How to move to Germany

Do you want to move to Germany? This page explains whether you can, and how.

Introduction

Despite the misconceptions harboured by… some… people, non-EU citizens cannot simply move to Germany “because they want to”. Just like every other country on Earth (with the notable exception of the Svalbard archipelago - but then, it’s an icy wasteland), Germany only lets foreigners live in Germany under certain conditions - broadly speaking, it lets those in who bring some benefit to the country.

This is formalised in German immigration law by different kinds of visas and residence permits, each of which is tied to a set of conditions. If you meet the conditions, then you can apply for that particular kind of visa/residence permit, which will then be granted - there is no lottery. Conversely, if you don’t meet the preconditions, then your application will be rejected, and you will be turned away at the German border. There are no quotas for applicants from specific countries.

Each kind of permit allows you to do different things within Germany (e.g. work, study, freelance, etc), and most kinds of permits are time-limited.

How to move to Germany

Therefore, if you want to move to Germany, you should look at the different kinds of visas and residence permits for Germany (see the long list below), and see which one most closely aligns with your background and plans for what to do in Germany (e.g. if you’re looking to study at a German university, look into the student residence permit). Then study the preconditions, see which ones you already meet, and then work on meeting the rest.

Once you’re sure that you meet the preconditions, apply for the residence permit (usually at your local German embassy, although certain people can travel to Germany first and apply for a residence permit from within Germany - see below). Once it’s granted you can move to Germany and start the next chapter in your life.

Semantics

The terms “visa” and “residence permit” are often used interchangeably, and while they are similar in some ways, it’s important to distinguish between the two. Oversimplifying greatly, a visa allows you to enter a country, and a residence permit allows you to stay (live) there.

Most citizens of non-EU countries require a visa to even be allowed to enter Germany for any reason (including short stays for tourism)^[1]. They have to apply for the visa at the German consulate in their home country before being allowed to travel to Germany.

However, there are some countries with which Germany has signed a visa-free travel agreement, and the citizens of those countries can travel to Germany without applying for a visa first. They include (among others) Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, the USA, and Venezuela^([2][34]).

If a non-EU national wants to stay in Germany for longer than 90 days, and/or want to come to Germany for purposes other than being a tourist or short-term business visitor, then they must apply for a residence permit at the foreigners’ office (Ausländerbehörde) of the city where they live in Germany. The citizens of certain countries (Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA^([2])) can enter Germany without a visa, and then apply for a residence permit from within Germany, while citizens of other countries must first apply for a visa at the German consulate in their home country, and then apply for the residence permit once they have arrived in Germany^([9]).

German immigration law distinguishes between:

  • Aufenthaltserlaubnis, a residence permit
  • Blue Card, a special type of residence permit for highly qualified professionals
  • ICT Card, a special type of residence permit for intra-company transfers
  • Niederlassungserlaubnis, a settlement permit (also called “permanent residency”)

The first three are temporary, while the fourth is indefinite.

Official sources

If you Google “moving to Germany” or other related terms, you will be confronted with a flood of websites giving advice and tips. It’s important to know that there is a lot of outdated, contradictory, incomplete, or just plain wrong information floating around on the internet about immigration law. Not only is immigration law complicated (and many people rely on hearsay), but the laws change all the time.

Therefore, it’s vitally important that you cross-check the information on any website (including this one!) with official German government sources, and do not rely solely on information from the top result on Google. Make sure to check who the author/owner of a website is - for example, the official-sounding germany-visa.org website is actually run by some dude in Kosovo, and is full of errors.

Health insurance

Everyone applying for a long-stay residence permit (so excluding the 90-day Schengen visa) must show proof that they have health insurance, with coverage comparable to German public health insurance.

Paths for coming to Germany

A. Short term tourist or business travel

You can come to Germany (and the entire Schengen zone) as a tourist or on business^([1]). You can then stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days out of any 180 - which means that, after 90 days in the Schengen area, you must leave it for at least another 90. For a more complicated case, you can use the EU short stay visa calculator to see whether you comply with the rules.

