Not legal advice
This guide explains how the process generally works so you can search well. Rules and thresholds change; confirm your situation on Make it in Germany (the federal government's portal) or with the German mission handling your application.Germany has no sponsor licence
In the UK, only licensed sponsors can hire on a Skilled Worker visa; in the US, the employer petitions for you. Germany has neither. You apply for the visa, with a job offer that meets the rules. The employer's part is smaller — which is why so many German job ads never mention visas at all, even at companies that relocate people every month.
What the employer actually does
- Makes an offer that qualifies — the right kind of job for your qualification and, for the EU Blue Card, a salary above the threshold.
- Fills in the Declaration of Employment (Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis), the form the Federal Employment Agency uses to review the job.
- Optionally starts the fast-track procedure (beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren, § 81a Residence Act) with the local immigration office on your behalf, which shortens the wait for a visa appointment and decision. It carries a fee — currently €411 — that the employer can choose to pay.
- Often pays for relocation: flights, temporary housing, sometimes help with appointments. Ads call this “relocation support” or a “relocation package”.
So when an ad says “visa sponsorship”, it usually means some combination of the above — and a willingness to wait a few weeks longer for you to start.
The main routes, briefly
| Route | For whom |
|---|---|
| EU Blue Card | A recognised university degree (or, for IT specialists, at least three years of comparable experience) and a job offer paying at least €50,700 in 2026 — €45,934.20 for shortage occupations, recent graduates and IT specialists. No German required. |
| Skilled worker permit | A recognised vocational or academic qualification and a matching job offer, when the Blue Card doesn't fit. |
| Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) | A permit to come and look for work for up to a year, with part-time work allowed. The points route needs A1 German or B2 English. |
| EU/EEA or Swiss citizen | No visa or work permit needed. |
Blue Card figures: German missions' information sheet on the EU Blue Card (May 2026). Thresholds are updated every January.
What job ads actually say
4%
of the 1,331 postings in our data explicitly offer visa sponsorship. Only 4 explicitly rule it out. Relocation support is mentioned about 4 times as often: 17% of postings.
The practical conclusion: silence is not a no. If you only apply to ads that say “visa sponsorship”, you skip the large majority of employers who would hire you. Better signals than the word “sponsorship”:
- “Relocation package”, “relocation support”, “we help you move to Berlin/Munich”
- An English-speaking team and a role where German isn't required
- A salary range clearly above the Blue Card threshold (only a small share of ads state salaries — 27 in our data)
- “Open to candidates from anywhere” or a careers page describing an international team
Source: Berjobs analysis of active job postings from the employers we track, as of 29 September 2026. How we count
How to search if you need a visa
- Target roles where German isn't required. A visa won't help with a job that needs C1 German. Tech is the strongest field — see English-speaking tech jobs in Germany.
- Check the Blue Card threshold against your level. Mid-level and senior roles in tech usually clear it; junior roles sometimes don't — the lower threshold for recent graduates and IT specialists matters.
- Say it early and plainly. “I'm eligible for the EU Blue Card and can start X weeks after an offer” removes the uncertainty recruiters worry about.
- Get your degree checked. The anabin database shows whether your degree and university are recognised; it's one of the first things the mission looks at.
How Berjobs handles visas
In your Berjobs profile you tell us whether you need sponsorship. We only hide a job when the posting explicitly rules sponsorship out. When a posting is silent — most are — you still get the match, marked “Visa sponsorship: not specified”, so you can decide. We never guess.