Are you a registered resident of Potsdam who already knows which application you need? If so, you can start your application here.
Note: The application is currently only available in German.
Checklist of documents
To apply for the EU Blue Card, you will need certain documents to support the information you have provided. You can find out here what documents you will definitely need to submit. Once your local foreigners authority has checked your online application, they will tell you if you need to bring any additional documents.
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Easier mobility within the EU
If you have already had an EU Blue Card in another EU country for at least 12 months, you can enter Germany for work without a visa and, if you meet certain requirements, you can stay here. You can then move freely within the EU and come to Germany for the purpose of short-term or long-term mobility.
A quicker path to permanent resident status
If you meet certain requirements, you will be issued a permanent settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) after 27 months. You can find out what requirements these are here. If you have German language skills at B1 level, you may be able to obtain a permanent settlement permit after 21 months.
Requirements, exceptions, special conditions
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The EU Blue Card is a special form of residence permit for foreign professionals with a university degree or equivalent academic qualification who want to pursue work in Germany that is suited to their field of professional qualification.
You are qualified for an EU Blue Card if you meet one of the following criteria:
- You hold a university degree from Germany or a foreign degree which is either recognised in Germany or is comparable to a German degree.
- You hold a tertiary education degree from a degree programme of at least three years’ duration which corresponds to at least Level 6 of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) or Level 6 of the European Qualifications Framework.
- You do not have a formal qualification, but you have multiple years of experience as an IT specialist or an IT manager. Please note the further requirements in the other FAQs below.
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Along with the necessary educational qualifications, you must meet the following requirements to acquire an EU Blue Card:
- You have a concrete job offer from an employer in Germany.
- The period of employment will be six months or longer.
- The job corresponds to your qualification, that is, to your degree. If you want to work in a regulated occupation, for example in a field such as medicine or law, you also need authorisation to work in that occupation, which you must submit along with your application. On the Federal Government’s “Anerkennung in Deutschland” website about the recognition of foreign academic qualifications, you can find out whether your occupation is regulated and, if so, how you can obtain authorisation to work in that occupation.
- Your job in Germany provides an annual gross salary of at least 48,300 euros (as at 2025).
- In the following cases, you can acquire an EU Blue Card with a lower annual gross salary of at least 43,759.80 euros (as at 2025). Please note the additional requirements in the FAQs below.
- IT specialists with multiple years of work experience
- People employed in occupations with a labour shortage
- Entry-level professionals
- In the following cases, you can acquire an EU Blue Card with a lower annual gross salary of at least 43,759.80 euros (as at 2025). Please note the additional requirements in the FAQs below.
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If you wish to apply for an EU Blue Card as an IT specialist or IT manager without a formal educational qualification, you must demonstrate that you have a concrete job offer in this field in Germany. It is also important that
- the period of employment will be six months or longer,
- your gross salary will be at least 43,759.80 euros per year (as at 2025), and
- in the last seven years you have gathered at least three years’ experience as an IT professional at a comparable level to that required for your work in Germany.
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Yes, if you are employed in an occupation with a labour shortage (PDF) in Germany, you can acquire an EU Blue Card with a lower gross annual salary. In this case, your gross annual salary must be at least 43,759.80 euros (as at 2025). However, the Federal Employment Agency must approve your intended employment.
Occupations with labour shortages are those that urgently need skilled workers. In Germany, these occupations include:
- Supervisors and managers in the production of manufactured goods and in mining, construction and logistics
- Supervisors and managers in the rendering of services in the field of information and communications technology
- Supervisors and managers in the rendering of special services, for example in child care and in the health and education sectors
- Degreed professionals in the fields of mathematics, science and technology
- Degreed professionals in the fields of architecture, spatial planning and traffic planning
- Doctors
- Veterinarians
- Dentists
- Pharmacists
- Degreed and comparably qualified specialists in healthcare, nursing and obstetrics
- Teachers and educators in the school and non-school sectors
Useful information about applying online
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The service portal offers two kinds of applications for the EU Blue Card.
If you do not have a visa for the EU Blue Card, you must complete a more extensive application.
If you enter Germany with a visa for the EU Blue Card, you can complete the shorter version of the application. The Quick Check will help you figure out whether you can apply for the EU Blue Card online here and, if so, whether the short or long version of the application is the right one for you.
The checklist provides examples of all the documents you need to submit with your online application. It is a good idea to have these documents ready in digital form when you start your application. We recommend saving them in a separate folder on your electronic device so that you can easily find and upload them.
If the authority determines during its initial check that any additional documents are needed, you will be notified via the service portal. If you have other documents you think are relevant, you can upload these as well or bring them with you to your appointment with the responsible authority.
The application process is currently being optimised for mobile devices to enable you to use the service portal on any computer, tablet or smartphone.
Simply login with your BundID if you wish to to submit an application or upload documents. If you do not have a BundID account, you will first have to set up an account with BundID.