How to get a Blue Card or a residence permit in Germany and how much does it cost

Since the issue of obtaining a work permit is always very important, I managed to get to know a German company that provides relocation services to specialists who come to work in Germany. I bring to your attention the following information including approximate terms and tariffs, Timing and tariffs are approximate, because as a rule all cases are individual and very often the final decision is made by the official who is considering the application.

General information:

1. The application is submitted through the German Embassy in the applicant's country. Sometimes the waiting time for the date of consideration after application submission takes up to 3 months. (Depends on the embassy itself)
2. The level of education (Bachelor of Fundamental Informatics and Information Technology, Master of Applied Informatics, etc.) must correspond to the same level in Germany according to the Anabin database. Most often, it is not difficult to find a match, but sometimes it happens that the match can only be selected with the help of an experienced person in this matter.
3. The time for consideration of an application for a Blue Card, a residence permit or confirmation of a diploma, which will be indicated below for each individual scenario, is purely indicative. No one can accurately predict neither time nor result. Nevertheless, the experience of the company has shown that failures are quite rare, but the company does not undertake to guarantee terms for which it has no influence.
4. All information applies to candidates who did not have a German Blue Card or residence permit before. For candidates who have previously been granted the German Blue Card and a residence permit, the application may take from 8 to 12 weeks. In this case, the embassy must also contact Ausländerbehörde (OVIR), which additionally takes time.
5. The spouse of the candidate almost always receives a work permit. In the case of a residence permit (scenarios 3-5), the spouse (s) (s) must have a basic level of knowledge of the German language (A1).
6. Children are guaranteed to get a visa.
7. Confirmation of a diploma in Germany may be needed for those candidates whose educational level does not have correspondence in the Anabin database. Confirmation takes about 3 months from the date of application. For Blue card applicants, the term is approximately 2 weeks.
8. Blue card differs from a residence permit in that the Blue card provides some advantages:
   - there is no need to confirm knowledge of the German language;
   - EU citizens have no priority;
   
   A permanent residence permit can be obtained after 33 months of living in Germany.
9. A work permit is part of a residence permit.
10. Knowledge of the German language is not a prerequisite.
11. Salary gross is the amount before taxes. Netto - after tax.
12. Freelancer visa is also an opportunity for a candidate who has been denied a work visa. This type of visa is not clearly regulated by law and is issued at the discretion of the official. The basis for such a visa can serve as a contract for consulting services in the field of IT. Sometimes the chances of getting a work permit are higher if the candidate has worked with the employer for some time as a freelancer.

Scenario 1
The candidate has an IT education (profile) with a clear German correspondence according to the Anabin base and an annual salary of gross> 48,400 Euro.
Meets Blue Card requirements .
Chances of getting: 95%
Duration: 1-2 weeks + time waiting for the appointment date to be considered (maybe up to 3 months)

Scenario 2
The candidate has an IT education (profile) with clear German compliance according to the Anabin base and an annual salary of gross> 37,752 Euro.
This is the same as Scenario 1, but the annual salary is allowed slightly lower for vacancies from areas where there is a shortage of candidates ... such as IT.
Meets Blue Card requirements .
Chance to get: 95%
Duration: 5-6 weeks + time waiting for the appointment of a review date (it can be up to 3 months)

Scenario 3
The candidate has an IT education (profile) with German qualifications according to the Anabin base and an annual salary of gross <37,752 Euro.
Meets the requirements of a residence permit
Odds of receiving: high but depending on the level of salary + for EU citizens priority
: Deadline: 5-6 weeks + time waiting for the appointment date to be considered (maybe up to 3 months)

Scenario 4
The candidate’s education does not correspond in the Anabin database .
Chances depend on the level of education. In this case, there are 2 possibilities:
- To apply for a diploma confirmation (about 3 months) and it takes 5-6 weeks to review the visa.
- see Scenario 5

Scenario 5
The candidate does not have a document confirming education.
The result depends on the position for which the candidate is applying, as well as on the official who is considering the application. There are not rare cases when a candidate with deep knowledge, but who does not have a diploma, received a work permit because he was very interested in the company and it confirmed that it needed such an employee and that there were no candidates with similar knowledge among German or EU citizens.

Since there is an acute shortage of IT specialists, really good specialists have a chance to get a work permit even without education certificates. There is also a regional interest (different lands) in IT specialists and in the absence of candidates from Germany and the EU, but if there is an experienced specialist, although without a diploma, a work permit can be granted.

The real chances of a candidate can only be determined if there is interest in the company and the candidate’s documents.

In this case, there are 2 possibilities:
- try to get a work visa (takes 2-3 months or more)
- freelancer visa with the right to get a work permit after a year or more (takes 2-3 months or more)

Prices
A full package of services for processing all documents (relocation) costs approximately 800-1500 Euro per family. I do not list the services included in the package, as this depends on each specific case. Someone needs more documents, someone less, someone himself, and someone has a big family.

A diploma confirmation costs 200 Euro. This is the ZAB (Central Office for Foreign Education) tariff.
The services of the company in supporting the process of certification of the diploma is 250 Euro.

A full consultation on obtaining a Blue card, residence permit or diploma confirmation costs 180 Euro. Includes:
- study of documents of the candidate;
- assessment of chances (approximate);
- time estimate (approximate);

The sum of 180 Euro is deducted from the cost of the services of the relocation company if the candidate decides to use it (relocation service).

If I missed something, I will be glad to clarify and make up.
Anyone who wants to communicate directly with the company, write to me in PM. I

invite everyone who is looking for work abroad to itRabota.

Let me remind you that from time to time on Facebook and in the VK group I will post useful information, as well as information on the availability of relevant vacancies.

useful links

• Qualification for blue card
• Anabin
• List of documents, tariffs and other information on the confirmation of the diploma (ZAB - Central Office for Foreign Education)

Have a nice day everyone!