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Work permit for third-country nationals

Ausländerbehörde · Residence law

In personFederal Employment Agency

In Germany, there is no longer a separate work permit as a stand-alone document. Under § 4a of the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz, AufenthG), the residence title itself entitles you to pursue an economic activity (Erwerbstätigkeit), insofar as a law provides for this or the Ausländerbehörde (foreigners authority) has permitted it. Every residence title must therefore show whether and with what restrictions economic activity is permitted – this notation is your work permit.

If the specific employment requires the approval of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA), the Ausländerbehörde obtains it internally under § 39 AufenthG; you do not submit a second application to the employment agency (Agentur für Arbeit). “Economic activity” covers both dependent employment and self-employment (§ 2 Abs. 2 AufenthG) – permission for one is not permission for the other.

Last updated2 October 2026
Legal basis§ 4a, § 39 AufenthG · §§ 34–36 BeschV
VerificationChecked by AmtsDeutschland.de
Written and reviewed byAndrés Sánchez Botta
Independent information website: we are not the Ausländerbehörde, not an authority and not a paid advice service – we do not submit applications on your behalf. All information comes from official sources and is explained here in plain language; binding information always comes from the competent body. All information is provided without guarantee. We are neither lawyers nor tax consultants: we document official procedures and check the information against the official source – this is information, not legal or tax advice.
CostsNo separate feeResidence title fee €93.00–€100.00
Processing timeTogether with the residence titleBA approval: 2-week deadline
MethodIn personAusländerbehörde, BA internally
Required documents

What you need to bring

Valid passport or recognised passport substitute

Without a valid passport, the Ausländerbehörde can issue neither a residence title nor the notation on economic activity. The passport should cover the entire planned period of employment, because a residence title is generally issued at most until the passport’s expiry date. Your passport can only be extended or reissued by the diplomatic mission of your country of origin, not by a German authority.

Current residence title (eAT), visa or Fiktionsbescheinigung

Always bring the card together with the supplementary sheet (Zusatzblatt): it contains the ancillary provisions (Nebenbestimmungen) that determine the scope of your permission to work. If your residence title has expired and you applied for the extension in time, the Fiktionsbescheinigung (provisional residence document) under § 81 Abs. 5 AufenthG takes its place. Mere proof that you have applied or an appointment confirmation is not sufficient for the employer as proof of your permission to work.

Employment contract or binding job offer

This document is the basis of the entire examination: the Ausländerbehörde and the Federal Employment Agency use it to determine the activity, place of work, working hours, leave entitlement and pay. If this information is missing, the Federal Employment Agency cannot assess whether the working conditions are comparable under § 39 Abs. 3 AufenthG, and the procedure is delayed. Many authorities therefore also require the Federal Employment Agency’s “Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis” (declaration on the employment relationship), completed by the employer.

Proof of qualifications and recognition documents

For residence titles for skilled workers and for the EU Blue Card (Blaue Karte EU), you must submit your final certificates – usually with a certified translation. For regulated professions such as nursing, medicine, teaching or crafts that require a licence (zulassungspflichtiges Handwerk), recognition or a licence to practise the profession from the competent body of the federal state (Bundesland) is also required; without it, you must not carry out the activity even with a valid residence title. For foreign university degrees, the authority checks equivalence using the anabin database or a Statement of Comparability (Zeugnisbewertung) issued by the Central Office for Foreign Education (Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen, ZAB).

Biometric photograph for the electronic residence title

The eAT contains a biometric photograph that must meet the authority’s requirements. Many Ausländerbehörde offices now capture the photograph digitally on site or require it to be transmitted by a certified photo studio; ask before your appointment which procedure your authority uses. As a precaution, bring a suitable photograph with you so that the appointment does not have to be repeated because of a minor detail.

Registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung) or Wohnungsgeberbestätigung (landlord’s confirmation)

The competent authority is the Ausländerbehörde of your place of residence, which is why your current address must be proven. You receive the confirmation from the Bürgeramt (citizens’ office) as part of the registration of residence (Anmeldung), which must take place within two weeks of moving in. If you move to another city, the competent Ausländerbehörde also changes – an ongoing procedure is then transferred.

