What are the current Blue Card Salary levels?

There a two different minimum salary levels for Blue Cards, a lower and a higher salary level. Both salary levels will are being re-defined at the beginning of every year and are then to be seen as the minimum salaries for Blue Card processing.

A Blue Card is the right type of work permit if an employee comes to Germany to work on a highly qualified job.

There are 2 Blue Card minimum salary levels:

The Blue Card minimum salary levels for until November 2023 have been

• € 58,400.00 for the High Salary Blue Card and
• € 45,552.00 for the Low Salary Blue Card.

From November 18th 2023 onwards, the Blue Card minimum salary levels are

• € 43,800.00 for the High Salary Blue Card and
• € 39,682.80 for the Low Salary Blue Card.

The salary levels / Blue Card minimum salaries are revised at the beginning of each year.

The main differences between the 2 Blue Card salary levels are, that

• from a processing perspective - the High Salary Blue Card can be obtained in an accelerated visa procedure,

• from an employment perspective - the High Salary Blue Card also entitles to employment in the area of AUG (temporary employment), while this is not permitted for employees with a Low Salary Blue Card.

The minimum salary levels are typically defined in the middle of January each year for the running calendar year. The minimum salary amounts are directly linked to the yearly re-setting of the German pension fund contributions and can therefore both, rise or fall.