German visas and residence permits in 2026 – who needs what, from EU Blue Card to Opportunity Card
Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →
An EU passport means you simply register your address. Almost everyone else needs a German residence permit, and the rules keep moving: new EU Blue Card thresholds for 2026, the Opportunity Card, online visa applications and a pause in some family reunification. Here is who needs what.
Germany's residence permit rules have moved a lot since 2024. If you are not an EU citizen, these dates matter.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| March 2024 | Experience-based route and recognition partnerships; students may work 140 days a year, up from 120 |
| 1 March 2024 | Parents may join skilled workers whose permit is first issued on or after this date |
| 1 June 2024 | The Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) starts |
| 1 January 2025 | All visa sections connected to the online Consular Services Portal |
| 1 July 2025 | Informal remonstration against visa refusals abolished |
| 24 July 2025 | Family reunification to people with subsidiary protection suspended until 23 July 2027 |
| 2026 | EU Blue Card thresholds: €50,700 a year, or €45,934.20 |
Source: BAMF, Make it in Germany, Federal Foreign Office, Residence Act and Federal Ministry of the Interior, read 23 September 2026.
Do EU and UK citizens need a residence permit in Germany?
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no visa; a valid ID card or passport covers the first three months. Beyond that, free movement covers workers, trainees, the self-employed, job-seekers – for six months, then only with a real chance of being hired – and people with enough money and health insurance. You register your address like Germans do, with no permit. After five years your right of residence becomes permanent, and a certificate of it costs €10.
Non-EU family members of EU citizens receive a residence card, meant to be valid for five years, within six months of giving the required details. It costs the same as a German ID card: €46, or €27.60 under 24.
British citizens have been third-country nationals since Brexit: visa-free visits of 90 days in any 180, but no work. To live here, enter visa-free, register your address within two weeks and apply to the Ausländerbehörde (immigration office) within 90 days; you may work only once the permit is issued. The Federal Employment Agency can approve any job for UK nationals after a labour-market priority check. Americans, Australians, Canadians, Israelis, Japanese, New Zealanders and South Koreans can do the same. If you moved here by 31 December 2020, the Withdrawal Agreement covers you; Berlin's immigration office says the Aufenthaltsdokument-GB is usually valid for ten years and allows any work.
Which German residence permit fits you?
| Route | For | Key conditions in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled worker | Recognised vocational training or degree | Job offer, Federal Employment Agency approval, recognition where required; first permit at 45 or over: at least €55,770 a year or adequate pension provision |
| EU Blue Card | Degree, or IT specialist with three years' experience in the last seven | €50,700 a year, or €45,934.20; job of at least six months |
| Experience-based route | State-recognised qualification plus two years' experience in the last five | At least 45 per cent of the pension contribution ceiling, or collectively agreed pay |
| Opportunity Card | Job-seekers | Six points or recognised skilled worker; €1,091 net a month |
| Student | Admission to a state or state-recognised university | €11,904 for the year |
| Researcher | Hosting agreement with a research institution | No Federal Employment Agency approval needed |
Source: Residence Act, Employment Ordinance and Make it in Germany, read 23 September 2026.
Apply for the visa at the German mission, online via the Consular Services Portal where available. A national visa costs €75 and a residence permit €100; allow several months for the visa. In the accelerated skilled-worker procedure your employer applies at the Ausländerbehörde for €411, and the mission usually decides within three weeks of a complete application. If you are refused, you can sue or reapply.
After entry, apply for your residence permit while the visa is valid. Apply to extend before it expires, and the permit is deemed to continue until the decision; the certificate for this, the Fiktionsbescheinigung, costs €13.
EU Blue Card Germany: what salary do you need in 2026?
For 2026 the EU Blue Card requires a gross salary of at least €50,700 a year. The lower threshold of €45,934.20 applies to shortage occupations and to graduates whose degree is less than three years old. Under the Residence Act these are 50 and 45.3 per cent of the pension contribution ceiling, €8,450 a month in 2026. Berlin's immigration office gives €4,225.00 and €3,827.85 a month and ignores bonuses and fully variable pay.
Shortage occupations include IT, science and engineering professionals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers and some managers. IT specialists without a degree need three years' relevant experience in the last seven.
Under the Residence Act the card, like a skilled-worker permit, runs for four years, or for a shorter contract its length plus six months. You may change jobs, though in the first 12 months the Ausländerbehörde can suspend a change for 30 days. A settlement permit follows after 27 months with basic German (A1), or 21 months with B1. Your spouse needs no German and may work straight away.
How does the Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) work?
Since 1 June 2024 the Opportunity Card lets you come to Germany to look for work, for up to a year. Recognised skilled workers qualify directly; everyone else needs a state-recognised qualification of at least two years' training or a degree, German at A1 or English at B2, and at least six points. For 2026 you must also show €1,091 net a month, for example in a blocked account.
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Partial recognition of your qualification | 4 |
| Five years' experience in the last seven | 3 |
| Two years' experience in the last five | 2 |
| German at B2 / B1 / A2 | 3 / 2 / 1 |
| English at C1 | 1 |
| Age up to 35 / 35 to 40 | 2 / 1 |
| Shortage occupation | 1 |
| Six months' legal stay in Germany in the last five years | 1 |
| Qualifying spouse applying with you | 1 |
Source: Residence Act (points table) and Make it in Germany, read 23 September 2026.