Means of payment for the residence title fee

The permission to work itself costs nothing, but the residence title does. Many Ausländerbehörde offices only order the production of the card once payment has been received, so a forgotten bank card can delay the process by weeks. Each authority decides for itself which means of payment it accepts – EC card, cash or bank transfer; check this in your appointment confirmation.

Step by step

How to proceed

  1. 1

    Check the notation on your own residence title

    Before you apply for anything, read the back of your eAT card and the enclosed Zusatzblatt. There are three possible notations: “Erwerbstätigkeit gestattet” (economic activity permitted) – you may pursue any employment and any self-employment; “Erwerbstätigkeit nicht gestattet” (economic activity not permitted) – all work is prohibited; “Beschäftigung nur mit Genehmigung der Ausländerbehörde erlaubt” (employment permitted only with the authorisation of the Ausländerbehörde) – you need a separate decision for the specific job. If the card already states unrestricted permission, no further official procedure is usually necessary to change jobs.

  2. 2

    Obtain an employment contract or a binding job offer

    Without a specific job, neither the Ausländerbehörde nor the Federal Employment Agency can decide, because what is examined is always a particular employment with a particular employer. Ask the company to give you complete information on the activity, working hours, leave and gross pay in writing – if the employer is bound by a collective agreement, stating the pay grade. Under § 4a Abs. 5 AufenthG, your employer is in any case obliged to check your permission to work and to keep a copy of your residence title for the duration of the employment, which is why the employer must play its part in a proper procedure.

  3. 3

    Submit the application to the competent Ausländerbehörde

    The competent authority is the Ausländerbehörde of your place of residence; depending on the local authority, appointments are allocated via an online portal, by email or via a federal state portal for foreigners. Make sure you submit the application before the expiry of your current residence title, because only then is your residence title deemed to continue until the decision under § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG, and you may continue working. If you are still abroad, the route is the visa procedure at the German mission abroad; employers can shorten the procedure considerably with an advance approval (Vorabzustimmung) or the fast-track procedure for skilled workers (beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren) under § 81a AufenthG.

  4. 4

    Internal approval procedure of the Federal Employment Agency

    If approval is required, the Ausländerbehörde forwards the matter to the Federal Employment Agency itself – you do not submit a separate application there. Under § 39 Abs. 3 AufenthG, the main question examined is whether you will be employed on less favourable working conditions than comparable domestic employees; since the Skilled Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz), a labour-market test (Vorrangprüfung) is generally no longer carried out for skilled workers and is only provided for in the exceptional cases specified by law. The procedure has a built-in time limit: under § 36 Abs. 2 of the Ordinance on the Employment of Foreigners (Beschäftigungsverordnung, BeschV), approval is deemed to have been granted if the Federal Employment Agency does not report, within two weeks of the request being transmitted, that the information transmitted is insufficient – in the cases of § 18g Abs. 4 and § 81a AufenthG, this deadline is shortened to one week.

  5. 5

    Decision, fee and handover of the eAT

    If the Federal Employment Agency grants its approval with restrictions (for example to one employer, one activity or a certain number of weekly working hours), the Ausländerbehörde includes these restrictions in the residence title under § 4a Abs. 3 AufenthG. You then pay the fee for the residence title under § 45 of the Ordinance Governing Residence (Aufenthaltsverordnung, AufenthV); no separate fee is charged for the permission to work itself. The eAT card is produced centrally and must later be collected in person; until then, the Fiktionsbescheinigung serves as proof for the employer.

  6. 6

    Start work and report changes

    Only start work once the residence title or the Fiktionsbescheinigung expressly permits economic activity – a verbal assurance from the authority or a submitted application is not enough. If your employer, activity or working hours change, first check the ancillary provisions in the Zusatzblatt: if your employment is tied to one employer there, you need a new decision for the change. With the EU Blue Card, there is an obligation to notify in the first twelve months under § 18g Abs. 4 AufenthG; your employer must also inform the Ausländerbehörde if the employment relationship ends early.

