Guide
Au pair in France: the convention, the card, and the cover
By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026
The conditions, from F15813
Service-public.fr's fiche on the jeune au pair card lists who qualifies: a non-European foreigner aged 18 to 30, hosted temporarily by a family of a different nationality with no family ties to improve language skills and knowledge of France in exchange for light housework and childcare, with basic French or a completed secondary education or professional qualifications, and — the load-bearing line — a long-stay visa obtained before the card can be requested.
The convention signed with the host family (a cerfa form) is the contract the status hangs on, and the fiche lists its minimums: pocket money of at least €320 a month, at most 25 hours a week of tasks, a room of at least 9 m² with a window, board, and one rest day a week. A family offering less is offering something other than the legal status.
Source: Service-public.fr, F15813 — carte de séjour temporaire, jeune au pair, read 4 September 2026.
Where insurance enters the file
Because the card requires a long-stay visa first, the insurance question is asked where France always asks it: in the consular file, against the wording France publishes for long-stay applicants — the France hub carries that wording from the cited sources, and our certificate guide shows what the document must say. Once in France and validated, an au pair's enrolment path into the French system follows the status's own mechanics; until enrolment is real, the arrival gap is the private policy's job — the same gap logic as the student route.
The two files — convention for the status, certificate for the visa — travel together, and the second one is where a cheap trip policy quietly fails a long-stay reading.
60-second check
Not sure the policy you have meets your destination's written rule? Run it through the policy check now, before you build the rest of the file around it.
Check my policyGetting both documents right
The order that works: agree the convention with the family on the cerfa form, then build the visa file around it — including a certificate that matches France's long-stay expectations from your entry date. If you already hold a policy, check it against the rule before the consulate does; if you need one priced for an au-pair year, ask with the placement dates in hand: