For a British eighteen-year-old on a gap year, or a graduate in her twenties wanting a year of French before a languages degree, the au pair placement looks like the gentlest possible route into France: a family, a bedroom, meals, pocket money and French courses in exchange for childcare and light housework. Since 1 January 2021 that gentleness needs a visa. British citizens are third-country nationals, the Withdrawal Agreement protects only those already settled, and a Briton who lands at Gare du Nord with a suitcase and a verbal promise from a Paris family has no right to stay and no right to work, however warm the welcome. France does offer a tailor-made status, the temporary card marked jeune au pair, but it is granted only to applicants aged eighteen to thirty who sign a written hosting convention (convention d’accueil) with a family of another nationality before leaving the United Kingdom, obtain the matching long-stay visa, and respect a capped, time-limited regime: twenty-five hours a week at most, a minimum monthly pocket money fixed by ministerial order, one renewal only, two years in total, and no settlement expectation at the end. This guide follows the placement in legal order: who qualifies and what the convention must contain, how the visa and the one-year card are filed and renewed, what the daily rules on money, hours, courses and social cover require, and how a British au pair challenges a refusal, a non-renewal or a removal order (obligation de quitter le territoire français, the OQTF) before the administrative courts. Two recent court of appeal rulings, one won on a point of procedure and one lost on the temporary nature of the status, show where files succeed and where they fail.

I. Becoming a British au pair in France after Brexit: the convention first, the visa second

A. Which British eighteen-to-thirty-year-old qualifies and what the hosting convention must contain

The statute that creates the status is Article L. 426-22 of the Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile (CESEDA), the code that gathers almost all French immigration law, and its first sentence lists every condition in one breath: “L’étranger âgé de dix-huit à trente ans qui est accueilli temporairement dans une famille d’une nationalité différente et avec laquelle il ne possède aucun lien de parenté, dans le but d’améliorer ses compétences linguistiques et sa connaissance de la France en échange de petits travaux ménagers et de la garde d’enfants, et qui apporte la preuve soit qu’il dispose d’une connaissance de base de la langue française, soit qu’il possède un niveau d’instruction secondaire ou des qualifications professionnelles, se voit délivrer une carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention “ jeune au pair ” d’une durée d’un an.” A foreigner aged eighteen to thirty, hosted temporarily by a family of a different nationality with no kinship link, to improve language skills and knowledge of France in exchange for light housework and childcare, who proves either basic French or completed secondary education or professional qualifications, receives a one-year jeune au pair card. Read each element as a potential refusal ground. Age is counted strictly at eighteen to thirty. The family must be of a different nationality with no family tie, so a British teenager placed with British relatives living in the Dordogne does not qualify, however genuine the childcare. The purpose must be linguistic and cultural, not cheap domestic labour, which is why the prefecture reads the application’s course enrolment and the family’s task list together. And the education alternative matters for school-leavers: a completed secondary cycle or a basic command of French, proved by certificates or school records, opens the status to applicants who have never set foot in France. The administration’s English-language guidance at service-public.fr: temporary residence card, jeune au pair restates the same four tests, and the British government’s Living in France guidance confirms the starting point that makes them necessary: since Brexit, Britons who move to France need visas and residence documents like any other non-Europeans.