Fee information

Costs and payment

Fees

Permission to workNo separate fee
Approval of the Federal Employment AgencyFree of charge, obtained internally
Residence permit (first issue)€100.00 (§ 45 AufenthV)
Extension€93.00 or €96.00
Change in the purpose of residence€98.00
Fast-track procedure for skilled workers€411.00 (§ 47 Abs. 1 Nr. 15 AufenthV)
Place of paymentAusländerbehörde of your place of residence
Means of paymentDepends on the competent authority
The fee is charged for the residence title, not for the permission to work: the Ordinance Governing Residence does not provide for a separate fee for the notation on economic activity. The amount payable therefore depends solely on whether a residence title is issued for the first time, extended or the purpose of residence is changed. The extension fee of €93.00 or €96.00 depends on the period of the extension.
Additional costs often arise outside the Ausländerbehörde: certified translations of certificates, the Zeugnisbewertung of the Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen and the recognition procedure for regulated professions. Their fees are set by the federal states and the competent bodies in each case and vary considerably – ask the recognising body about them in advance. The employer applies for the fast-track procedure for skilled workers under § 81a AufenthG with a power of attorney; the fee of €411.00 is usually also borne by the company.
Good to know

Important notes

Three possible notations in the eAT. “Erwerbstätigkeit gestattet” (economic activity permitted) allows any employment and any self-employment without further approval. “Erwerbstätigkeit nicht gestattet” (economic activity not permitted) prohibits all work, including marginal employment and internships. “Beschäftigung nur mit Genehmigung der Ausländerbehörde erlaubt” (employment permitted only with the authorisation of the Ausländerbehörde) means that each individual job must be authorised in advance.

The Zusatzblatt is part of the permission. There is hardly any space on the card itself, so the ancillary provisions are set out in the Zusatzblatt to the residence title – for example being tied to an employer named in it, to an activity or to a maximum number of weekly working hours. If you only check the front of the card, you will overlook precisely these restrictions. Keep the Zusatzblatt together with the card and show both to your employer.

These residence titles entitle you to pursue an economic activity by operation of law. The settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) and the EU long-term residence permit (Erlaubnis zum Daueraufenthalt – EU) permit any economic activity without the approval of the Federal Employment Agency. Under § 27 Abs. 5 AufenthG, the same applies to residence permits for the purpose of family reunification and to residence permits under § 25 Abs. 1 and 2 AufenthG for recognised persons entitled to protection.

Approval is required mainly for residence titles for employment. For residence permits for the purpose of employment, the approval of the Federal Employment Agency under § 39 AufenthG is required unless the Ordinance on the Employment of Foreigners provides otherwise. §§ 34 to 36 BeschV govern how the approval may be restricted, what scope it has and how it is granted. Whether your specific situation is exempt from approval is decided by the competent Ausländerbehörde on the basis of the residence title applied for.

The labour-market test is the exception, not the rule. Since the Skilled Immigration Act, it is generally no longer checked for skilled workers whether German or European applicants with priority are available. The labour-market test is now only applied in the exceptional cases specified by law. What is examined as a rule, however, is whether the working conditions are comparable – a salary below the usual level or below the collectively agreed pay leads to refusal.

Two-week deadline for approval. Under § 36 Abs. 2 BeschV, approval is deemed to have been granted if the Federal Employment Agency does not inform the Ausländerbehörde, within two weeks of the request being transmitted, that the information is insufficient for the decision or that the employer has not provided the required information in time. In the cases of § 18g Abs. 4 and § 81a AufenthG, the deadline is only one week. Complete information from the employer is therefore the most effective lever against long waiting times.

EU Blue Card: notification instead of authorisation. The EU Blue Card is issued for the specific employment appropriate to your qualification and entitles you to carry it out without a separate work permit. No permission from the Ausländerbehörde is required to change jobs: in the first twelve months, there is merely an obligation to notify under § 18g Abs. 4 AufenthG, during which the authority can suspend the change for 30 days and refuse it before this deadline expires. After twelve months, this obligation to notify also no longer applies.

Students: 140 full days or 280 half days per year. If you hold a residence permit for the purpose of study under § 16b AufenthG, you may work to this extent without further approval. A working day of up to four hours counts as a half day, and every hour beyond that makes it a full day; on a weekly basis, up to 20 hours per week correspond to 2.5 working days. Student assistant jobs at the university do not count towards the quota.

