What is a Blue Card?

A Blue Card is a work permit, which is offered in case the applicant is holding a university degree and is beeing offered a German employment contract.

The main requirements for a Blue Card are:

1. German employment contract (no deputation) offered to employee;

2. Salary meeting the current Blue Card minimum salary requirements

3. Employee to be highly qualified, meaning that

• the employee either has to hold a university degree with Anabin confirmation or
• the employee has to have at least 3 years of job experience in the relevant area.

Well organised, the processing time for a low salary Blue Card is usually 3 - 4 weeks. Please note this can only be reached by initiating the application in Germany directly and not through the Consulate. The processing needs to be initiated before the actual visa filing.

The processing time for a high salary Blue Card is faster and usually only takes 1 - 2 weeks, counted from visa filing with the Consulate.

In both cases, additional time needs to planned if the applicant has been living or working in Germany beforehand, as then a police background check needs to be processed. Which can take something between 4 and 12 weeks.

Once a Blue Card is issued, it allows to carry out the specific work it was applied for. After the completion of a period of 2 years, the applicant is being granted the option of changing his employer (§ 19 Abs. 4 AufenthG). After a period of 33 months (or 21 months under exceptions), the applicant can then convert the Blue Card into a permanent residence permit.