The convention is the keystone of the whole file: no convention, no visa, no card. It must be signed before departure for France, because the consulate demands it with the visa application, and its compulsory contents are fixed by the same Article L. 426-22: “Une convention conclue entre le titulaire de cette carte et la famille d’accueil définit les droits et obligations des deux parties, notamment les modalités de subsistance, de logement et d’assurance en cas d’accident du jeune au pair, les modalités lui permettant d’assister à des cours, la durée maximale hebdomadaire consacrée aux tâches de la famille, qui ne peut excéder vingt-cinq heures, le repos hebdomadaire et le versement d’une somme à titre d’argent de poche.” A convention between the cardholder and the host family sets the rights and duties of both sides, covering board, lodging and accident insurance for the au pair, arrangements to attend courses, the maximum weekly task time capped at twenty-five hours, weekly rest, and pocket-money payments. France-Visas, the official visa portal, adds the consular reading of the same document on its jeune au pair page: the convention must spell out the conditions of placement, remuneration and the arrangements for following French courses, plus subsistence, lodging and insurance. Use the official model convention (Cerfa 15973) rather than a family-drafted letter, because prefectures compare the filed text against the model clause by clause. Article R. 426-13 CESEDA explains why: “les modèles types de convention et d’annexe sont établis par arrêté du ministre chargé de l’immigration. La convention fixe les modalités de repos hebdomadaire qui garantissent au moins un jour de repos chaque semaine. Un arrêté du ministre chargé de l’immigration fixe également la somme minimale versée chaque mois au jeune au pair à titre d’argent de poche.” Model convention and annex are set by ministerial order, weekly rest must guarantee at least one day off each week, and another ministerial order fixes the minimum monthly pocket money. The current floor stands at 320 euros a month, the ceiling at twenty-five hours a week, and both figures should appear in digits in the signed convention: a file promising “about twenty hours” or “board plus some money” invites the prefecture to doubt the placement’s reality. One clause deserves special attention from British families, because it reveals what the status is designed to prevent. The statute requires that “Une annexe à la convention retranscrit également les dispositions du code pénal sanctionnant la traite des êtres humains, les infractions d’exploitation, les droits garantis par la loi à la victime ainsi que les sanctions pénales encourues par l’employeur. Une liste des coordonnées d’associations spécialisées dans l’assistance aux victimes figure à la fin de cette annexe.” An annex to the convention reproduces the Criminal Code provisions punishing trafficking in human beings and exploitation offences, the victim’s statutory rights and the criminal penalties the employer faces, with contact details of victim-support associations. An au pair who is worked beyond the agreed hours, denied courses, or kept without pay is not merely in a bad placement: the file already contains the criminal-law warning and the helplines, and a British au pair in that position should keep the signed convention, log the real hours, and seek advice without waiting for the placement to collapse.

B. The jeune au pair visa and the one-year card: filing, fees and a single renewal

With the signed convention in hand, the British applicant applies in the United Kingdom for the matching long-stay visa before travelling, because the general visa rule in Article L. 412-1 CESEDA makes first issue of any temporary or multi-year card depend on producing a long-stay visa: “la première délivrance d’une carte de séjour temporaire ou d’une carte de séjour pluriannuelle est subordonnée à la production par l’étranger du visa de long séjour”. Arriving on a short-stay stamp to “try” a family for a month and regularise later reverses the lawful order and exposes the applicant to a refusal for irregular entry. The visa file centres on the convention, the passport, proof that the basic-French or secondary-education condition is met, and evidence of accommodation and insurance as organised by the family. After arrival, the visa serving as residence permit is validated online with the Interior Ministry and the fee is paid at that stage: the current schedule is 100 euros in tax stamps (timbres fiscaux) on validation, then 150 euros on issue of the first card. Before the visa expires, and within the two months preceding its end date, the au pair applies at the prefecture (or sub-prefecture) of residence for the one-year jeune au pair card, producing the passport pages, the convention, proof of address under six months old, and the language-or-education evidence again. Readers who want the general newcomer mechanics, beyond the au pair route, will find them in our companion guide to the long-stay visa and first residence permit for British newcomers.

Two regulatory provisions then govern the prefecture’s handling of the file, and both contain traps and shields worth memorising. Article R. 426-14 CESEDA sets the decision deadline: “La décision du préfet sur la demande de délivrance de la carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention “ jeune au pair ”… est notifiée par écrit à l’étranger dans les meilleurs délais et au plus tard dans les quatre-vingt-dix jours à compter de la date d’introduction de la demande complète. Par dérogation… le silence gardé par l’autorité administrative sur la demande fait naître une décision implicite de rejet au terme d’un délai de quatre-vingt-dix jours.” The prefect’s written decision must reach the applicant as soon as possible and within ninety days of the complete application, and silence for ninety days creates an implied refusal. The shield is the written-notification requirement: an oral “no” at the counter is not a decision. The trap is the implied refusal, which starts the appeal clock without any letter arriving, so an au pair who files and hears nothing for three months must treat day ninety as a refusal and act, not wait hopefully into irregular stay. Article R. 426-15 CESEDA caps the horizon: “L’étranger qui remplit les conditions de renouvellement de la carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention “ jeune au pair ”… se voit délivrer un titre pour une durée égale à celle de la nouvelle convention. La durée totale de séjour sous ce motif ne peut excéder deux années.” A renewal gives a permit matching the new convention’s length, and total stay on this ground cannot exceed two years. The card is therefore renewable once, for the length of a second one-year convention at most, and the renewal application goes in during the two months before the first card ends. A British au pair who reaches month twenty-four must have changed status, through studies, work or family, or must leave: the statute offers no third year on any reading. Paris practice adds nothing exotic to these national rules, but Paris files move through the national online portal and Paris addresses, and an applicant hosted in the capital should keep every portal receipt and every interim receipt (récépissé), because those slips are the only lawful-stay documents held for months while the prefecture decides.