Keep working during the extension procedure. If you applied for the extension before the expiry of your residence title, your current residence title is deemed to continue until the decision under § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG – including the permission to work it contains. The Fiktionsbescheinigung under § 81 Abs. 5 AufenthG documents this effect and itself contains a notation on economic activity. In the case of late submission of the application, this effect does not arise automatically; the authority can only order it to avoid undue hardship.

A Duldung and an Aufenthaltsgestattung are not residence titles. If you only hold a Duldung (temporary suspension of deportation) or an Aufenthaltsgestattung (permission to remain pending the asylum decision), you need the permission of the Ausländerbehörde for any employment; in some cases, the approval of the Federal Employment Agency under § 32 BeschV is also required. Separate waiting periods and employment bans apply, governed by the Residence Act and the Asylum Act (Asylgesetz, AsylG). For details, see Working with a Duldung.

Employment and self-employment are two different things. Under § 2 Abs. 2 AufenthG, “economic activity” covers both dependent employment and self-employment. If your residence title is restricted to employment, you must not simply work freelance or run a business alongside it – this requires express permission from the Ausländerbehörde. If you want to be self-employed as your main occupation, you generally need a separate residence title under § 21 AufenthG.

Employer obligations under § 4a Abs. 5 AufenthG. The employer may only employ you if your residence title permits economic activity; the employer must ask to see the document and keep a copy on paper or in electronic form for the duration of the employment. The employer must also inform the Ausländerbehörde if the employment relationship ends early. For you, this is a practical advantage: experience shows that a company that knows these obligations cooperates more quickly in the approval procedure.

Avoid these mistakes

Common mistakes

Working without permission. If you work in an employment without the required permission, you commit a regulatory offence (Ordnungswidrigkeit) under § 404 Abs. 2 Nr. 4 of Social Code Book III (Sozialgesetzbuch Drittes Buch, SGB III), which can be sanctioned with a regulatory fine (Geldbuße) of up to €5,000; under § 404 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 SGB III, the employer risks a regulatory fine of up to €500,000 and, in serious cases, criminal prosecution. In addition, there are consequences under residence law: the infringement is taken into account in the decision on the extension of your residence title and can cause the residence title to be refused.

Secondary employment despite an employer-specific ancillary provision. If your residence title is restricted to a specific employment with a specific employer, any other economic activity is prohibited as long as the authority has not permitted it: § 4a Abs. 3 Satz 4 AufenthG provides that, for a residence title for the purpose of a specific employment, “the pursuit of another economic activity [is] prohibited as long as and insofar as the competent authority has not permitted the pursuit of the other economic activity”. A mini-job at the weekend is then unauthorised employment despite a valid residence title – with the same regulatory fine consequences as working without any permission at all, because § 404 Abs. 2 Nr. 4 SGB III covers both cases in the same provision (regulatory fine of up to €5,000; for the employer up to €500,000 under § 404 Abs. 2 Nr. 3, Abs. 3 SGB III).

Submitting the application for an extension too late. The legal fiction of continued validity under § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG only applies if the application was submitted before the expiry of the residence title. If you miss the deadline, you lose your permission to work together with the residence title: the employer must end the employment immediately, as otherwise the employer commits a regulatory offence. Therefore apply for the extension several weeks before expiry – the allocation of appointments by the Ausländerbehörde offices is the real bottleneck.

Failing to notify a change of employer with the EU Blue Card. You do not need authorisation, but you do need to notify the change in the first twelve months. If you fail to do so, the Ausländerbehörde cannot examine the change within its 30-day deadline; it can subsequently object to the change and take the breach of the obligation to cooperate into account in the extension of your residence title.

Counting working days incorrectly as a student. If you ignore the four-hour limit, you use up full days twice as fast and exceed the quota of 140 full or 280 half days without noticing. Every hour beyond the quota is unauthorised employment and jeopardises the extension of your residence permit for the purpose of study. Therefore keep a record of your working days in writing.