Citizens of countries which allow visa-free travel to Germany (see above) can visit Germany under the same conditions as for the formal Schengen visitor visa (e.g. maximum length of stay, prohibition against working, etc), but they are not given a formal visa.

Preconditions

The exact conditions for being granted a Schengen tourist visa depend on the country they are being issued in^([1]), but, broadly speaking:

  • You can convince the consulate that you’re coming to Germany as a tourist or on business (and not, for example, to find work, or to attempt to enter and stay in Germany illegally).
  • You have to have sufficient funds to cover the costs of your trip and your stay in Germany.
  • You can convince the consulate that you will leave the Schengen area before the 90 days are up (e.g. you can show a return ticket, and some ties to your home country).
  • You have travel health insurance with at least 30k€ of coverage

If you do not have sufficient financial means to pay for your trip and stay, and if you have a German resident who is willing to cover them for you (by means of writing an official letter), then you can still be granted a visa.

Limitations

The Schengen tourist visa is intended for, well, tourists, as well as people visiting friends and family, and business travellers. More specifically, you can work for a foreign employer during your stay in the Schengen zone, provided that the work is related to your stay (e.g. visiting clients or customers, scouting out local business opportunities, etc). You’re not allowed to simply work remotely (i.e. work which could be done anywhere else), so being a “digital nomad” while on a tourist visa is illegal. You may study for the duration of the visa (e.g. in a short-term university exchange program, or a language school).

However, you may not work for a German employer under a Schengen tourist visa^([3]), so you can’t (for example) finance your stay with some short-term bar work.

B. German or EU citizens

This one is easy. If you’re a German or EU citizen (i.e. you have a German or EU passport), then you can come to Germany whenever you like, stay as long as you like, and do whatever you like (work, study, or just sit by the sea watching the waves come in).

Descendants of German citizens

The child of a German citizen is under many - but by no means all - circumstances themselves a German citizen, even if they are not aware of it. This means that if one of your parents is a German citizen, then (under most cases) so are you - and if one of your grandparents was a German citizen at the time of your parent’s birth, then your parent is one too (perhaps without realising it), and so on back through time.

German citizenship is possible in many cases if you have a German ancestor who emigrated from Germany after 1903 and in very few cases even it the ancestor emigrated 1871-1903. Please use our guide to German citizenship by descent to find out if you are eligible or ask over at r/GermanCitizenship.

Note that merely being born in Germany does not automatically confer German citizenship - German nationality law is based mostly on descent, not place of birth (unlike, for example, US nationality law). However, there are some exceptions - for example, children born in Germany after the year 2000 are granted German citizenship if their parents were living in Germany for at least eight years and have permanent residency.

If you think you have a solid case, then you can file to have your German citizenship recognised and documented. Assuming you have all the documentation to support your case, you will receive a German passport and can move to Germany (or any other EU country).

Descendants of Jews and other persecuted groups

You can become a German citizen if your ancestor belonged to a group that was persecuted by the Nazis and this lead to a loss of German citizenship

  • because your ancestor was categorized by the Nazis as Jewish and lived outside of Germany at any point in time between 25 November 1941, and 8 May 1945. Or because the Nazis deprived your ancestor individually of their German citizenship by publishing their name in the Reich Gazette (Reichsanzeiger)? You qualify for German citizenship under Article 116 of the German constitution, continue here.
  • for any other reason, e.g. because your ancestor fled from Germany, gave up their German citizenship, naturalized as the citizen of another country between 1933 and 25 February 1955, or your ancestor was female and married a foreigner before 24 May 1949? You qualify for German citizenship under section 15 of the German nationality act, continue here.

Or did the Nazis exclude your ancestor from getting German citizenship through marriage, legitimation or the collective naturalization of ethnic Germans during this period, or by not granting your ancestor German citizenship upon application, or by generally excluding a group your ancestor belonged to from naturalization which would otherwise have been possible upon application? Continue here.

