How to Apply for a German Working Holiday Visa in Germany
This page details how, where and when to apply for a German Working Holiday Visa at an immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany. In our guide, we lay out the complete visa process and requirements to help ensure you have a successful application.
Who is this guide for?
👌 Only citizens from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Uruguay can apply for the German Working Holiday Visa.
To apply, you must be 18–30 years old (you can apply until your 31st birthday). The only exception to this is Canadians, who can be 18–35 years old (you can apply until your 36th birthday).
🌎 Only citizens from certain countries are permitted to apply for the German Working Holiday Visa at an immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) after their arrival in Germany. If you are from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan or New Zealand, you can enter Germany without a visa for 90 days. During this 90-day period, you can apply for a German Working Holiday Visa. This guide is for you.
🛑 Citizens from all other countries must apply for the German Working Holiday Visa before arriving in Germany. This must be done at a German consulate or embassy outside of Germany. We have explained how to do this in the following guide:
For an overview of how to move to Germany on a working holiday, see our German Working Holiday Checklist.
German Working Holiday Visa: Application Process
1️⃣ Move to Germany. Enter Germany without a visa and complete your Anmeldung (address registration).
2️⃣ Book a German Working Holiday Visa appointment at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
3️⃣ Apply for the German Working Holiday Visa at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
We have expanded on each of these steps below.
1️⃣ Move to Germany and complete your Anmeldung
If you are from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan or New Zealand, you can enter Germany without a visa for 90 days. You then have 90 days to apply for the German Working Holiday Visa.
🏠 Important! In order to apply for a visa at an immigration office in Germany, you must first officially register at an address in Germany. The process of registering at an address is called Anmeldung. Without Anmeldung, you will not be permitted to apply for a visa at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde).
If you are having trouble finding accommodation in Germany where you can complete your Anmeldung, then here are some good places to look:
Smartments (see our review for more details)
ImmoScout24 (see our guide for more details)
For further information on how to find an apartment in Germany, see our German Apartment Hunting Guide.
Once you have successfully registered at an address in Germany, you will be issued an Anmeldung certificate, which you will be required to show at your German Working Holiday Visa appointment. You can now move on to step 2 below.
2️⃣ Book a German Working Holiday Visa appointment at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
❗ Note: Outside of larger German cities, immigration office workers may have very limited knowledge of the German Working Holiday Visa. Surprisingly, when contacting smaller immigration offices in Germany, you may even find that they have not heard of the visa before.
You must apply for the German Working Holiday Visa at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany. To find your local immigration office in Germany, enter your postcode into this tool.
Once you have located your local immigration office, you need to then arrange a visa appointment directly with the office. For immigration offices in larger cities (e.g. Berlin), you will find an online appointment booking platform on their official websites. For smaller immigration offices, you may need to email or call them in order to arrange a suitable visa appointment.
📅 Top tip! Visa appointment slots often fill up months in advance. Therefore, it is important to be prepared. Contact your local immigration office as early as possible in your relocation to ensure that you secure an appointment date within your 90-day visa-free period.
Once you have secured a suitable visa appointment, you will likely receive an email detailing the time, date and location for your appointment. You can now start preparing the relevant paperwork for step 3; applying for your German Working Holiday Visa.
3️⃣ Apply for the German Working Holiday Visa at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
❗ Note: Individual immigration offices in Germany sometimes have slightly different application requirements. However, the documents listed below are the standard, minimum application documents required for the German Working Holiday Visa. Prior to your appointment, we recommend that you double-check with your local immigration office to see if they have any additional requirements on top of what is listed below
To apply for a German Working Holiday Visa at your local immigration office, you will be required to submit:
✅ A passport
Your passport must:
Have at least 2 free pages.
Be valid for 3 months longer than the intended visa duration.
Have been issued within the last 10 years.
✅ A passport photo
Guidelines for taking compliant biometric passport photos can be found here. Some immigration offices will request multiple photos so we recommend taking at least 3 identical passport photos to your appointment.
✅ Health insurance
You must have suitable health insurance cover to apply for the German Working Holiday Visa. The insurance must cover:
The entire duration of the 12-month visa.
At least €30,000 in medical cover.
Repatriation to your home country.
Top tip! To ensure you meet the health insurance requirements for the German Working Holiday Visa, our favourite option is Feather’s expat health insurance. This policy not only meets the requirements for the visa and is approved by German immigration offices but is also competitively priced and can be quickly signed up for online.
For further info, see our guide to Feather Insurance.
✅ Proof of address
To apply for the German Working Holiday Visa, you must show proof of your official registered address in Germany. To do this, you should show your Anmeldung certificate – you will have received this certificate when you completed your Anmeldung in Germany (see step 1 above).
To find accommodation in Germany that permits Anmeldung, see our German Apartment Hunting Guide.
✅ Sufficient savings
To apply for the German Working Holiday Visa, the German immigration authorities require that you have a certain level of savings. The required savings amount can vary depending on where you apply in Germany but is generally €2000.
The easiest way to show that you have sufficient funds is via a recent bank statement that shows:
Your name
The account balance
The date of the balance (if possible, the bank statement should be no older than 5 days old at the time of your visa appointment)
✅ Visa application form
You will need to complete and submit a visa application form. You can obtain this form from your local immigration office in Germany – check your local immigration office’s website to see if there is a downloadable version of the form.
✅ Visa application fee
The fee for the visa varies depending on where you apply. However, you can expect to pay no more than €100 (the current fee charged in Berlin).
😨 Top tip! Not all immigration office workers will speak English. When applying for your visa, it is important that you can communicate clearly. Therefore, we suggest that you attend your appointment with a German interpreter or a German-speaking friend.
🎉 Congratulations! You have now completed all the steps for applying for a German Working Holiday Visa at an immigration office in Germany! Once approved, you will receive your visa and then have 12 months to live, work and travel in Germany.
For further information on how to set up in Germany on a working holiday, see our German Working Holiday Checklist.