The constellation originally envisaged by the legislator for applying for a residence permit to look for a job is the job seeker visa from abroad. Skilled workers (especially those from the IT sector) should be given the opportunity to immigrate to Germany without having already signed an employment contract abroad. 

 

Requirements for a job-searching visa Germany 2023

In order to apply for a job-searching visa from abroad (e.g. as an IT specialist from India or Pakistan), two main requirements must be met: you must be a skilled worker (i.e. have a recognized professional or academic qualification) and you must be able to support yourself for the duration of your stay in Germany. 

Recognition as a skilled worker

Until the introduction of the opportunity card on 01.06.2024, it is only possible to apply for a job-searching visa if you are a skilled worker with a recognized qualification. Before applying for a visa, you must therefore check how you can have your vocational training or university degree recognized or whether the degree is already recognized. If you have completed vocational training in your home country, you can use the German government's portal for the recognition of vocational training (anerkennung-in-deutschland.de) to find out whether you need to have your training recognized before applying for a visa and how the recognition process works. If you are a qualified professional with an academic degree (university or college), you can use Anabin to check whether your university and university degree are recognized in Germany. If this is not the case, you must apply for a certificate assessment at the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) before applying for a visa.

Livelihood

Another requirement for applying for a job-searching visa for Germany is that you are able to support yourself. In concrete terms, this means that you must have sufficient financial means to stay in Germany for several months. In this respect, the job-searching visa does not allow you to prove that you are able to support yourself by means of an employment contract, as you are not yet working.

 

The livelihood must be secured for the entire period for which the visa is applied for. To calculate the amount of money required for this, you must first determine your monthly requirements and then multiply these by the number of months you intend to stay. The monthly requirement usually includes at least the following expenses:

 

• Rent

• health insurance

• Standard needs rate

 

If, for example, you have a monthly requirement of 1,500 euros for these costs and want to stay in Germany for six months with a job-searching visa, you will need to provide evidence of savings of at least 9,000 euros when you submit your application (1,500 euros per month x 6 months).

 

Further requirements

Finally, the general visa requirements must also be met. Specifically, these include the following:

 

• Valid passport available,

• no criminal record,

• no interest in deportation.

​

Application process for job-searching visas

If you meet the general requirements for obtaining a visa, you can apply for a visa at the embassy responsible for you. Which embassy is responsible for your application generally depends on where you live. If you live in India, for example, you can enter your district on the homepage of the German embassies in India to find out which embassy is responsible for your district. 

 

Necessary documents Job Searching Visa Germany

The website of the respective embassy will then tell you which documents are required to apply for a job-searching visa and in what form these documents must be submitted (see, for example, the information sheet of the German Embassy in India on applying for a job-searching visa). 

As a rule, at least the following documents are required:

 

• Passport

• VIDEX form

• 2 biometric passport photos

• Copies of the data page of the passport

• Professional qualification certificate or university degree certificate

• Proof of recognition of the qualification in Germany (e.g. Anabin)

• Proof of livelihood (e.g. blocked account or declaration of commitment)

• Curriculum vitae

• Proof of health insurance

• Employment references from previous employers (if available)

• Professional license (if necessary)

​

The required documents vary depending on the country and embassy. Embassies in India, for example, often require additional documents such as proof of accommodation (e.g. letter of invitation or tenancy agreement), a birth certificate and a letter of motivation. In this respect, it is advisable to follow the guidelines on the respective embassy website. If in doubt, you can also book an initial consultation with a lawyer specializing in immigration law.

 

Booking an appointment and visa interview

If the necessary documents for applying for a job-searching visa are available, you can book an appointment for an interview online (see e.g. here for RK visas from the German embassy in India/New Delhi). During the appointment, your documents will be checked for completeness and you will have to submit your biometric data and pay the fee. In cases where the applicant has to prove German language skills, the embassy staff may also check your language skills in a short interview. 

 

If the documents and information are complete, the embassy will decide on your application for a job-seeking visa. The embassy has a certain amount of discretion in the legal and plausibility check when making its decision. A positive decision is therefore not guaranteed even if the documents are complete. Processing usually takes several weeks or months. From a legal perspective, the immigration authority has up to three months to decide on the application for a job-searching visa. After three months have passed, the applicant can file a so-called action for failure to act with the administrative court in Berlin together with a lawyer specializing in visa law. This usually shortens the processing time considerably.

 

Once a decision has been made on the application, you will receive the visa. You can then enter Germany with the visa.