Visa for Employees

Citizens of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA), and Switzerland can work in Germany without any visa.

EU citizens from the new Eastern European EU member states Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia (until 2011 at the latest); and Bulgaria and Romania (until 2014 at the latest) still require a work permit for non-self-employed work in Germany. However, since 2009 the labor market has been opened up to university graduates from the new EU states.

Nationals from all other countries have to apply for a residence permit for the purpose of taking up employment (Aufenthaltserlaubnis für abhängige Beschäftigung).

Please also refer to:

The residence permit for the purpose of taking up employment (Aufenthaltserlaubnis für abhängige Beschäftigung) contains both: the permit to stay and the permit to work in Germany.

Foreign nationals no longer have to apply separately for a work permit at the employment office. The residence permit for the purpose of taking up employment contains a statement as to whether and to what extent work will be permitted.

For more information on how to apply for a residence permit, please refer to:

Highly qualified persons may be granted a permanent settlement permit immediately upon coming to Germany without approval of the Federal Employment Agency.

Highly qualified persons are defined as

• scientists with special technical knowledge active in teaching OR
• scientific personnel in prominent positions, OR
• specialists and executive personnel with extensive professional experience
• with an annual salary of at least EUR 66,000 (EUR 55,800 in the new federal states) in 2009.

Unskilled and low-skilled foreign workers from non-EU member states may generally not work in Germany - this is referred to as the Recruitment Ban (Anwerbestopp).

For a number of jobs requiring at least three years of professional training, the Federal Employment Agency can however grant approval for foreign employees. This includes, for example, IT specialists, academics, executive staff, and internal company specialists.

There are different regulations allowing non-EU-based companies to temporarily send employees to Germany without having to receive the approval of the Federal Employment Agency. For example, the approval requirement is not needed for certain occupational groups posted for up to a total of three months within a twelve month period (the three month period does not have to be consecutive).