You may work up to 20 hours a week on average, plus trial work of up to two weeks per employer, and with a qualified job offer and Federal Employment Agency approval extend it as a follow-up card for up to two years. But the time does not count towards the general settlement permit, you are excluded from Grundsicherungsgeld – the basic income support that replaced Bürgergeld on 1 July 2026 – and in Berlin the card cannot be issued after visa-free entry.
Students, researchers and families
Students need admission and, for 2026, €11,904 for the year (€992 a month), often in a blocked account. You may work 140 full or 280 half days a year; student assistant jobs do not count. After graduating you can get up to 18 months to find a qualified job.
Researchers need a hosting agreement with a research institution; if it is recognised for the special procedure, the permit must be issued within 60 days. Spouses may take any job, and under the Residence Act researchers can qualify for a settlement permit after three years.
Spouses joining a non-EU national must generally be at least 18 and speak basic German. Spouses of Blue Card holders, skilled workers and researchers, and of nationals with visa-free long stays such as the British, need no German. Spouses of skilled workers may work without restriction, and parents or parents-in-law can join if they fund their own living costs and insurance. Children must be under 18 and unmarried, with extra requirements from 16.
Family reunification to people with subsidiary protection is suspended until 23 July 2027; hardship admissions remain possible. Temporary protection for Ukrainians now runs until 4 March 2028.
What to do now
| Step | What | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | EU/EEA citizens: register your address | Within two weeks of moving in |
| 2 | UK and other visa-free nationals: apply to the Ausländerbehörde | Within 90 days of entry |
| 3 | Everyone else: apply online for a national visa | Several months before you travel |
| 4 | Blue Card: check your salary against the 2026 thresholds | Before you sign the contract |
| 5 | Apply for your residence permit | While your visa is still valid |
| 6 | Apply to extend | Before your permit expires (Berlin: at the earliest eight weeks before) |
Source: Residence Act, Residence Ordinance, Federal Registration Act, Make it in Germany and Landesamt für Einwanderung Berlin, read 23 September 2026.
Official sources
The official pages this guide is based on, read 23 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.
- Bundesministerium des Innern – EU-Freizügigkeit · bmi.bund.de
- Personalausweis- und eID-Karten-Gebührenverordnung § 1; Aufenthaltsverordnung § 47 Abs. 3 · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Freizügigkeitsgesetz/EU § 5 · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Auswärtiges Amt – Staatenliste zur Visumpflicht; Berlin LEA – Brexit · auswaertiges-amt.de
- Beschäftigungsverordnung § 26 Abs. 1 · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Auswärtiges Amt – Kurzaufenthalte bis zu 90 Tage (Schengen-Visa) · auswaertiges-amt.de
- Auswärtiges Amt – Allgemeine Informationen zur Visumbeantragung · auswaertiges-amt.de
- Auswärtiges Amt – Pressemitteilung Abschaffung des Remonstrationsverfahrens (27.06.2025) · auswaertiges-amt.de
- Make it in Germany – EU Blue Card · make-it-in-germany.com
- Aufenthaltsgesetz § 18g · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung – Werte der Rentenversicherung · deutsche-rentenversicherung.de
- Aufenthaltsgesetz § 18 Abs. 4; Make it in Germany – EU Blue Card · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Make it in Germany – Settlement permit; BAMF – The EU Blue Card · make-it-in-germany.com
- Make it in Germany – Work visa for qualified professionals; AufenthG § 18 Abs. 2 · make-it-in-germany.com
- Make it in Germany – Job search opportunity card; AufenthG § 20a · make-it-in-germany.com
- Aufenthaltsgesetz § 20a; Make it in Germany · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Make it in Germany – Skilled Immigration Act · make-it-in-germany.com
- Aufenthaltsverordnung §§ 31a, 47; AufenthG § 81a · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Aufenthaltsgesetz § 30 · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Make it in Germany – Spouses joining citizens of non-EU countries · make-it-in-germany.com
- Make it in Germany – Family reunification for children · make-it-in-germany.com
- Auswärtiges Amt – Aussetzung des Familiennachzugs zu subsidiär Schutzberechtigten; AufenthG § 104 Abs. 14 · auswaertiges-amt.de
- Make it in Germany – Visa for studying; Auswärtiges Amt – Sperrkonto · make-it-in-germany.com
- Aufenthaltsgesetz § 16b Abs. 3; Make it in Germany – Visa for studying · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Aufenthaltsgesetz §§ 16b Abs. 2, 20; Auswärtiges Amt – Studium · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Aufenthaltsgesetz § 18d · gesetze-im-internet.de
- Make it in Germany – Research · make-it-in-germany.com
- Bundespolizei – Entry/Exit System; FAQ Grenzkontrolle · bundespolizei.de
- Bundespolizei – ETIAS · bundespolizei.de
- Bundesministerium des Innern – Meldung 21.08.2026 (teaser on Einreise und Aufenthalt page) · bmi.bund.de
- BMI – Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht; BMI – Einbürgerung; StAG § 10 · bmi.bund.de
- Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz § 10 · gesetze-im-internet.de
Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.