How to Apply for a German Job Seekers Visa in Germany
This page details how, where and when to apply for a German Job Seekers 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?
🎓 The German Job Seekers Visa is only available to university-educated applicants. It allows you to live in Germany for up to 6 months in order to search for a job.
🌎 Only citizens from certain countries are permitted to apply for the German Job Seekers Visa at an immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) after their arrival in Germany. If you are from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, or the United States, you can enter Germany without a visa for 90 days. During this 90-day period, you can apply for a German Job Seekers Visa. This guide is for you.
🛑 Citizens from all other countries must apply for the German Job Seekers 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:
We get a lot of questions about this visa. To help you out, we have compiled a list of FAQs about the German Job Seekers Visa that you may find handy as well as a German Job Seekers Checklist.
German Job Seekers Visa: Application Process
1️⃣ Move to Germany. Enter Germany without a visa and complete your Anmeldung (address registration).
2️⃣ Book a German Job Seekers Visa appointment at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
3️⃣ Apply for the German Job Seekers 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, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, or the United States, you can enter Germany without a visa for 90 days. You then have 90 days to apply for the German Job Seekers 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 Job Seekers Visa appointment. You can now move on to step 2 below.
2️⃣ Book a German Job Seekers Visa appointment at your local immigration office (Ausländerbehörde) in Germany.
You must apply for the German Job Seekers 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 Job Seekers Visa.
3️⃣ Apply for the German Job Seekers 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 Job Seekers 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 Job Seekers 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 Job Seekers Visa. The insurance must cover:
The entire duration of the 6-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 Job Seekers 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 Job Seekers 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).
✅ University degree certificate
You must submit your original degree certificate. You must also bring proof that your university degree is recognised in Germany – to prove this, you have 2 options:
Find your qualification on the Anabin online database. Print the relevant screenshots showing that your qualification is recognised in Germany and bring these to your appointment. See our Anabin Guide for instructions on how to use the database.
Obtain a Statement of Comparability from ZAB (Central Office for Foreign Education).
✅ A translation of your university certificate
This is not always requested, but many immigration offices will request a German translation of your degree certificate. For translation services in Germany, we suggest using lingoking.
✅ Proof of a secure livelihood
You must show that you have sufficient savings to live off for the duration of the 6-month German Job Seekers Visa. 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)
The amount of savings that you are required to show varies depending on where you are applying for the German Job Seekers Visa. However, we suggest having at least €934 per month. For a 6-month visa, this amounts to €5604.
If you are yet to open a German bank account, explore your options here.
✅ Visa application form
You must 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).
Additional info
Listed above are all the documents that are likely to be requested as part of your German Job Seekers Visa application. Some other documents that are occasionally requested include:
➕ Cover letter
Detailing your plans, goals and approach to finding employment in Germany.
➕ CV
Detailing your professional experience.
😨 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 German-speaking friend.
🎉 Congratulations! You have now completed all the steps for applying for a German Job Seekers Visa at an immigration office in Germany! You now have 6 months in which to find a job in Germany.
To see what other steps you need to take in order to set up as a job seeker in Germany, see our German Job Seekers Checklist.