II. Living the placement and defending it: pocket money, hours, social cover and fighting a refusal

A. 320 euros, twenty-five hours, French courses and URSSAF cover: the placement’s daily rules

Daily life in the placement is where British au pairs most need the convention’s numbers, because families’ expectations drift and only the signed text holds the line. Money first: at least 320 euros a month in pocket money, paid monthly, on top of full board and lodging, which the family provides in kind and may not deduct from the cash. Hours second: twenty-five hours a week at most for family tasks, with at least one full rest day every week guaranteed by the convention, and genuine attendance at French courses organised around, not squeezed between, the childcare. Courses are not decorative: the placement’s legal purpose is language improvement, and a file where the au pair never enrolled or stopped attending in October undermines any later renewal or status change, since the prefecture will read absence from courses as absence of purpose. Social cover third, and here the regime is more protective than many British families expect. The official guidance on foreign family trainees and young au pairs states that the au pair is affiliated to the general social security scheme for sickness, maternity, work accidents and basic pension, plus the supplementary pension fund for employees of private employers (Ircem), that only the host family bears the contributions, calculated on a flat-rate basis, and that the family must declare the au pair to the URSSAF (Union de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales, the contribution-collection body) at its home branch within eight days of arrival, requesting a social security number for the au pair if none exists, with quarterly simplified declarations afterwards. In practice this means a British au pair who falls ill, is injured while minding the children, or becomes pregnant during the placement is covered by the French system, not left to a travel policy, provided the family made the eight-day declaration. Keep the social security number notification, the carte Vitale when it arrives, and every payslip-like statement, because they prove both cover and the reality of the placement. Tax, finally, is modest but not non-existent: pocket money is low, yet a British au pair whose home and principal stay are in France is normally French-resident for tax purposes, and the first return the following spring declares the pocket money and any UK income, a routine explained step by step in our guide to the first French tax return after moving from Britain.

Rupture of the placement, by either side, follows the convention before it follows anything else. The model convention organises termination in writing with a notice period, and placement practice, described by the placement portal AuPairWorld, treats a written two-week notice as the standard, with immediate rupture reserved for grave circumstances. A British au pair dismissed overnight without writing, or a family abandoned without notice the week school starts, should therefore do three things at once: get the rupture in writing with its date and reasons, keep paying or keep the room until the notice runs where the convention so provides, and take advice before signing any “mutual” termination letter drafted by the other side. The residence consequence depends on timing. A rupture in the first months leaves the au pair with a visa or card whose stated ground has vanished, and the prefecture may refuse renewal or withdraw the card; a rupture near the end of year one destroys the second convention needed for renewal. Either way, the response is the same: find a new host family and sign a new model convention quickly where the two-year clock still allows it, or pivot to another status, most often studies or, for the older au pairs with an offer, an employee card as explained in our guide to the salarié card and the work-authorisation trap. What never helps is drifting into undeclared extra hours for a neighbour’s family to make ends meet: unlawful work is an express removal ground, and it poisons every later file.

B. Challenging a refusal, a non-renewal or an OQTF, and leaving or changing status lawfully

A refusal of the jeune au pair card rarely arrives alone. When the préfet refuses issue or renewal, the same order almost always adds a thirty-day OQTF, because Article L. 611-1 CESEDA expressly allows removal where “L’étranger s’est vu refuser la délivrance d’un titre de séjour, le renouvellement du titre de séjour… ou s’est vu retirer un de ces documents”, the foreigner has been refused issue or renewal of a permit or has had one withdrawn. Both limbs can be challenged together before the administrative court (tribunal administratif), as Article L. 614-1 CESEDA confirms: “La décision portant obligation de quitter le territoire français ainsi que la décision relative au séjour… peuvent être contestées devant le tribunal administratif.” Deadlines are unforgiving and must be memorised before trouble starts. The official OQTF guidance at service-public.fr: obligation to leave France draws the line: against a thirty-day OQTF, where the person is neither detained nor under house arrest, the appeal goes in within one month of notification and the court rules within six months; against an OQTF without delay, the appeal goes in within forty-eight hours and the single judge rules within ninety-six. A reconsideration petition to the prefect (recours gracieux) or to the minister (recours hiérarchique) does not extend these limits, so a polite letter instead of a court claim is how winnable cases are lost. The claim goes to the court of the prefecture that decided, which for a Paris placement means the Paris administrative court, with the full file attached at once.

