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How to apply for a Work Visa
All necessary information for a work visa application in Germany
... how to apply for a work visa for Germany and how the visa procedure works
... how long the processing time for a work visa is
... what requirements you need to fulfill to apply for a work visa
... how high the salary must be to apply for a work visa
HERE YOU LEARN ...
1. How to apply for a work visa
1.1 Work visa application form
1.2 Duties of the employer in the visa process
1.3 Visa appointment
1.4 Processing time work visa
2. Requirements for a work visa
2.1 Lawful employment contract
2.2 Serious employer
2.3 Required salary
2.4 Work permit
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1. How do I apply for a work visa? (Guide 2024)
In most cases, a work visa is required to work in Germany. Below you will find out how you can apply for such a work visa for Germany.
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How to submit a visa application
In principle, you must obtain a work visa like any other residence permit. You can apply for a residence permit for gainful employment at the German embassies (if you are still abroad) and at the immigration authorities (if you are already in Germany).
The required application documents can always be found on the website of the embassy of the respective country (see e.g.Applying for an EU Blue Card in India). This is the actual application form (VIDEX form(. This must be filled out, printed out, signed and then handed in at the embassy appointment. Please note that long-term stay must be selected in the VIDEX form and that you also sign the necessary declarations attached to the VIDEX form. In some countries, other application forms also exist. Relevant information can be found on the embassy website.
Tasks of the employer in the visa process
In addition to the VIDEX form, you will need a number of other documents. In particular, when applying for a work visa, you need the cooperation of your employer, who must support you in the application process. There is no classic “Sponsorship procedure” in Germany, but the employer has certain obligations in the visa process. For example, this must have the so-called “Declaration of employment relationship” (with an additional sheet if necessary), fill it out, sign it and send it to the Federal Employment Agency. This can happen before the visa process begins (so-called “pre-approval process”.ren”). The employer can also use the so-called “accelerated skilled worker process” to go through the visa process particularly quickly.
What happens during the visa appointment?
As soon as all documents have been compiled in cooperation with the employer, you must apply for the visa regularly at the responsible embassy by booking an appropriate appointment. At the visa appointment you must present all documents that the respective botsrequired on the website. It is advisable to have these documents checked beforehand by an expert (e.g. a lawyer specializing in migration law). If the documents are incomplete or incorrect, your visa application will usually be rejected and you will have to start the entire visa process from the beginning.
At the visa appointment, the embassy employee will first check your documents for completeness. Once the documents are complete, he may have a short conversation with you. The visa interview is a short conversation in which the embassy employee checks your application for “plausibility”. This is to prevent fraud (e.g. through an employment contract from a non-existent employer) and to validate your visa application. As a rule, the visa interview only takes a few minutes and does not present any particular problems if all documents are complete and correct. The detailed process of the visa interview can be found in the “Visa Handbook” of the Foreign Office.
Processing time for the work visa
After the visa appointment, the embassy will process the application for a work visa. The processing speed varies greatly depending on the embassy and can vary from a few days or weeks (e.g. in Manila) to several months or even years (e.g. in Tehran). In general, it can be said that the processing time increases the better the documents are prepared and sorted. The documents should therefore be checked before the appointment.
In principle, the embassy has three months to process the application. According to the German Administrative Court Code, a lawyer canr action can be brought to the administrative courts if an application has not been processed after three months, if there is no reason for the delayed processing. The embassies are aware of this, which is why they usually process applications from lawyers quickly. In most cases, accelerated application processing can be achieved in this way.
2. Requirements for a work visa (Germany)
Employment contract with a German company
The most important requirement for applying for a work visa is an employment contract that meets the requirements for a work permit. The labor law requirements are met if the contract is legal (e.g. correct salary level, compliance with working hours, granting of the minimum required vacation days). It should also be noted that the employment contract was concluded with a German company (so-called “local employment relationship”). Employment at a foreign company is not possible as long as this German company does not have a German branch. Whether it is a German employer can be determined in Germancommercial register be checked. If the employer does not have a branch in Germany, employment can only be considered through a German payroll provider (employer of record). However, this is only possible in very specific constellations and is usually very costly.
Contrary to popular belief, the employment contract does not have to be concluded yet. In this respect, the law also allows a “specific job offer” to be sufficient. The employment contract does not necessarily have to be signed if a corresponding employer letter is presented.
Lawfullness of the employment contract
Another requirement is that the Federal Employment Agency has approved the employment. In most cases, the applicant does not even notice that he has requested this approval, as the embassy automatically forwards the documents directly to the Federal Employment Agency.
Verification of the employer
The work permit is issued by the Federal Employment Agency viaDeclaration of employment relationship checked and granted. As part of the audit, not only is the employment contract checked, but also the employer is checked. For example, the Federal Employment Agency investigates whether the employer has negative entries in the “Central Trade Register”. For example, the central commercial register records whether the employer has been convicted of social security, tax or labor law violations in the past. In these cases, the Federal Employment Agency can refuse consent. A visa will then not be issued.
The approval of the Federal Employment Agency can be requested during the visa process or even beforehand (so-called advance approval process). The advance approval procedure is particularly useful if it is not yet certain whether the Federal Employment Agency will approve the employment. In this way, you don't have to go through the entire visa process to check whether the Federal Employment Agency would approve.
How high does the salary have to be to apply for a work visa?
The embassy and the Federal Employment Agency also check whether the salary is sufficient for a work visa. The required salary varies depending on the profession and is often the subject of disputes with the embassy or the Federal Employment Agency. How high the salary must be can be determined by the so-called “Pay Atlas" remove. The wage atlas lists the average salary for every profession in Germany. As a rule of thumb, a gross monthly salary of less than 3,000 euros is usually problematic. Even when applying for work visas for trainees, the embassy often refuses the visa for this salary. Here it can help to contact a lawyer who specializes in migration law in order to contradict the rejection and, in cooperation with the employer, still receive the visa you applied for.
With regard to salary, it should also be noted that increased requirements apply if the applicant is older than 45 years. In this case, the law requires that the gross monthly salary is at least around 4,000 euros. This is intended to prevent applicants from falling into poverty in old age. If the salary is lower, part of the salary can be replaced by an appropriate pension plan.
Professional license
There are a number of other requirements, which, however, are not a problem for most applicants. For example, certain professions (e.g. doctors, lawyers and engineers) require a so-called professional practice permit. This is always required if it is a “regulated” profession. Whether the respective profession is regulated in Germany can be found on the websiteCALLED from the Federal Employment Agency.
Another general requirement for the granting of a work visa is usually that the applicant has not previously applied for humanitarian protection in the EU. This is particularly problematic for applicants from Ukraine, as they were often automatically granted such a residence permit in accordance with Section 24 of the Residence Act (so-called mass influx directive) after the outbreak of war with Russia. There is controversy in law as to what consequences this has when applying for a work visa.
3. Visa for skilled workers (requirements)
In addition to the “general” requirements for issuing a visa, the so-called “special” requirements for issuing a visa must also be met. While the general requirements apply to all types of work visas, the specific requirements vary depending on the type of visa applied for (e.g. EU Blue Card or visa for IT specialists).
From a legal perspective, there are certainly around 100 different reasons for residency for a work visa (e.g. even a visa for specialty chefs or eSports athletes). However, the following are mainly relevant in practice:
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EU Blue Card and academic professionals,
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Visa for qualified specialists with vocational training (especially IT specialists),​
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ICT card and Schengen postings.
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