C. University students, language students, and school exchange

If have enrolled in a German university degree course, then you can get a student residency permit for the duration of your studies^([4]). The main precondition is that you have sufficient financial means to cover all your costs (tuition plus cost of living) during your studies, which are roughly 10k€ per year of study. The residence permit is valid as long as you remain enrolled in your original degree course - if you change universities or degree courses, you have to apply for a new permit.

Both full-time and part-time degree courses are eligible, but distance learning courses are not^([7]). The student residence permit also covers the Studienkolleg (a pre-university course for people who don’t quite qualify for direct enrolment at university).

Under this residence permit, you are allowed to work part-time next to your studies (up to 120 full days a year). You are not allowed to work while attending a Studienkolleg. Students are not allowed to freelance (although in exceptional cases they can apply for a separate freelancer residence permit, see below)^([24]).

Once you have completed your studies and graduated, you automatically become eligible for an 18-month job seeker residence permit (see below), so that you may look for work corresponding to your qualifications.

The wiki pages about studying in Germany go into much more details for university students.

D. Language students and school exchange

Similarly to university students (see above), you can get a residence permit to attend a language school in Germany (to learn German). The preconditions are similar to above: you must be enrolled in the language school, and that you have sufficient funds to cover all your costs (including tuition costs at the language school).^([5])

The maximum duration is twelve months. The course must be intensive (at least 18 hours / week), and you may not work while attending language school.^([6])

Similar conditions apply for secondary school students coming to Germany on a school exchange.

E. Vocational training

Germany has a strong non-university tertiary qualification system, which includes apprenticeships, vocational training schemes, and dual training schemes. You work part-time for an employer, and study part-time at a vocational training institute. Once you’ve passed your exams (after usually 2-3 years), you would be fully qualified to carry out your chosen profession.

Significant numbers of professions in Germany are accessed through this vocational training system (as opposed to a university degree), including electrician, nurse, police officer, bank clerk, salesperson, medical assistant, mechanic, carpenter, programmer, optician, air traffic controller, and much more. Browse a portal like Ausbildung.de to learn more about some of these jobs, look up prerequisites, and search for openings.

While most training schemes pay a minimal salary, it’s usually not enough to live on. Also note that knowing at least B2 German (or higher, in some cases) is vital to being accepted into one of these training schemes.

In order to get a residence permit to begin your training, you first have to have a job offer from an employer (who would employ you as a trainee), but you’ll only get the residence permit if the employer can show that you’re being hired because no other German, EU citizen, or refugee in Germany was available, qualified, and interested in filling that training slot.^([8])

If you successfully complete your training, then you get an automatic one-year residence permit to search for work corresponding to your qualification.^([8]) Should you find such a job, then you will receive a residence permit to work (see below).

F. People with a vocational qualification

If you have a vocational (i.e. non-academic) qualification, which you acquired abroad, then you can come and work in Germany^([12]), provided that:

  • You have a job offer corresponding to your qualification, and
  • Your qualification is equivalent to a German qualification.

If your qualification doesn’t quite match up to its German equivalent, then you can come to Germany for up to 18 months for supplementary training. Obviously, if you acquired your qualification in Germany, then a matching job offer is sufficient for a residence permit.

It used to be the case that you could only get a residence permit if your profession was on the whitelist for shortage professions in Germany (the so-called Positivliste, issued by the German federal ministry for labour), but this restriction was lifted with the new immigration law which came into force in March 2020.

G. Highly qualified specialists (Blue Card)

Highly skilled specialists with a job offer have a fairly straightforward track to a residence permit in Germany, the Blue Card^([11]).

Preconditions are^([10]):

  • A university degree which is recognised in Germany.
  • A job offer from a German employer. This job offer must be related to your degree and broadly in line with your qualifications. It must also pay at least 55.2 k€ (gross, per year), or 43.1 k€ if it’s in the area of mathematics, IT, sciences, engineering, or medicine (excluding dentistry). Note that these limits are increased a little each year.

