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Au Pair in Denmark: The Requirements for Filipinos, What SIRI Asks of You and Your Host Family, and What the Stay Is Not

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By iStart Editorial Team·Published October 9, 2026

Au Pair in Denmark: The Requirements for Filipinos, What SIRI Asks of You and Your Host Family, and What the Stay Is Not

A message arrives from a family in Copenhagen: two young children, two years. Your mother reads it twice and asks what every Filipino parent asks: is this real, and is it safe?

It is real. Denmark runs a legal au pair scheme, and a Filipino aged 18 to 29 can apply for a residence permit under it. But it is a cultural exchange, not a job, and its rules protect you only if you know them. Here is the map, from both sides of the contract.

What an Au Pair in Denmark Is, in SIRI's Own Words

It is a cultural exchange run by the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), in which young foreign nationals live with a Danish host family "on the same terms as the other family members" to learn the language and culture. The family gives you food, a room and monthly pocket money; you share ordinary domestic chores.

The permit does not allow paid employment, so you are not allowed to work outside their home, or to do extra hours for the family even if they would pay you. The one exception is unpaid volunteering for an organisation or association.

The Requirements for Filipinos: What SIRI Asks of You

To become an au pair in Denmark, you must be 18 to 29, never married or partnered, with no children, speak one of five languages at a moderate level, and show that the stay fits the scheme's purpose:

  • Age: at least 18 years old, and not turned 30 when you submit your application (the one exception: someone changing host family).
  • No spouse or children of your own: never married, in a cohabiting relationship or in a civil partnership; no children, and not expecting one (the same exception applies).
  • Language: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English or German "on a moderate level".
  • Schooling: SIRI looks at whether you completed schooling equivalent to Denmark's 9th grade.
  • No ties: the family must not be related to you or share your nationality, so a household of Filipino nationality cannot host you.

SIRI also weighs your reasons, earlier applications and au pair stays, and whether the stay has "a natural connection to your life, career and development so far".

What Your Host Family Must Meet

The household must include at least one parent and one child under 18 registered at the address, and hosting ends when the youngest turns 18. At least one parent must be a Danish or EU citizen, or someone long settled in and significantly attached to Denmark. Single parents can host. They must also:

  • give you your own free room in their home;
  • not live on public benefits;
  • host only one au pair at a time;
  • take out three insurance policies for you, covering work-related injury, leisure time and accidents, and transport home after death, serious illness or injury; SIRI grants the final residence permit only once they are documented;
  • pay DKK 20,900 (2026 level) towards your Danish lessons, a condition of your permit, on your first application only.

A host family that abused the scheme can be barred: 10 years after violence or threats against a former au pair, 5 years if an au pair was found working illegally for them or for others, and 2 years for breaking the contract, such as short pocket money or missing insurance.

The Au Pair Contract: Pocket Money, Hours and Days Off

You and your host family (both parents, if two) must sign a binding contract, and it can never go below these minimums:

  • Pocket money: at least DKK 5,250 a month (2026 level), paid into your bank account, even when you are ill. It is taxed; you need a tax card.
  • Hours: 18 to 30 hours a week, 3 to 5 a day, on no more than 6 days, in a weekly schedule of simple housework and childcare.
  • Time off: at least 1½ days off a week, plus official Danish public holidays.
  • Holiday: paid holiday from the start, with unused days paid out when you leave.
  • Travel: the family pays your fare to Denmark and your fare home to a country outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland; miss SIRI's written-notice deadlines and you lose the paid return.
  • Ending it: in writing. You give 2 weeks' notice, the family 1 month; grave breaches such as unpaid pocket money allow immediate termination.

How to Apply for the Residence Permit from the Philippines

You apply to SIRI for a residence permit as an au pair, in a joint application with your host family. Applying from Denmark on a visiting visa is a risk: a refusal can cost you visiting visas for 5 years.

  1. Create a case order ID and pay the processing fee, DKK 4,305 in 2026.
  2. Gather the fee receipt, copies of every passport page including blanks and covers, your educational documents, your birth certificate and the signed contract.
  3. The family completes the first two parts of form AU1/2; you complete the third.
  4. Submit at a Danish mission or application centre on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' list SIRI links to.
  5. Record your photo and fingerprints within 14 days of submitting.