Two court of appeal rulings, read together, give British au pairs both a sword and a shield. The sword is procedural. In CAA Douai, 30 December 2020, no. 20DA01502, the administrative court had upheld a refusal-plus-OQTF by swapping in a new legal basis of its own motion, without telling the parties. The court of appeal annulled the judgment for exactly that silence: “Le tribunal administratif d’Amiens, s’il pouvait procéder d’office à une telle substitution, devait au préalable en informer les parties.” If the court substitutes a new legal basis of its own motion, it must first inform the parties, adding that only the administration itself may request a substitution of reasons. The operative part followed in full: “Article 1er : Le jugement du tribunal administratif d’Amiens du 20 février 2020 est annulé. Article 2 : L’arrêté du préfet de l’Oise du 27 septembre 2019 est annulé. Article 3 : Il est enjoint au préfet de l’Oise de réexaminer la situation de Mme A… dans le délai d’un mois à compter de la notification du présent arrêt.” Judgment annulled, order annulled, re-examination within one month. The lesson for every challenge is concrete: plead procedure as well as substance, check the signatory’s delegated authority, the reasoning, and the legal basis cited, and never assume a first-instance dismissal ends the matter. Where removal is imminent and enrolment, courses or a new convention are at stake, interim suspension (référé-suspension) asks the duty judge to freeze execution. Article L. 521-1 of the Code de justice administrative sets the test: “le juge des référés… peut ordonner la suspension de l’exécution de cette décision… lorsque l’urgence le justifie et qu’il est fait état d’un moyen propre à créer, en l’état de l’instruction, un doute sérieux quant à la légalité de la décision.” Suspension where urgency justifies it and a plea raises serious doubt about legality.

The shield is a warning about what the status can never become. In CAA Marseille, 12 February 2024, no. 23MA00984, an applicant who had spent years in France, first as a student and then as a jeune au pair until November 2021, sought renewal on Article L. 426-22 and, refused with a thirty-day OQTF, pleaded private and family life, integration and a planned marriage. The court answered with the sentence every British au pair should read before planning a third year: “La présence en France en qualité d’étudiant ou de jeune au pair est par nature temporaire et ne lui donne pas vocation à demeurer sur le territoire français.” Presence as a student or au pair is by nature temporary and gives no entitlement to remain. The private-life plea failed, the exceptional-admission plea failed, and the operative part closed the file: “Article 1er : La requête de M. A… C… est rejetée.” Build the evidence file accordingly, as if the judge were the first reader: the signed model convention and any second convention, course enrolment and attendance proof, the 320-euro monthly transfers with bank slips, the URSSAF declaration and social security documents, the lease or hosting certificate, and every portal receipt and récépissé. Address each refusal reason in the order the order uses, produce documents rather than assertions, and remember the two clocks that decide everything: ninety days of prefectural silence is an implied refusal to challenge, and two years on au pair grounds is the absolute ceiling, after which only a different status keeps a British au pair lawfully in France.

Conclusion

A British au pair placement after Brexit is a narrow, generous, strictly temporary bridge: eighteen to thirty years old, a family of another nationality with no kinship link, basic French or secondary education, a signed model convention before departure covering board, lodging, accident insurance, courses, twenty-five hours at most, weekly rest and at least 320 euros a month, a long-stay visa obtained in the United Kingdom, online validation on arrival, a one-year card renewable once for two years in total, French social cover declared to the URSSAF within eight days, and a first tax return the following spring. The prefecture decides in writing within ninety days, silence means refusal, and any refusal with its OQTF is challenged within one month, or forty-eight hours without delay, with procedure pleaded as hard as substance. The status rewards the organised and punishes drift: sign the model convention, attend the courses, log the hours, keep the transfer slips, renew once, and use the two years to qualify for whatever comes next. Handled that way, a British gap year in a French family remains what the statute designed it to be: a year of language, not a year of litigation.