Immigration to Germany | HEUSER RECHT UND STEUERN
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three months. The Blue Card EU can be
renewed, extending the expiry date.
For the first two years of residence, the
Blue Card EU is dependent on specific
employment with a particular employer
and every change of employment has
to be approved by the Federal Labour
Office. After that, any highly qualified
job will suffice, if all other conditions are
still met. However, self-employment is
excluded.
The Blue Card EU also allows visafree
stays of up to 90 days within 180
days for tourist purposes in all other
Schengen countries. Additionally, Blue
Card EU holders are able to stay for up
to 12 consecutive months in a non-EU
country without their residence permit
expiring.
After the Blue Card EU has expired, a
(former) card holder can enter any other
Member State without a visa 18 months
after expiration and apply for a new Blue
Card EU for that Member State within
one month.
In order to get a Blue Card EU, three
conditions must be met in addition to
the general visa requirements (valid
passport, sufficient insurance, sufficient
financial resources, etc.):
• First and foremost, a completed
university degree must have been
obtained. If the university degree was
not acquired from a German university,
the degree must be comparable
and recognized by the responsible
authorities or additional measures
have to be taken for the recognition.
Currently, there is no option of
obtaining a Blue Card EU in Germany
without such a university degree.
• It is necessary to have either a
specific job offer or an already signed
or existing employment contract.
• The gross annual income has to
exceed the current threshold for a
Blue Card EU. In 2019 the gross annual
income threshold for the Blue Card EU is
53.600 Euro in general and a reduced
41.808 Euro for jobs where there is a
shortage of applicants (e.g. doctors,
mathematicians etc.). For those
cases the approval of the Federal
Employment Agency is required.
For the Blue Card EU itself no German
language skills are required for the
application. However, if the aspiration is
to acquire a permanent residence permit
following the Blue Card EU, the waiting
period for an application for that permit
can be reduced from 33 months to 21
months, if proof of sufficient knowledge
of the German language (language level
B1) is provided.
The application can be filed either with
the German Embassy in the country of
residence or the Ausländerbehörde
(local foreigner’s office) or a Welcome
Center in Germany. To be approved
the application has to entail the filledout
application form with all relevant
documents proving that all conditions
are met.