SIRI's normal processing time is 3 months, up to 4. A permit lasts at most 2 years, never past the contract or the youngest child's 18th birthday, and ends 3 months before your passport expires.

The Philippine Side: SIRI's "Red Ribbon" Note and the CFO

Two Philippine-side steps are on official pages: SIRI's exit-permit note and the CFO's registration. SIRI's page says Philippine citizens travelling as au pairs "must have an exit permit from the Philippine authorities – a so-called 'Red Ribbon'", and that your host family must have certain documents authenticated by the Philippine Embassy in Copenhagen. The Philippine authorities decide, and SIRI says neither it nor the Danish embassy in Manila can help if you are refused.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) requires au pairs bound for Europe to complete a pre-departure registration and a Country Familiarization Seminar. Its 2026 Citizen's Charter lists your passport and visa, the contract with the Philippine Embassy's attestation or authentication, travel and health insurance covering rebooking and accommodation if you are stranded, and seven cultural activities you and your host family draft together. The fee is a PHP 30 documentary stamp tax.

Beyond these two sources, we could not verify the Philippine rules on an official page we could read, and the CFO's Charter does not use the term "Red Ribbon". Ask the CFO directly what applies to your departure, not an agency or a stranger.

What an Au Pair Stay Is Not, and How to Protect Yourself

The stay is not a job, and SIRI's page describes no route from this permit to another; a later work or residence permit is a separate application with its own conditions. Nor does it let you work in other Schengen countries. The limits on hours, duties and pocket money are what keep it an exchange, and they are yours to hold.

The family pays for your fares and your language lessons, the pocket money has a floor, and nothing in the scheme is a salary. An offer that promises a salary, asks you to pay for your ticket or a "slot", or says you can take extra jobs is not the scheme SIRI runs. Before trusting anyone who recruits Filipinos for work abroad, check them the way we explain in our guide to verifying a licensed recruitment agency. Matching platforms are services, not authorities.

A two-column table from SIRI's rules: an au pair stay in Denmark is a cultural exchange with food, a room and pocket money at SIRI's minimum, capped shared chores and a binding contract, and it is not a job, a salary, a way to stay, paid outside work, or a slot you pay for.

What Two Years in Denmark Can Build

Two years can build a language, real responsibility and independence, but not a job or, by itself, a way to stay. SIRI asks whether the stay connects to your life, career and development. Make it your question first. Across every route abroad we write about, the Filipinos who come home with something to show decided before they flew what the time was for.

You can learn Danish through the free lessons your municipality must offer and strengthen a second language. So plan your next career step now.

A young Filipina reads a printed au pair contract with a pen in hand on the covered terrace of her family home.

Before You Say Yes: Your Checklist

  • You are 18 or older and will not have turned 30 when you submit.
  • The household has a child under 18, is not related to you and does not share your nationality.
  • The contract shows pocket money at SIRI's current minimum or above, 18 to 30 hours, 1½ days off and paid fares.
  • The three insurance policies are in place.
  • Your passport is valid well beyond the stay.
  • You have booked the CFO registration and seminar.
  • Nobody has asked you to pay for a placement.

The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most

Is being an au pair in Denmark a job? No. It is a cultural exchange, and the permit does not allow paid employment.

What is the minimum age requirement for an au pair in Denmark? At least 18, and not yet 30 when you submit a first application.

How much pocket money does an au pair get? At least DKK 5,250 a month at the 2026 level, taxed, plus free food and your own room. Confirm the current figure on SIRI's page.

What do I apply for: a visa or a residence permit? A residence permit, through SIRI and jointly with your host family, not a visitor visa. Once granted, it also lets you travel in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180, without working there.

Can I change host family? Yes. Give 2 weeks' written notice; you then have one month to find a new family and submit a new application. The 2-year maximum does not restart.

Can I stay in Denmark after my permit ends? Not on this permit: SIRI's page describes no route from it, and any other permit is a separate application with its own conditions. Plan on the stay ending when it expires.

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