# Work permit in Germany



## dlamichhane

Hello, 

I am a non-EU citizen and I live in Finland under student visa. I completed my Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from my country and also completed my Master degree in Software Development(IT) from Finland. Till now I haven't graduated from master degree but will be graduate in the end of February 2014. At the moment , I got the job offer from one of the software company in Berlin, Germany but I don't have the work permit to work in Germany. 

Therefore, I have some questions in my mind and will be helpful for me to work in Germany.

1) The company offering the job wants me to provide the local address(Temporary or Permanent) of the Berlin, Germany to get the job contract signed (I am not yet sure whether we need the Berlin, Germany address to contract the sign). So, I am wondering which address to provide for signing the contract. Till now I still live in Finland. 


2) And other things are, I don't have the work permit yet in Finland. If I had the Permanent resident permit /work permit in Finland, it won't be a problem for me to work directly in Germany. Because of not having, I am wondering whether I can directly work in the company in Germany before getting the Work Permit. I know due to the Schengen Visa, I can travel to Germany and stay till 90 days. But I am not sure whether I can work in the company (Berlin, Germany) and in parallel apply for the work permit(OR is there any way to handle this kind of situation). The company had offer me the salary that is sufficient to apply for the EU blue card too. I had told the company people that I can start the work from the mid of February 2014.

I am in the dilemma what to do and what not to do?

Thank you all in advance.


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## ALKB

dlamichhane said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am a non-EU citizen and I live in Finland under student visa. I completed my Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from my country and also completed my Master degree in Software Development(IT) from Finland. Till now I haven't graduated from master degree but will be graduate in the end of February 2014. At the moment , I got the job offer from one of the software company in Berlin, Germany but I don't have the work permit to work in Germany.
> 
> Therefore, I have some questions in my mind and will be helpful for me to work in Germany.
> 
> 1) The company offering the job wants me to provide the local address(Temporary or Permanent) of the Berlin, Germany to get the job contract signed (I am not yet sure whether we need the Berlin, Germany address to contract the sign). So, I am wondering which address to provide for signing the contract. Till now I still live in Finland.
> 
> 
> 2) And other things are, I don't have the work permit yet in Finland. If I had the Permanent resident permit /work permit in Finland, it won't be a problem for me to work directly in Germany. Because of not having, I am wondering whether I can directly work in the company in Germany before getting the Work Permit. I know due to the Schengen Visa, I can travel to Germany and stay till 90 days. But I am not sure whether I can work in the company (Berlin, Germany) and in parallel apply for the work permit(OR is there any way to handle this kind of situation). The company had offer me the salary that is sufficient to apply for the EU blue card too. I had told the company people that I can start the work from the mid of February 2014.
> 
> I am in the dilemma what to do and what not to do?
> 
> Thank you all in advance.



I don't quite understand.

Is the company in Berlin aware that you are in Finland and that you are not an EEA national? Do they know that they need to sponsor you for a work permit?

A Finnish work permit would not be valid in Germany.

You cannot start to work without obtaining a work permit, your Finnish residence permit permits you to travel/visit countries in the Schengen area but it does not allow work. Since you have a residence permit in Finland you can apply at the German Embassy in Finland. Processing times vary but BlueCard applications should be quicker than regular work permit applications.


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## dlamichhane

ALKB said:


> Is the company in Berlin aware that you are in Finland and that you are not an EEA national?


Yeah, company in Berlin knows that I am staying in Finland and I am not an EEA national. 



ALKB said:


> Do they know that they need to sponsor you for a work permit?


I am not sure what kind of sponsor you talking about, but they had told me that they will provide me a job and need to provide the local address in Berlin.


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## ALKB

dlamichhane said:


> Yeah, company in Berlin knows that I am staying in Finland and I am not an EEA national.
> 
> I am not sure what kind of sponsor you talking about, but they had told me that they will provide me a job and need to provide the local address in Berlin.



Your employer is your sponsor for the work permit you need. It doesn't sound like your prospective employer has sponsored visa nationals for work before.

In order to get a work permit, you first need to apply for a national visa at the German Embassy in Helsinki. The company who wants to employ you needs to provide you with an employment contract that includes the usual information contained in an employment contract (such as where will you work, full or part time, unlimited contract or fixed term, etc.) as well as a detailed description of the job.

Your employer can/should get prior clearance from the Federal Department of Employment to speed up the visa process.

In any case you need to obtain the relevant visa before you move to Germany, otherwise you won't be able to exchange your visa for a work and residence permit in Germany.

Deutsche Botschaft Helsinki - Aufenthaltsrecht und Visabestimmungen

http://www.helsinki.diplo.de/contentblob/3640756/Daten/3520837/pdf_Merkblatt_Visum_082012.pdf

German authorities are always very careful about not giving any sort of set time frame for this sort of thing. It takes as long as it takes but I hear that you should expect about 8 to 12 weeks. Maybe a little less since you are already in Europe. Possibly a lot less in case of a BlueCard application.

The German Embassy in Helsinki should be able to give you a better idea about how long it takes to process a work permit application from Finland.


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## dlamichhane

Thank you ALKB,

The information were really helpful.

In addition, if we need to fasten the process to get the visa, the employer has to provide the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für arbeit), Germany. And which can be used during the visa process. It is the somehow guaranteed proof that your employer is employing you.


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## ALKB

dlamichhane said:


> Thank you ALKB,
> 
> The information were really helpful.
> 
> In addition, if we need to fasten the process to get the visa, the employer has to provide the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für arbeit), Germany. And which can be used during the visa process. It is the somehow guaranteed proof that your employer is employing you.



To get prior clearance from the Federal Employment Agency, your employer needs to contact their international branch (ZAV):

Arbeit in Deutschland - www.arbeitsagentur.de


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