Germany · Work authorisation

Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte)

Issued by The German diplomatic mission responsible for your place of residence, which issues the national visa. It is scored rather than checked against a list, which is why this page explains the factors and links the official calculator instead of producing a number.

Basis
Points
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
3
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

§ 71 AufenthG splits it: the missions abroad are competent for visa matters, and the Ausländerbehörde is competent for residence-law decisions inside Germany. The Opportunity Card is a residence permit under § 20a(1) AufenthG, so the Ausländerbehörde takes it over once you are there. The consent of the Federal Employment Agency is not required for the job-search card itself.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

Either you already qualify as a Fachkraft, or you hold a foreign university degree or a vocational qualification of at least two years' training that is state-recognised in the country where you obtained it, plus German at level A1 or English at level B2.

Not a licence

Academic comparability

Statement of Comparability for foreign higher education qualifications, issued by ZAB (Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen).

This compares your degree to a local one. It is an academic statement and it does not authorise you to practise any profession.

Statement of Comparability: €208. 3 months from complete documents and full payment

We do not score you

This one is scored

Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) awards points rather than checking a list. The steps below set out the factors the authority scores, and the sources at the bottom are the official pages they come from, including its own calculator where one is published. This page never produces a number: a score computed here would read as a prediction of a decision we have no authority to predict.

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Work out which of the two routes you are on. A recognised skilled worker (Fachkraft) gets the card without collecting points; everyone else has to score against the points table.
  2. Score yourself against the points table in the Annex to the Residence Act, which is the legal text the decision is made on. The minimum score is six points. We do not compute your score and no unofficial calculator decides your case.The criteria are listed in § 20b AufenthG and the points allotted to each are in the Annex to the Act, which is the source linked below. Any self-assessment tool is an aid, not a decision: the mission scores your case against the statute.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Have the ZAB establish whether your qualification is recognised in the country where you obtained it. For higher education qualifications the ZAB issues a Statement of Comparability; where anabin already lists your institution as H+ and your degree as equivalent or conditionally comparable, the degree counts as state-recognised.

Register and start working

  1. Show that your living costs are covered for the search period, then apply for the national visa at the German diplomatic mission responsible for your place of residence.The Federal Employment Agency states the required monthly amount as €1,091 per month as at 2026, evidenced by a blocked account or a declaration of support. Confirm the current figure with the mission before you block the funds.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

National visa, category D
€75
Issue of the residence permit
€100 — the Opportunity Card is a residence permit under § 20a(1) AufenthG

Timeframes

Visa decision at the mission
One mission publishes 2–3 weeks from complete documents, with security checks able to extend it. Turnaround is set per mission — check the one that will handle your case
Card for job search (Such-Chancenkarte)
Up to one year
Extension once you hold a qualified job (Folge-Chancenkarte)
Up to two further years

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Germany and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

9 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Germany opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

Check my path →All Germany permits