Immigration Process and Furtherance of Integration

If you wish to come to Germany from a third country, you require a residence permit. This permit will be granted to you on the basis of the purpose of your stay here.

Possibilities of Immigration
What you should know:

There is in Germany a broad range of offers of advice on migration and integration. The Skilled Workers’ Immigration Act (FEG) thereby opens up for you the possibility of accelerating your entry procedure. This is regulated in Section 81a of the Residence Act (AufenthG). Do you have a specific offer of a place of work? If so, your employer may, in return for payment of a fee, apply for a so-called “Fast-Track Admission Procedure for Skilled Workers” on your behalf.

Fast-Track Admission Procedure for Skilled Workers:

The immigration authority plays a key role in the fast-track admission procedure for skilled workers. It is responsible for advising your employer on the prerequisites for entering the country in your case. Moreover, the immigration authority assumes the examination of all applicable conditions and the initiation of the recognition procedure. The authorities involved are tied to relatively short deadlines throughout the entire procedure. All in all, the fast-track admission procedure for skilled workers does not, as a general rule, take longer than four months. In terms of times, the deadlines may be broken down as follows:
● Approximately six weeks for the granting of a visa
● Approximately eight weeks for the recognition procedure
● Approximately one week for the approval procedure

Regular Admission Procedure:

Alternatively, the so-called “Regular Admission Procedure” remains an option for you, and possibly also the “Process for Obtaining the Prior Consent of the Federal Job Agency”. This is legally regulated in Section 36 Paragraph 3 of the Employment Regulations (BeschV). Should the fast-track procedure for skilled workers not be an option in your case, discuss with your employer which procedure is to be opted for instead:
● The regular admission procedure or
● The Process for Obtaining the Prior Consent of the Federal Job Agency
The process may also be applied to the subsequent immigration of spouses and children. It is important here that the applications should be submitted at roughly the same time. This means that the immigration of the family members must take place within six months of the time of the immigration of the skilled worker.
Since March 2020, it is also possible to enter Germany within the framework of placement agreements between the Federal Employment Agency and the employment services of selected countries of origin. This option is legally set down in Section 16d Para. 4 of the Residence Act (AufenthG). The entry visa procured hereby does not presuppose a completed individual recognition procedure. This is what distinguishes it from the previously mentioned procedures.
There is one important prerequisite for entering the country in the context of the afore mentioned procedure according to Section 16d Para. 4, however. This is only possible if, in the estimation of the Federal Job Agency, the full recognition of the foreign professional qualifications is achievable. The Federal Job Agency therefore only negotiates such agreements for selected professional qualifications of the country of origin. Decisive in this context are these three points in particular:
● The Federal Job Agency considers the respective professional qualification to be suitable
● The specialist associations and bodies for professional recognition involved consider the respective professional qualification to be suitable
Suitable training structures for the respective professional qualification exist in the estimation of the Federal Job Agency