If you meet the higher salary threshold, then you are automatically issued with a residence permit. If you only meet the lower salary threshold, then the German federal employment agency must first approve your application (they check to make sure you are not being grossly underpaid). The job must be both related to your degree and require a university degree^([14]).

The Blue Card residence permit is valid for the duration of the employment contract, up to a maximum of four years. It can be renewed if you continue to meet the preconditions. You can also apply for permanent residency (see below) sooner than foreigners who are in Germany under other types of residence permit.

If you lose your job or want to change jobs within the first two years of your stay, you must inform the immigration authorities beforehand. In that case, you generally get three months to find a new job (which must also meet the preconditions listed above).

For tips on how to find a job in Germany, and which qualifications and skills are in demand, see our wiki pages on working in Germany.

H. People with a university degree or a vocational qualification

Even if you don’t meet the requirements for a Blue Card (see above), you may be able to come to Germany to work. The preconditions are^([13]):

  • A university degree which is recognised in Germany and considered equivalent to a German degree, or a vocational qualification considered equivalent to a German Ausbildung^([14]).
  • A job offer from a German company in line with your degree

Previously, graduates who didn’t meet the salary threshold for a Blue Card had to pass the EU labour market test (i.e. prove that they were only being hired because no German or EU citizen was available and qualified to take the job in their stead), but this barrier was removed with the new immigration law which came into force in March 2020.

The job offer doesn’t necessarily have to require a university degree, although it should be in a field related to your degree^([14]). Note that Germany has an extensive system of highly regarded non-university vocational qualifications (see above), so merely having a university degree doesn’t necessarily give you an advantage in getting a job which doesn’t necessarily require a degree (instead, employers will often favour people with the appropriate vocational qualification over someone with a generic university degree).

I. IT specialists

IT specialists can get a residence permit to work in Germany, even if they don’t have a university degree or formal qualification (see paths above). If you want to go down this road, you need^([35]):

  • At least three years of experience in IT
  • The required knowledge to perform the job (e.g. certifications)
  • A job offer from a German employer with a salary above 51k
  • At least B1 German

J. Other people with a job offer

If you have a job offer from a German employer, and even if you don’t have a university degree or vocational qualification (and therefore don’t meet the criteria for the paths described above), you may still be able to get a residence permit to work in Germany.

Your employer would need to demonstrate to the immigration authorities that you are only being hired because there were no other suitable candidates who were German, EU citizens, or refugees in Germany - this is referred to as the “EU labour market test”. Given that the EU has close to half a billion people, this is normally a very tall hurdle to clear, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. For example, if you have a fairly niche skillset, and/or are applying for a job with a very narrow job description, then you may be in with a chance. Also, in some industries (like the IT industry) demand for employees, with or without formal qualifications, is so high that prospective employees have a decent chance of passing the labour market test (depending on how specific the job ad is).

For information and tips on how to find jobs in Germany, see our wiki guide to working in Germany.

Note that there is no “visa sponsorship” in Germany (that is a concept from American immigration law). A company wanting to employ you is not in itself sufficient grounds for a residence permit; rather, both you and the job you’re being hired for have to meet the criteria enumerated above.

K. Scientists

If you have a scientific degree and an agreement to conduct research at a German institution (e.g. a university or a research centre), then you can get a residence permit to do so^([15]). The residence permit is valid for the duration of your research contract, and once it runs out, you can stay in Germany for up to nine more months to look for another post. You may do some limited teaching while on a research residence permit.

Scientists with a recognised university degree can also get a residence permit to work, provided their job offer is line with their qualifications (see above).

L. Intra-company transfers (ICT)

If you’re working for a company abroad, that company has an office/factory/site in Germany, and your employer needs you to work at their site in Germany (for longer than the 90 days provided by the business visa), then you will be granted a residence permit^([16]), provided that:

  • The transfer is temporary
  • Your skills are required at the German site (this means you’d likely have to be a manager employed to lead a team at the site, a specialist with critical skills which are not available in the German labour market, or a trainee who is being trained by your employer, and who needs to spend time at the German site as part of their training), and your qualifications must match the position.
  • You must have been employed at the company for at least six months, and you must continue to be employed by your employer in your home country after the end of your stay in Germany.

