Work Permit for Employees
The employer in Germany must apply to the competent authority, via the public employment services, for an employment permit on behalf of the relevant national. If the employer is granted the employment permit, the worker will be granted a permit for work.
The main criteria to obtain a work permit is that a suitable worker can be found on the labour market, to fill the vacancy, within a reasonable time, even after providing the necessary vocational training.
EU Blue Card
The EU Blue Card (Blaue Karte EU) allows very highly qualified non-EU citizens to be fast-tracked into employment within Germany.
New Member States
Nationals of the EU-Member States, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are able to work without restriction within Germany. Special rules apply to the new Member States of the European Union. For a certain transitional period, free movement of workers from these countries is subject to some restrictions. However, there are more flexible provisions for workers planning to exercise a profession for which there is a shortage of qualified staff.
Job seekers from the new EU member states are not required to complete any formality in order to obtain a work permit, it is up to the employer to apply to the competent authority. A simplified procedure has been introduced for obtaining a work permit for positions in which there is a labour shortage. In these cases, the competent regional authorities grant work permits within five days.
For all other nationalities, a work permit must be acquired.
Travel insurance is required to accompany your visa application.
Visa Processing Time
It should be noted that, currently, the processing time for Visa applications is a minimum of 10 working days.