Work/training permit

Persons with a temporary residence permit can be granted a work permit after 3 months of residence in Germany at the earliest. However, this only applies if they are not obliged to live in a reception center.

Persons with a residence permit who are required to live in a reception center are generally prohibited from working. They should be permitted to work if

• the asylum procedure has not yet been completed 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 action has suspensive effect.

If you want to do a company-based apprenticeship, you need a work permit. The same rules apply as for taking up employment.

However, no work permit is required for school-based vocational training. You do not need to obtain permission from the Aliens Department.

The work permit is applied for at the Foreigners' Registration Office . An offer of a specific position must already exist, be it a training place, an internship or a job. It can be applied for by the person with a residence permit themselves or by the employer with a power of attorney. The employer must submit a completed declaration on the employment relationship is required from the employer. In the case of an internship, the internship contract is sufficient.

The foreigners authority will then check whether there are any grounds for a work ban . If so, employment cannot be permitted.

If not, it will obtain the approval of the Federal Employment Agency. This agency checks whether the working conditions are the same as those for German nationals. If it approves the employment, the immigration authority issues the work permit. This is entered in the residence permit.

From the 49th month of residence in Germany, the approval of 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 determined that the appeal has suspensive effect, working is prohibited.

Asylum applicants from so-called safe countries of origin are generally prohibited from working. In addition to the countries of the European Union, these currently include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Senegal and Serbia. The states are listed in Annex II of the Asylum Act. They are considered safe because, in the opinion of the German state, there is neither political persecution nor inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment.

People from these countries generally have to stay in reception facilities. They also have no access to integration courses.

NOTE: The work ban does not apply to persons from the Republic of Moldova and Georgia who applied for asylum before September 1, 2023.