An ICT residence permit lasts for the length of the transfer, up to a maximum of three years (one year for trainees).

M. University graduates looking for work

If you have a university degree, then you can come to Germany for up to six months to look for work^([13]). You are not allowed to work during this period, so you’d only get the residence permit if you have sufficient savings to support yourself during this period.

Note that there is a persistent rumour that this jobseeker residence permit requires B1 German or 5 years’ experience, but this is incorrect.

If you graduated from a university in Germany, then this residence permit is valid for up to eighteen months, and you are allowed to work while you search for a more “permanent” job^([13]).

N. Freelancers

People who are looking to start a business in Germany, or be a freelancer in Germany, can get a residence permit to do so^([17]).

Preconditions

  1. Your business must be viable, and
  2. Your business must bring some benefit to the local economy

To (1): When you apply for the freelancer residence permit, you will be asked to submit a business plan to the immigration authorities. This business plan needs to show that your business has a good chance to succeed (and be able to support you financially). This includes aspects like:

  • Do you have the necessary skills and experience to run your business?
  • Is there a market for your product or service? Do you already have customers lined up (e.g. letters of intent to hire you)?
  • What are your expected earnings?
  • Do you have secured financing, and how much of your personal wealth are you investing?
  • What are your expected expenses (not just for your business but also for yourself personally)? Don’t forget about mandatory insurances, including health insurance for yourself and pension/retirement savings. In particular, people above the age of 45 need to demonstrate that they have sufficient retirement savings.

To (2): If you’re planning on starting a business, will that business benefit the local economy in some way? For example, will you contribute to research and development, fill a market need (e.g. are there clients in need of your services), and/or provide employment? It’s not enough to simply say “I will pay German taxes”. You can have some clients outside of Germany, but if you have exclusively foreign clients (and can show no other benefits to the local economy), then you will not receive a residence permit.

Note that the “you must bring benefit to the local economy” criteria does not apply to professions which are classified as Freiberufler. These include journalists, translators, writers, engineers, architects, lawyers, and a few others. If your profession falls under this category, then you can get a freelancer residence permit in Germany even if you don’t fulfil the “benefit to the local economy” criterion.

Freelancing in Germany

Note that the definition of “freelancer”/”self-employed” in German law is narrower than in some other jurisdictions. Notably, freelancers must not work for a client in an “employee-like” manner. Many “independent contractors” in other countries would be considered “employees” under German labour law. The key word is Scheinselbständigkeit (“fake freelancing”); if you claim to be a freelancer while actually working as an employee, then you’d be breaking German labour law, and the German authorities will come after you.

For more details, see our guides to freelancing and remote work.

The freelancer residence permit is valid for three years. While it cannot be renewed, you can subsequently apply for permanent residency if you fulfil the preconditions (see below).

The All About Berlin blog has a guide to obtaining a freelancer visa in Germany, and a guide on renewing a freelance visa. There are also two guides about moving to Germany to start a business.

The Settle in Berlin blog has a detailed guide about how to get started as a freelancer in Germany & how to do a great freelancer visa application for Germany.

Freelancing as a student

By default, non-EU students are not allowed to freelance. In exceptional circumstances, and assuming they can prove that their freelance activities will not interfere with their studies (in addition to all the other criteria listed above), then students can get a permit to freelance under §21(6) AufenthG.

O. Au-pair

If you would like to come to Germany to be an au pair, then you can get a residence permit to do so^([18]). You must show a signed au pair contract, and your host family must speak German at home (or, if they don’t, then you can’t have the same nationality as your host family)^([19]). You must be younger than 27 are eligible, and you must know basic German. The residence permit is valid for a year (and cannot be renewed).

P. Interns

If your university degree (at a foreign university) requires an internship, then you can get a residence permit to complete your internship in Germany^([18]), provided that:

  • The internship is part of your degree curriculum (or is otherwise required for graduation), or
  • The internship is funded by an EU programme, you have a scholarship from a EU programme, or similar criteria.

