Denmark au pair visa and residence permit

The household must have at least one adult and one child under 18 registered at the address, and one parent must be Danish, an EU citizen or strongly attached to Denmark. You get your own room, and the home must also have a living room and one bedroom for every two residents, all approved in the building register. The family may not live on benefits under the Active Social Policy Act, may host only one au pair at a time, and families that broke the rules are excluded for 2, 5 or 10 years depending on the breach.

You must be at least 18 and not yet 30 when applying (unless you change host family), must not have children or be expecting one, and must be able to communicate at a moderate level in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English or German. SIRI also looks at earlier au pair stays in Denmark. The family must not be related to you or share your nationality, so an applicant cannot be hosted by a family of their own nationality.

The minimum pocket money is DKK 5,250 a month (2026), also when you are ill, and you pay tax on it with a Danish tax card. Duties are 3 to 5 hours a day, 18 to 30 hours a week, on a weekly schedule, with at least one and a half days off a week and all public holidays free. You earn 2.08 or 2.5 days of holiday per month depending on a 5- or 6-day week. When conditions are met SIRI asks the family to pay DKK 20,900 for your Danish lessons and to show work-injury, leisure-accident and repatriation insurance.

Create a case order ID and pay DKK 4,305. With the online AU1/2 form, the host family fills in its part first and you complete yours; with the printable AU1 the family completes parts 2 and 3. Both sign a binding au pair contract. Biometrics are compulsory: after submitting online you have 14 days to give fingerprints and a facial photo, at a Danish mission or at the visa application centre that serves your country of residence. If no slot is available in time, tell SIRI the appointment date so the case is not rejected.

After arrival you register your Danish address in the Civil Registration System to get a CPR number, at the latest 5 days after moving in, at the municipality or an International Citizen Service centre. The residence card is posted to your CPR address, so put your name on the mailbox. You must not give up your Danish address or stay abroad for more than 6 consecutive months, or the permit lapses. Au pairs get free Danish lessons without a deposit. You can end the contract with 2 weeks’ notice and the family with 1 month’s notice.

A SIRI refusal can be appealed to the Immigration Appeals Board within 8 weeks for DKK 1,040.