Flexible In-Home Childcare in the Lake Geneva Basin: An Expat Family Guide to the Au Pair Solution

: Published: 12 November 2026

Photo: Rivaz and the Lavaux vineyards above Lake Geneva, by Lorenz Poffet, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wednesday afternoons, late pick-ups, a call with another time zone: how au pair rules differ between Geneva, Vaud and neighbouring France, and what that means for your family.

If you are raising children around Lake Geneva, you know the shape of the problem. Primary school ends mid-afternoon, Wednesday afternoon is free, after-school care (the GIAP in Geneva, the APEMS or UAPE in Vaud) runs to fixed hours, and one of you has a call with another time zone at 5 p.m. For many families in the Know-it-all community, a live-in au pair is a flexible answer to those gaps. The catch is that the rules change with the border. Whether you live in Geneva, Nyon or Lausanne, or across the line in Ferney-Voltaire, Gex, Saint-Julien or Annemasse, the same arrangement follows a different legal framework. Here is what each one says.

Switzerland: the au pair as a worker

In Geneva, adult au pairs (aged 18 to 30) are covered by a cantonal model contract, the CTT-TPMaj, which the labour inspectorate (OCIRT) enforces (official text). Its main points:

Up to 30 hours a week, babysitting included, with no compulsory overtime.
One full day off a week, a Sunday at least twice a month.
French classes of at least four hours a week, paid by the host family.
Pay at the cantonal minimum wage (CHF 24.59 an hour in 2026), with board and lodging counted at CHF 990 a month.
For au pairs from abroad, the OCIRT contract adds that one parent must supervise at least half of the au pair's working time, that French is the language spoken at home, and that tasks stay at simple housework and childcare: no language teaching or homework coaching.

In Vaud, the cantonal guidance for non-EU au pairs also sets 30 hours a week, one full day off and at least 120 hours of language classes. We found no published au pair wage schedule for Vaud, so ask the Service de la population or the DGEM before agreeing a figure.

Nationality matters too. EU/EFTA nationals (Irish, Spanish, German, Italian or Nordic au pairs, for instance) move under free movement, and no placement agency is required. Au pairs from outside the EU/EFTA (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia) must be 18 to 25, stay at most 12 months and be placed by an agency recognised by SECO, according to the State Secretariat for Migration.