Visa to take up employment

Two basic requirements must be met in order to obtain a visa to work:

• Concrete job offer: This is usually evidenced by an employment contract. It must be a qualified job, i.e. it requires at least two years of training or a university degree. Helper and semi-skilled jobs are generally excluded.

• Completed qualified vocational training or completed studies: The qualification must be recognized in Germany. recognized or be comparable to a German university degree. A license to practice a profession may also be required. A notice of recognition of the foreign qualification must already be available for the issue of a visa as a skilled worker.

In addition, a valid passport is required and the income from the employment must be high enough to cover living expenses.

NOTE: The employment does not have to be appropriate to the qualification. A university graduate, for example, can work in an occupation for which training is sufficient.

The visa must be applied for at the German diplomatic mission in your home country. The application must always be made in person.

The Federal Employment Agency must also be involved in the issuing of a visa to work. It checks whether there is a concrete job offer, whether a professional license is required, whether the applicant's qualifications are suitable for the work offered and whether the working conditions are not less favorable than for comparable domestic employees. The latter is done via the declaration of employment. This can be here be called up here.

When the visa is collected at the latest, it will be checked whether the skilled worker has taken out (international) health insurance . This is required from the first day of the stay in Germany.

The respective diplomatic missions abroad provide information on their websites about the specific documents required for the application. It can take several months for a decision to be made on the visa. It may be possible to use the accelerated skilled worker procedure can be shortened.

A fee of €75 is charged for a national visa issued for long-term residence in Germany.

In the event of a refusal, the reasons will be communicated. There is a right of appeal against the decision of the diplomatic mission abroad.

ATTENTION: The visa is always for a specific purpose. For example, it is not possible to enter the country with a tourist visa and then apply locally for a residence permit for employment purposes. With a visa for the purpose of employment, you are also not allowed to pursue self-employment. To do so, you need a residence permit for the purpose of self-employment.

Citizens of Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the USA can enter Germany for employment purposes without having to go through a visa procedure. However, they still require a residence permit for gainful employment, which they must apply for at the foreigners authority. Employment is not permitted before this.

Note: As it may take longer to obtain a residence permit, it may still be advisable to go through the visa application process. This will allow you to start working immediately after entering the country.

The visa or residence permit is linked to an employer and possibly certain working conditions. This is noted in the residence permit. If this changes, the residence permit must be amended. In this case, renewed approval must be obtained from the immigration authority .

This is not necessary if

• only the name of the company changes, e.g. due to a change of name or company name, but the other working conditions stated in the job description (activity, working hours, place of work, etc.) remain unchanged,

• the job title changes, although the employment modalities continue to correspond to those in the job description. The same applies to promotions where the same job is continued but only the job title changes and the income increases.

Skilled workers over the age of 45 who come to Germany for the first time to take up employment in accordance with Sections 18a and 18b of the Residence Act must earn a certain gross annual salary (55% of the annual contribution assessment ceiling in the general pension insurance scheme, 2025: €53,130) or provide evidence of sufficient pension provision.

This also applies to nursing assistants, professional drivers, those with extensive professional experience (visa for experienced professionals) and those employed under the Western Balkans Regulation.

A national visa is usually valid for 12 months. After entering the country, a residence permit must be applied for at the Foreigners' Registration Office in good time before the visa expires in order to be allowed to remain in Germany. An appointment can be made here online.

The Federal Employment Agency must be involved in the visa procedure and its approval must be obtained. Approval for employment can be obtained from the Federal Employment Agency before applying for a visa. This can speed up the visa procedure. Further information on this can be found here.

Employers also have the option of applying for an accelerated skilled worker procedure procedure. This procedure allows the visa application to be processed more quickly, as the immigration authority has already given prior approval for the visa.

There is the option of entering Germany to look for a job. This is made possible by the so-called opportunity card. It can also be used to pursue a part-time job. If the search for qualified employment is successful, a residence permit for gainful employment can be applied for directly at the immigration office.