Iceland proposes ending au pair permits over worker risks

Iceland’s justice minister says a proposed end to au pair residence permits is intended to address the vulnerable position the scheme can place people in, mbl.is reports. A bill to amend the Foreign Nationals Act would abolish the special permit for au pair placements for people from outside the European Economic Area.

Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir said more than 700 permits were issued between 2017 and 2024, about 78 per cent of them to citizens of the Philippines. She said there were numerous cases of young Filipino women working far beyond the hours agreed and sometimes for more than one family.

The minister stressed that the proposal would not prevent people from the Philippines from coming to Iceland, and said many au pair placements had worked well. But if the main purpose of a stay is employment, she said, the work should take place under the country’s employment system, where rights are clearly defined. The au pair permit was not intended to provide Icelandic households with cheap foreign labour.

Gunnlaugsdóttir said the scheme was designed for cultural exchange: a young person would temporarily join a family, learn about the country, language and culture, and help with household tasks and childcare. Au pair placements are not standard employment relationships, she said, and participants do not have the same rights as people in the labour market, leaving them in a weaker position.

She said increased monitoring had not achieved the intended results and that there were clear signs of abuse. The Directorate of Immigration had asked police to investigate when there were suspicions of excessive working hours or inadequate conditions. In some cases, young women had worked from morning to evening for several households and lacked the accommodation or days off required by the rules.