Starting work before the decision. Neither a submitted application nor verbal information at the counter replaces the notation in the residence title or in the Fiktionsbescheinigung. If you start work beforehand, you are working without permission and your employer is employing you illegally – both are subject to regulatory fines and are regularly uncovered during inspections by the Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit (financial control of undeclared work).

Submitting incomplete information from the employer. If the Federal Employment Agency reports that the information transmitted is insufficient, the deemed approval under § 36 Abs. 2 BeschV does not apply and the procedure practically starts again from the beginning. Missing information on working hours, leave or pay therefore costs several weeks as a rule. Check the employer’s declaration line by line before submitting it.

Forgetting the recognition of your vocational qualification. In regulated professions, the residence title does not replace admission to the profession: without recognition or a licence to practise the profession from the competent body of the federal state, you must not carry out the activity, even if the eAT says “Erwerbstätigkeit gestattet”. Therefore start the recognition procedure in parallel with the residence procedure, as it can take several months.

Frequently asked questions

Questions and answers

Is there a separate work permit in Germany?

No. Since 2005, there has been no stand-alone work permit document: under § 4a AufenthG, the residence title itself entitles you to pursue an economic activity, insofar as a law provides for this or the Ausländerbehörde has permitted it. The permission is therefore shown as a notation on the eAT card or in the Zusatzblatt.

How can I tell whether I am allowed to work?

The decisive factor is the notation on the electronic residence title. There are three variants: “Erwerbstätigkeit gestattet” (economic activity permitted), “Erwerbstätigkeit nicht gestattet” (economic activity not permitted) and “Beschäftigung nur mit Genehmigung der Ausländerbehörde erlaubt” (employment permitted only with the authorisation of the Ausländerbehörde). In addition, the Zusatzblatt may contain ancillary provisions that restrict the employment to a particular employer, occupation or scope.

When is the approval of the Federal Employment Agency required?

That depends on the residence title and the Ordinance on the Employment of Foreigners. A settlement permit, the EU long-term residence permit and residence permits for the purpose of family reunification entitle you to pursue an economic activity by operation of law and do not require approval; for residence permits for the purpose of employment, approval under § 39 AufenthG is required unless the BeschV provides for an exemption from approval.

Is a labour-market test still carried out?

Since the Skilled Immigration Act, a labour-market test has generally no longer been carried out for skilled workers; in other words, it is no longer checked whether German or EU applicants with priority are available. The labour-market test is now only provided for in the exceptional cases specified by law. As a rule, however, what is examined under § 39 Abs. 3 AufenthG is whether the working conditions correspond to those of comparable domestic employees.

How much does the permission to work cost?

No separate fee is charged for the permission to work itself, and the approval of the Federal Employment Agency is free of charge. You only pay for the residence title: under § 45 AufenthV, €100.00 for issuing a residence permit, €93.00 or €96.00 for an extension depending on the extension period, and €98.00 for a change in the purpose of residence.

Am I allowed to continue working with a Fiktionsbescheinigung?

If you applied for the extension before the expiry of your residence title, your current residence title is deemed to continue until the decision under § 81 Abs. 4 AufenthG, including the permission to work it contains. Under § 81 Abs. 5 AufenthG, the Ausländerbehörde issues a Fiktionsbescheinigung confirming this effect, which also states whether economic activity is permitted. Show this document to your employer, because the employer must be able to prove your permission to work.

Do I need authorisation to change employer with the EU Blue Card?

No, permission from the Ausländerbehörde is not required to change jobs. In the first twelve months of employment, however, there is an obligation to notify under § 18g Abs. 4 AufenthG: the Ausländerbehörde can suspend the change for 30 days and refuse it before this deadline expires. After the expiry of the first twelve months, the obligation to notify also no longer applies.

How long does the procedure take?

There is no uniform nationwide processing deadline; the duration depends on the competent Ausländerbehörde and the availability of appointments. Only the stage at the Federal Employment Agency can be calculated: under § 36 Abs. 2 BeschV, its approval is deemed to have been granted after two weeks, and in the fast-track procedure for skilled workers under § 81a AufenthG after just one week.

Related official procedures

EU Blue Card
For skilled workers
From €100
Apply for a residence title
First application
From €100
Extend a residence title
Apply before expiry
From €93

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