You can also do a short-term internship (up to 90 days in any twelve months) without applying for a residence permit^([20]).

Students enrolled in a German university degree course can do mandatory internships under the terms of their existing student residence permit.

If your internship does not meet the requirements above, then you will have to apply for a normal residence permit to work, and will have to pass the EU labour market test (see above for details).

Q. Working holiday

Citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Uruguay, Argentina, and Hong Kong^([18]) are eligible for a youth mobility residence permit (commonly known as a “working holiday” residence permit). You must be between 18 and 30 years old (a few countries extend this to 35^([21])), the residence permit lasts a year, and cannot be renewed.

With this residence permit, you can work at any “regular” job, can do an internship, and can attend language school. However, you cannot study at university, freelance, or work as an au pair^([22]).

Note that you don’t need a concrete job offer to obtain a youth mobility residence permit, and neither are you required to speak German. However, your chances of finding work without speaking German are fairly low, and if you don’t find work, then you will (presumably) use up your savings fairly quickly and run out of money.

R. Volunteering

If you are enrolled in a German volunteering program (e.g. Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr, Freiwilliges Ökologisches Jahr, or Bundesfreiwilligendienst^([23])), then you can get a residence permit for the duration of your volunteering service in Germany, up to a maximum of one year^([18]).

There is a guide on out how to find volunteering opportunities

S. Refugees

If your country is in civil war, or you are at high risk of severe persecution due to your beliefs, political affiliations, etc, then you could try and apply for asylum in Germany. Note that the bar for this is set very high - for more information, see the website of the German federal ministry for migration.

T. Family reunification

In principle, if you hold a residence permit for Germany, you are allowed to bring your spouse and your minor children with you^([25]). However, there are a few restrictions.

  • For spouses, family reunification is only possible if they are legally married; cohabiting partners, girlfriends/boyfriends, and spouses who only have a civil partnerships are not eligible. Same-sex spouses (assuming they are legally married) are treated the same way as different-sex spouses.
  • The trailing spouse must demonstrate basic knowledge of German (generally, an A1 certificate is required, except if their spouse is in Germany on a Blue Card residence permit^([10])).
  • The residence permit holder has to demonstrate that the have sufficient financial means to support their trailing children/spouse. Additionally, the immigration authorities often check whether they have sufficient space in their apartment, but the limits here are very generous (around 9 m² per adult, depending on the state).
  • Children under 16 can always follow their parents to Germany; children between 16 and 18 can only join their parents under certain circumstances.
  • Youth Mobility Visa holders are not eligible to bring family members with them^([21]), and refugees can only bring their family members with them under certain circumstances^([25]).

Under a family reunification residence permit you may work, freelance, or study in Germany. As a general rule, the trailing spouse of a German must participate in an integration course after arriving in Germany^([31]), unless they already speak at least B1 German, or can otherwise demonstrate that they will integrate easily into German society.

Family members who are not spouses and children (e.g. parents or cousins) of someone with a German residence permit cannot join them in Germany, unless they can prove extreme hardship. In practice it’s nearly impossible, so the only realistic way is for the trailing relative to apply for a residence permit “on their own merits”.

If a minor child has German citizenship, then their parents may come to Germany on a family reunification residence permit, assuming they have legal custody of the child, and will be exercising that custody in Germany^([26][33]).

U. Jews from the former Soviet Union

Jews from the former Soviet Union can move to Germany, provided that they haven’t previously emigrated to another country (e.g. Israel or the US), speak A1 German, can sustain themselves financially in Germany, and will actively participate in the Jewish community in Germany^([30]).

