Work/training permit

Individuals with a residence permit may be granted a work permit no earlier than after 3 months of residence in Germany. However, this applies only if they are not required to live in a reception center.

For individuals with temporary residence permits who are required to live in a reception center , a general ban on employment applies. They may be permitted to work if

• the asylum proceedings have not yet been concluded after 6 months and

• the Federal Employment Agency has approved the employment or it does not require approval, and

• the asylum application has not been rejected as manifestly unfounded or inadmissible, and the administrative court has not determined that the lawsuit has suspensive effect.

Anyone who wants to pursue vocational training through a company needs a work permit. The same rules apply as for taking a job.

For school-based vocational training, however, a work permit is not required . You do not need to obtain permission from the immigration office.

The work permit is applied for at the Office of Immigration and Naturalization . To do so, the applicant must already have a job offer for a specific position , whether it be an apprenticeship, an internship, or a job. The application can be submitted by the person with a temporary residence permit themselves or by the employer acting on their behalf with a power of attorney. The employer must submit a completed declaration of employment . In the case of an internship, the internship agreement is sufficient.

The Foreigners’ Registration Office then reviews whether there are any grounds for prohibiting employment . If so, employment cannot be authorized.

If not, the office seeks approval from the Federal Employment Agency. The agency verifies whether the working conditions are equivalent to those for German nationals. If it approves the employment, the Foreigners’ Registration Office issues the work permit. It is entered into the residence permit.

Starting in the 49th month of residence in Germany, approval from the Federal Employment Agency is no longer required.

If the asylum application has been rejected as manifestly unfounded or inadmissible, and the administrative court has not granted the appeal suspensive effect, the applicant is prohibited from working.

Asylum seekers from so-called “safe countries of origin” are subject to a general ban on working. In addition to the member states of the European Union, these currently include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Senegal, and Serbia. These countries are listed in Appendix II of the Asylum Act. They are considered safe because, in the opinion of the German government, neither political persecution nor inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment takes place there.

Furthermore, individuals from Egypt, Bangladesh, India, Colombia, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey who filed an asylum application on or after June 12, 2026, will no longer be permitted to work.

People from these countries must generally continue to live in reception centers. They also do not have access to integration courses.

NOTE: The work ban does not apply to individuals from the Republic of Moldova and Georgia who submitted their asylum applications before September 1, 2023.