It’s now official: On 18 November, the first stage of the new “Skilled Immigration Act” took effect. The regulatory changes are set to bring benefits for both national companies requiring skilled international workers able to power the energy transition, as well as green technicians looking to apply their skills in the German market. 

A key aspect of the new regulation is the introduction of the accelerated skilled labour procedure according to §81a AufenthG (beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren). This will allow employers to initiate an accelerated onboarding procedure for skilled workers while they are still living abroad. Using the “Fast Track” process, a hiring firm can now submit a skilled applicant’s documents to the Foreigners Authority (Ausländerbehörde) along with their work contract for approval. If necessary, the approval of the Employment Office (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) may also be acquired through the same process. All steps are subject to tight internal deadlines to ensure the recognition procedure takes less than two months.

This is how the process works:

If a company decides to hire an international skilled worker from abroad using the Fast Track process, they contact the Foreigners’ Authority to conclude an agreement that includes the obligations as an employer, those of the skilled worker and the authorities involved (Foreigners’ Authority, Federal Employment Agency, regional professional recognition offices, and the German diplomatic mission abroad). The company will also receive a description of the procedures, including details of the parties involved, the documents to be provided and the deadlines.

A processing fee of EUR 411.00 is charged for the procedure once this agreement is concluded with Foreigners’ Authority, which then initiates the professional recognition procedure of the foreign qualification with a competent regional office. In the case of missing documents, the Foreigners’ Authority will forward the subsequent request to the employer from the regional assessment office. The approval of the Federal Employment Agency is required in the second step of the process. This office checks whether the working conditions in the agreement roughly match those that are customary in the region of intended employment. If the Federal Employment Agency does not give any feedback within one week, the approval is considered to be granted. 

If all requirements (including the recognition of the foreign qualification and, if need be, approval by the Federal Employment Agency) are met, the Foreigners’ Authority issues a preliminary approval to the visa and send this to the firm to forward it to the international professional abroad. The international candidate then submits this preliminary approval to the local German mission abroad (check here to find your nearest German Embassy). Doing so ensures the visa applicant can receive an earlier appointment to apply for the visa which must take place within three weeks. Once the visa application has been completed on the date scheduled, a decision on the application will be made within three weeks.

Secondly, the term “skilled worker” (Fachkraft) has now been defined by law for the first time. According to §18 (3) AufenthG, there is no longer a distinction between skilled workers with vocational training and those with a university degree. Both groups include people who have either already obtained their qualification in Germany or whose qualification has been categorised as equivalent or, in the case of university education, at least comparable to a domestic qualification. The qualified vocational training must have a duration of at least two years to be considered valid. 

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