Insufficient conditions for a residence permit

If you don’t meet any of the criteria listed above, then it’s nearly certain that you will not receive a residence permit to come to Germany. For the avoidance of doubt, a few common scenarios which are not in and of themselves sufficient for a residence permit include:

  • Being American
  • Wanting to live in Germany
  • Working remotely for a non-German employer
  • Having a non-married partner (e.g. boyfriend / girlfriend) who lives in Germany
  • Having extended family (i.e. not parents or children) living in Germany
  • Having German heritage (not German citizenship), or feeling an affinity for Germany
  • Being rich (or an “investor”)
  • Having a secured income (e.g. from investments or a military pension) and wanting to live in Germany without working

Staying in Germany long term

Permanent residency

All the residence permits described above are either explicitly time-limited (e.g. the language learning residence permit only lasts up to a year), or are tied to a precondition and must be renewed on a regular basis (e.g. a residence permit to work is tied to a qualifying job, and if you lose your job and can’t find an equivalent one, then your residence permit expires and you must leave the country).

Once you’ve held a residence permit for five years, have paid into the public pension system for at least five years (60 months), and can show that you are well-integrated into German society, then you can apply for and receive permanent residency in Germany (Niederlassungserlaubnis). With permanent residency, your stay in Germany is no longer tied to any preconditions - you can therefore work at any job which will hire you, be a freelancer, study, or just lie on the grass and watch the clouds drift by.

The one thing you can’t do with permanent residency is live abroad - if you spend more than 6 months abroad (12-18 months under certain circumstances, or with special permission), then your permanent residency expires^([28]).

Preferential conditions

Certain groups can receive permanent residency sooner and/or under more relaxed conditions, and these include:

  • If you have a Blue Card, you can receive permanent residency after only 33 months, presuming you’ve been paying into the state pension fund during this period, and can show A2 German proficiency. With B1 German, then the period is shortened to 21 months^([10]).
  • If you have a freelancer residence permit, then you can receive permanent residency after 3 years if you can demonstrate that your business is successful and providing sufficient income to sustain yourself and any dependents you may have.
  • If you are a skilled worker (i.e. you have a university degree or recognised vocational qualification), then you can receive permanent residency after 4 years, provided you can demonstrate B1 German proficiency. This is shortened to 2 years if you acquired your qualifications (e.g. university degree) in Germany.
  • If you’ve had a family reunification residence permit for 3 years, you still live with the German family member in Germany, and speak at least B1 German^([36]).

Permanent EU residency

After having lived in Germany for five years, you can also apply for an EU residency permit^([27]), which lowers the hurdles for living and working in any EU member state (except Denmark and Ireland). However, it’s not as straightforward as for someone with EU citizenship, as countries can (and do) still apply the labour market test when considering candidates with EU permanent residency (e.g. a Spanish employer would prefer, or, under certain circumstances must, employ a Spanish or EU citizen before employing an Indian citizen with permanent EU residency in Germany).

Citizenship

Once you have lived in Germany for eight years (and either have permanent residency or a non-student residence permit), you can apply for German citizenship^([29][32]). You would need to pass a B1 German test and a citizenship exam, and must not have been convicted of any crimes. This time can be shortened for spouses of German citizens (to three years, of which you have to be married for at least two)^[37], as well as people who can demonstrate significant integration and engagement in their local community, as well as advanced German (higher than B2).

The six/eight years don’t have to be consecutive - it’s possible to live in Germany for a while, leave, return, and have the time spent in Germany the first time around be counted towards citizenship. However, this is limited to five years, and is at the discretion of the clerk processing your application.

When compared with permanent residency, citizens have more rights in Germany. For one thing, they can leave Germany for as long as they like (while still enjoying the full protection of the German government). They can join the armed forces police, and the civil service (many jobs in the civil service are limited to citizens and EU nationals). They can freely live and work in any EU country. And, most importantly, they can vote and thus influence the future direction of the country.

When applying for German citizenship, you will have to renounce all other citizenships you hold, except if:

  • Your country does not allow its citizenship to be revoked (e.g. Iran, Morocco, Algeria), or
  • You have EU citizenship, or
  • You can prove that you maintain close ties to the country of your citizenship, and that renouncing it would cause you significant financial harm (e.g. if you have a public pension which is tied to your citizenship, or if your country charges such high fees for renouncing citizenship that they would jeopardise your finances).

References