17-30

These programs are specifically intended for youths aged between 18 and 30 years (35 for Canada - without prejudice to Italy's 30 years age limit for being placed as an au pair).

18-30

Formally, no minimum language skills are required to be placed as an au pair in Italy.

Formally, no minimum language skills are required to apply for a working holiday visa.

Formally, no minimum language skills are required to be placed as student-au pair in Italy.

No particular prerequisite or condition regarding education is set in order to be an au pair in Italy.

In order to apply for working holiday visa, no particular prerequisites or conditions regarding education level are set.

No particular prerequisite or condition regarding education is set in order to be a student-au pair in Italy.

There are no official restrictions related to marital status, nevertheless, as a result of common practices established and strengthened over time, it is possible that unmarried au pairs may benefit from a higher placement rate.

There are no official restrictions related to marital status, nevertheless, as a result of common practices established and strengthened over time, it is possible that unmarried student-au pairs may benefit from a higher placement rate.

We couldn't find any evidence of restrictions regarding whether the au pair can be accompanied by his/her own children.

Candidates to working holiday visa are requested to not include any children or dependent family members on their application.

We couldn't find any evidence of restrictions regarding whether the student-au pair can be accompanied by his own children (apparently these cases are so uncommon to be overlooked by common practice). Nevertheless, since a visa is required, it may make sense to reason by analogy and thus remember that, in a similar situation, applicants to the Working Holiday visa are expressly requested not to include any children or dependent family members on their application.

No official definition of an au pair hosting family is provided, therefore, to our knowledge, any mother and/or father living with a child is potentially eligible for this role.

There are no particular restrictions regarding the typology of hosting family for au pairs which apply to the Working Holiday Visa (which was, it's useful to remind, no specifically created for au pairs).

Nevertheless, it seems rational to think that same rules and conditions that normally apply to au pairs should similarly apply also in this case, therefore, since no official definition of an au pair hosting family is provided,  to our knowledge, any mother and/or father living with a child is potentially eligible for this role.

No official definition of an au pair hosting family is provided, therefore, to our knowledge, any mother and/or father living with a child is potentially eligible for this role.

There are no official regulations regarding the language of the hosting family.

No special requirements regarding citizenship are expressly required to become a host family, thus, Italian nationals or legally residing aliens are potentially eligible.

A working holiday visa holder can be employed either by an Italian national or a legally residing alien.

No special requirements regarding citizenship are expressly required to become a host family, thus, Italian nationals or legally residing aliens are potentially eligible.

Italian law does not require the involvement of an agency in the placement process of au pairs.

• The applicant to whom was granted a Working Holiday visa must enter Italy within 3 months from the date of its issue, failing to comply will result in visa expiration.
• Usually, working holiday visas are issued just once in a lifetime.
• Different quotas are set for any country which has concluded a bilateral agreement with Italy. Please refer to the links provided under section "short program description" of the basic information page for specific information regarding your country of origin.
• Please be aware that after the validity period of the “permesso di soggiorno” (residence permit) has expired, the holder of a “working holiday” visa must leave the country: the “permesso di soggiorno” is in fact in this case not renewable, nor able to be converted to another type of residence permit. 

• Student visa holders are in Italy allowed to work up to 1040 hrs per annum (e.g. 20 hrs per week for a year or 40 hrs per week for 6 months - still, when employed as au pairs, they cannot exceed 30 hrs per week, furthermore as students they have to reserve at least 20 hrs per week to the Italian language course). More generally, since it is a combination of two different experiences (being a student and an au pair), the legal limits that apply to each of them overlap one another, with the most restrictive one prevailing.