Guide
Au pair insurance in Germany: the gap the visa sheet warns about
By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026
What the visa sheet actually requires
The au-pair information sheet published by Germany's missions abroad sets out the insurance logic in three steps. Cover is required at the time of entry into the Schengen area — not from the first day of the placement. Statutory coverage usually only goes into effect when you take up residency and begin the placement. And therefore, if you enter before that, additional private (travel) health insurance in line with EU standards must be purchased — covering the entire Schengen area, with minimum cover of €30,000, for the whole period until the statutory cover starts.
Then comes the sentence that disqualifies most cheap certificates: “Please ensure that your travel health insurance does not exclude protection if a long term or permanent stay is planned.” Many travel policies void themselves exactly when the trip becomes a residence — which an au-pair year is. A certificate that hides that exclusion passes the checkout page and fails the consulate.
Source: German Missions, national visa for au-pair stay — information sheet, read 4 September 2026.
Before, during, after: the three insurance phases
A German au-pair year has three cover phases. Before the placement starts: the private, Schengen-standard policy above, from the day of entry. During the placement: the host family's arrangements bring the au pair into the German system — the mechanics vary by placement, and the Germany hub carries Germany's general insurance-equivalence rules from the sources. After: an au pair who stays on — for studies or work — restarts the question under a new permit type, and our employment-visa and student guides cover those files.
The trap sits at the joints between phases: a policy that ends the day the placement was supposed to start, a placement that starts three weeks late, and suddenly there is an uninsured stretch in a country that takes uninsured stretches seriously.
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 a certificate that survives the consulate
The consular checklist wants proof, not promises: a certificate showing Schengen-wide territory, the €30,000 floor, validity from the entry date, and no long-stay exclusion. If you already hold something, the checker reads it against the published rule; if you need cover built for exactly this gap, a specialist can price it in one call — au-pair ages sit at the cheapest end of the rate card.