Employment of foreign workers; application for prior approval

If you as an employer would like to employ foreign skilled workers who come from third countries, the Federal Employment Agency must generally agree to this. You can have it checked in advance whether the requirements for approval are met.

Description

The nationality of a skilled worker determines whether he or she requires a permit to take up employment in Germany. Nationals of EU member states, the European Economic Area and Switzerland do not need a work permit; nationals of other states (third countries) can obtain one under certain conditions.
In order for you as an employer to be able to employ foreign workers from third countries, your future employees need a visa from the foreign representation (embassy or consulate) in their country of origin or a residence permit from the municipal foreigners authority in Germany. Both must allow them to work or train in Germany. In many cases, the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) must approve the employment so that a corresponding visa or residence title can be issued.
This is possible in various ways:

  • The foreigners authority, the embassy or the consulate involve the BA in an internal administrative procedure within the authority.
  • Alternatively, you as an employer can speed up this process: You can ask the BA directly whether the employment of a foreign worker in your company is approved (so-called advance approval).

The advance approval is valid for 6 months from the date of issue. The visa or residence title must be issued within this period so that no renewed examination by the BA is necessary.

Prerequisites

In order for you to receive pre-approval,

  • you must present a concrete job offer and
  • the application has not yet been submitted to the diplomatic mission or the aliens' registration office.

Further requirements may arise depending on the specific employment and the intended visa or residence title.

Procedure

To initiate the pre-approval process, you must submit a written request:

  • Download the form "Declaration of employment relationship" from the website of the Federal Employment Agency and fill it in.
    • For certain occupations, it may also be necessary to provide additional information. In this case, fill in either supplementary sheet A (residence title for the purpose of carrying out the recognition procedure) or supplementary sheet B (residence title in the context of a posting).
  • Send the documents to the employment agency responsible for you.
  • The Employment Agency will check your documents. If necessary, you will be asked to submit further documents, for example an employment contract.
  • If the result of the check is positive, you will receive a letter of approval for employment, which you will pass on to the foreign worker or the competent agency.
  • As a rule, the employee submits this letter to the competent foreigners authority, embassy or consulate when applying for a visa or residence title.

Deadlines

The application for a preliminary examination should be received by the Federal Employment Agency (BA) 6 weeks before applying for the visa or residence title.

You must submit additional information on pay, working hours and other working conditions for your seasonal workers within one month of being requested to do so by the BA.

Processing time

up to 14 days

Required documents

  • Required Documents

    • Declaration on the employment relationship
    • Supplementary documents (e.g. references from previous employers, if required)

Forms

  • Form, Bavaria-wide: Formular "Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis"
    Please note

    This form has to be signed and sent to the responsible authority. You can sign the form manually and send it by email/fax or sign the form electronically with your qualified electronic signature an send it by (secure) email. If the responsible authority has set up a De-Mail account, you can also send the form by De-Mail using an sender-confirmed message.

  • Form, Bavaria-wide: Zusatzblatt A (Aufenthaltstitel zur Durchführung des Anerkennungsverfahrens)
    Please note

    This form has to be signed and sent to the responsible authority. You can sign the form manually and send it by email/fax or sign the form electronically with your qualified electronic signature an send it by (secure) email. If the responsible authority has set up a De-Mail account, you can also send the form by De-Mail using an sender-confirmed message.

  • Form, Bavaria-wide: Zusatzblatt B (Aufenthaltstitel im Rahmen einer Entsendung)
    Please note

    This form has to be signed and sent to the responsible authority. You can sign the form manually and send it by email/fax or sign the form electronically with your qualified electronic signature an send it by (secure) email. If the responsible authority has set up a De-Mail account, you can also send the form by De-Mail using an sender-confirmed message.

Online procedures

Fees

  • There are no costs for you.

Legal bases

Remedy

The decision taken by the Federal Employment Agency within a procedure for granting a visa or residence title is not an independent administrative act. It is an internal act of cooperation vis-à-vis the foreign mission or foreigners authority that decides on the residence title. An appeal may therefore only be lodged against the decision of the diplomatic mission or the aliens' registration office.

Links to more information

Status: 27.10.2022

Responsible for editing: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales

  • Online transactions, Bavaria-wide
  • Online transactions, locally limited
  • Prefillable Form, Bavaria-wide
  • Legal bases, Bavaria-wide
  • Legal bases, locally limited
  • Fees, Bavaria-wide
  • Fees, locally limited
Information

Responsible for you

If you select a location under "Localization" the contact details of the responsible authority and, if applicable, locally valid information will be displayed.

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