Motivational Letter for Au-Pair Visa

Your Motivational Letter is a very important part of the visa receiving procedure.

In order to receive a residence permit for your year as an Au-Pair in Germany, you need an entry permit first – that would be your visa.

In many countries the German Embassy require a Motivational Letter in written form from Au-Pair applicants who submit a request for a national Au-Pair residence visa in Germany.

Not every applicant, who would like to take part in the Au-Pair-Program, is allowed to do that.

An Au-Pair applicant has to meet all the criteria, which means that next to her suitable age and existing German knowledge, she also needs to have the appropriate motivation.

The Embassy is bound to legal standards that determine who they are allowed to give visa to.

Here is a citation from the law which is the legal basis that the embassy relies on when deciding whether they can grant you a visa or not.
This “legal German” is hard to understand for non-native speakers, therefore, for the sake of clarity, we have highlighted the most important passages for you.

“The legal basis for issuing a residence permit in order to work as an Au-pair is section 18 paragraph 3 of the German Residence Act in conjunction with section 12 in the Employment Ordinance. The issuance of a visa for Au-Pair residence purposes comes into consideration only when the improvement of the knowledge of the German language and the completion of the general education through better knowledge of the host country can plausibly be seen as the primary goal, and when the Au-Pair residence in Germany will fit into the concrete life plan of the applicant, taking into the account their social situation.”

The legal text makes clear statements as to when a visa for Au-Pair residence can be issued.

Your Motivational Letter has to make it clear that your reasons for becoming an Au-Pair in Germany meet the requirements mentioned in the legal text exactly. And so, you must make it sound plausible that your primary goals are:

It is better to write your Motivational Letter on a PC, and then print it out and sign it by hand.

Hand-written texts are often hard to read. Don’t make it harder for the embassy workers than it already is.

There are no concrete guidelines about the length of the Motivational Letter. However, since the embassy needs a detailed basis for your motivation, your letter should at least run to one page.

If you hoped to find here a template for your Motivational Letter, where you could put in your name and simply hand it in as your own, we must disappoint you. Your Motivational Letter has to be written by you personally and be authentic.

And hence, we strongly recommend against searching for premade templates in the Internet and handing those in.

Whether your text structure was copied from the Internet or individually written can be established in just a few minutes. We know for a fact from official sources that the employees of the embassy definitely perform these kinds of verification.

In case that your Motivational Letter or a part of it will be detected as plagiarism, it may lead to a visa refusal. You certainly don’t want to take that risk!

It is better if you read through the requirements for the Motivational Letter and prepare yourself for all the questions, so that you can give totally personal and valid answers for all the questions!

Naturally, we can give you a couple of Formulierungshilfen.

The addressee of the Motivational Letter is not the host family or the Au-Pair agency. It is the German Embassy that will decide whether you receive a visa or not.

Hence, you should start your letter with an appropriate salutation and then make your personal introduction.

Through the personal introduction the embassy has learned about your “concrete life plan and social living situation” that was described in the Law.

Now you should explain why you would like to take part in Au-Pair-Program in Germany.

This is the most important part of the letter that directly shows your motivation.

For this purpose, you should ask yourself the following questions and then give answers to them:

Certainly, learning a foreign language is always good.

However, your wish to learn German has to fit into your concrete life plan.

Why will an Au-Pair year, when you can learn German very well, be perfect for your personal life plan?

You have finished studying German Philology and have already got a good level of German. Now you only want to significantly improve your pronunciation during your Au-Pair year. After the Au-Pair year, you want to work as a German teacher in your native country.

You have finished high-school and now you want to enter a university to study Tourism. The knowledge of foreign languages is very important for this field. You have already been learning German on a language course for 6-12 months. Now you want to quickly expand your German knowledge and then – start your studies.

You live in a small non-touristy area. You are now in your second year of studies as a baker and your want to continue working at the same job in the same area.

In this case is not clear what you need German for and how can Au-Pair-Program positively affect your further career development.

You should be willing to return to your homeland after your Au-Pair year.

Therefore, your willingness to come back is a prerequisite for the embassy to grant your visa.

If you have thoughts about staying longer in Germany after the Au-Pair year and then soon after that entering a school, a university or starting a voluntary social year, for example, you should forget about it!

If you mention at the embassy that you would gladly stay in Germany after your Au-Pair year and, for instance, start a voluntary social year there, you get 100% no visa, and you can say goodbye to your dream about becoming an Au-Pair in Germany.

You need to convince the embassy that you want to come back home after your Au-Pair year and that you already have career plans there.

For this reason, you have to formulate specific plans for your life in your native country after your Au-Pair year. Tell about what you plan on doing in your homeland after you come back from Germany.

While describing your plans, you should mention how they will be improved by your German knowledge.

You want to start studying in your homeland after your Au-Pair year.

You should thoroughly acquaint yourself with this topic. You should know at which universities you can study the subject, what are the requirements, how much does it cost and how you can pay for it.

The embassy worker can ask you about it at any moment.

If you have no answer to these or similar questions because you haven’t done enough research, it can be understood that you don’t actually intend to study later on and that you are trying to fool the embassy. This will automatically lead to visa rejection!

If any private reasons come to your mind about why you want to come back to your home country after a year in Germany, it may additionally convince the embassy of you willingness to return.

Your Motivational Letter has to be plausible and honest.

If you give inaccurate information, your visa application will be automatically rejected.

One Au-Pair applicant from Madagascar had written in her Motivational letter that she wanted to build a German school in her home area after her Au-Pair year.

This is not plausible!

The girl hadn’t had the money, neither had she any idea how this whole thing could be funded. In order to be able to build a school one has to study architecture and know about building industry or have mastered an appropriate profession. The execution of such a project would require huge financial resources. A good knowledge of German language alone in not enough to put together that kind of project.
Perhaps, this applicant would have had succeeded with her application if she had written that she would like to contribute to the building of a German school or help with the process.

Hence, you should formulate realistic goals rather then set your goals too high!

You can confirm your honesty and authenticity by showing that you adhere to your German level. Your German doesn’t have to be perfect.

Your Motivational Letter has to be written in German language. You are allowed to make mistakes. No one expects you to have a perfect level of German. Your letter doesn’t have to be absolutely flawless and seem like it has been written by a native speaker.

Nevertheless, let someone who knows German better than you proofread your letter.

If you have found a host family through our Au-Pair Agency, you will receive help in visa procedures from us or our partners in your living area. Naturally, we will proofread your Motivational Letter as well.

Bear in mind that the embassy can determine pretty fast during a personal interview whether you could be identified as the author of your Motivational Letter.

If there is any doubt about the plausibility of your residence, the embassy will send you a rejection letter.