Working as an au pair in Switzerland: pay, hours & visas

This is a guide, not legal or immigration advice.

Rules change, vary by region and depend on your exact arrangement and nationality. Everything here was researched from official sources and dated, but figures go out of date — check the official links on this page before you rely on any of it, and get proper advice on your own visa position.

Where you stand

The federal standard contract for household work sets minimum wages, but it expressly excludes people mainly responsible for childcare and people in training or internship arrangements. An au pair may well fall into one or both. It also does not apply below an average of five hours a week for the same employer. Everything other than pay — hours, rest, holiday, sick pay, notice — is set by your canton, not nationally.

What makes Switzerland different: Au pair conditions themselves are cantonal. Pocket money, hours and permits are decided canton by canton, which is why no single Swiss figure exists.

The numbers

Au pair conditions

Set by your canton

there is no national figure

Household minimum

CHF 20.35 an hour

if the federal contract applies to you at all

Holiday pay

Added on top

the quoted rates exclude it

Watch out

Childcare may be excluded

from the federal minimum entirely

Can you go?

EU and EFTA nationals have far easier access. For everyone else it is restrictive and several cantons do not issue au pair permits to non-EU nationals at all.

Because permits are cantonal, the answer genuinely changes depending on where the family lives. Confirm with the cantonal migration office for that specific canton before you commit.

Three things worth doing

Ask which canton before anything else

It determines your permit, your pocket money, your hours and your rights. Two families an hour apart can be under different rules.

Quoted hourly rates exclude holiday pay

Where the federal minimum does apply, the published rates are before holiday and public-holiday pay, which is added on top as a percentage. A rate quoted without it is not the full figure.

Board and lodging is valued separately

Your room and meals are given a monetary value in addition to your allowance. Worth knowing when you are comparing an offer against another country.

Check it yourself

Every figure on this page came from these. Rules change — if something matters to you, read it at the source.

SECO — NAV Hauswirtschaft information (2026) → SECO — Normalarbeitsverträge Bund →

Keep your own record

Whatever the rules say where you are, they only help you if you can show what you actually worked. NannyTank counts your hours as you work them, works out overtime at the legal rate where there is one, and turns the month into a claim your employer approves in one tap.

Start logging free for 14 days