Residence Status: Skilled worker (Fachkraft, §§ 18a/18b AufenthG)

Status ID: RS-003

Slug: skilled_worker (must match ResidenceStatus in frontend/src/lib/situation-requirements.ts)

Version: 1.1

Status: Source-reviewed (agent fleet, 2026-08-28) — 34/34 facts verified; 5 corrected; approval pending human sign-off

Primary legal basis: §§ 18a, 18b AufenthG

Jurisdiction: Federal (+ local variation where noted)

Risk level: High

Last reviewed: 2026-08-28

Next review due: 2026-09-25 (file carries volatile figures — 30-day cycle)

Owner: AusHelp Knowledge Team

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Scope and disclaimer

Informational guidance only — not legal advice. All claims derive from official public

sources (Level A–C per standards/source-policy.md). Verify critical decisions with the

responsible authority or a qualified immigration advisor.

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1. Overview

The skilled-worker permit is the main employment residence title for third-country nationals in

Germany. Two statutory routes share one sentence each: § 18a AufenthG for a *Fachkraft mit

Berufsausbildung and § 18b AufenthG for a Fachkraft mit akademischer Ausbildung*. Both are

entitlements ("wird … erteilt") to a permit for the exercise of any qualified employment —

after the 2023/2024 Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz reform the job no longer has to lie in the

field of the qualification.

Who counts as a Fachkraft is defined in § 18 Abs. 3: a German qualified vocational training, a

foreign vocational qualification found equivalent to one, or a German, recognised foreign, or

comparable foreign degree. Recognition is therefore the first and usually slowest step, not a

formality. § 18 Abs. 2 adds a concrete job offer, Bundesagentur für Arbeit approval under § 39

unless waived, a practice licence in regulated occupations, and — at first issuance after the

applicant's 45th birthday — a salary floor of 55 % of the pension contribution ceiling.

The permit runs up to four years (§ 18 Abs. 4) and is a genuine long-term track: § 18c Abs. 1

entitles the holder to a settlement permit after three years with 36 months of pension

contributions and B1 German — two years and 24 months with a German qualification. The spouse's

pre-entry A1 requirement falls away (§ 30 Abs. 1 S. 3 Nr. 5). The sharpest edge is the employment

link: if the job ends early the holder must notify the Ausländerbehörde within two weeks

(§ 82 Abs. 6) and the employer within four (§ 4a Abs. 5); the permit may then be shortened, but

§ 18 Abs. 5 guarantees at least six months to find new qualified work.

2. Legal basis

3. Key facts

One row per atomic claim. Verified flips to yes only after /source-review.

4. Processes

4.1 Recognition (P1)

A precondition, not a parallel task. Vocational qualifications run through the competent chamber or

state authority (federal portal: SRC-141); degrees through recognition, an anabin entry, or an

individual ZAB statement (SRC-138). Regulated occupations also need a Berufsausübungserlaubnis

granted or promised (§ 18 Abs. 2 Nr. 3); where equivalence first needs a qualification measure,

§ 16d bridges it — up to 24 months, extendable to 3 years (SRC-134).

4.2 First issuance (P2) and accelerated procedure (P3)

Preconditions: recognised qualification, qualified job offer, BA approval unless exempt, the § 5

conditions and — over 45 — the salary floor (3.7–3.8). Route: national D visa, entry, Anmeldung,

then the permit from the local Ausländerbehörde. Under § 81a the employer applies instead; the

authority runs the equivalence procedure, obtains the practice licence and BA approval and

pre-approves the visa, and family members can join (SRC-123). Fee: OQ-2.

4.3 Renewal (P4) and job loss (P9)

Renewal: § 8 applies, so the issuance conditions must still be met — current qualified employment,

practice licence, BA approval where required. Filing before expiry secures Fiktionswirkung (3.11);

Berlin takes applications from 4 months before expiry, online, with an employer confirmation and

recent payslips (fees and housing evidence per 3.33). Job loss: the holder's 2-week duty (3.28)

and the employer's 4-week duty (3.29) run at once; the authority may shorten the permit

retroactively (3.26) but must leave at least 6 months — 9 in exploitation cases (3.27). That

window is the search period for new qualified work; taking it up needs permission where the title

is job-specific (3.13).

5. Authorities and organisations

6. Common problems

7. Documents

8. Sources

9. Open questions and uncertainty

1. Age-45 threshold (3.8): €55,770 / €4,647.50 is published by the BA (SRC-137) and LEA Berlin (SRC-140) and matches the 2026 ceiling, but the Bundesanzeiger notice that § 18 Abs. 2 S. 3 makes authoritative was not retrieved.
2. § 81a procedure fee: charged under the AufenthV; no current official figure verified, so it is deliberately absent from 4.2.
3. Make it in Germany unreachable (2026-08-26): the federal skilled-worker pages sit behind a Radware bot wall, as recorded for the student file — no federal Level-B overview this pass.
4. Beschäftigungsverordnung not read: approval-free occupations under § 39 Abs. 1 and the § 19c Abs. 2 occupation list are unverified; only 3.14 and the BA's 2026 figures (3.32) are claimed.
5. Fee provenance (3.33): the Berlin figures come from the two LEA pages; § 45 AufenthV (SRC-124, reused from the register) was not re-fetched, so the federal-vs-local split is open.
6. § 18c Abs. 1 Nr. 5: which § 9 Abs. 2 conditions apply and which are excluded was read only in summary; confirm before user-facing wording on the settlement track.
7. § 18b structure: the fetched page returned a single sentence — confirm § 18b has no further Absätze after the Blue Card moved to § 18g.
8. In-country transitions (P5): § 39 AufenthV Nr. 11 is verified as the general route to an employment title without a visa, but §§ 16a, 16b, 16d, 20, 20a and 18g were not fetched, so entitlement vs discretion per route is unverified.
9. AA travel page (3.24): the FAQ states the 90/180 rule generally and does not enumerate §§ 18a/18b; the general sentence is what is cited.

10. Change log