obligations towards each other. You can download the official au pair contract for France from our web page.

Driving and driving licence

You should clarify with your au pair beforehand if he/she is expected to drive. Should this be the case, you should find out if he/she is an experienced driver. Please ensure that your au pair's driving licence is valid in France. Should this not be the case, he/she will have to apply for an international driving licence. You will find more information on this topic on the web pages of the French Road Safety Authority. It is also a good idea to clarify the questions: who is held liable in the event of damage or loss? Will your insurance be extended to your au pair? We recommend that you contact your insurance company beforehand to ask whether your insurance can be extended to your au pair.

Safety

It is important to discuss some vital details with your au pair beforehand. It is a good idea to speak on the phone together as often as possible. Thus, you will be able to find out quickly if you get along well together and if your au pair speaks French well. Your au pair should at least have a basic knowledge of French. In the case of an emergency, he/she should be able to warn your children off dangers such as approaching vehicles. Please read our page Security to find more important tips.

Useful link:

• URSSAF: registration and payment of contributions

More information on France for host families:

• Quick Check for host families in France
• Costs, working hours, time off & Co.
• Entry requirements for au pairs

More information on France for au pairs

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