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Germany's Chancenkarte (opportunity card): the points, the rules and how to score six

1 published version. Every version stays readable at its own address, and nothing is removed without a correction note.

1. Version 1Current10 October 2026, 03:31 UTC · created

   Record created.

   • Timeline added: The card was created by the Act to Further Develop Skilled Immigration and has been available since 1 June 2024.
   • Confirmed: Germany's Chancenkarte (opportunity card) is a residence permit for looking for work, or for measures to get a foreign qualification recognised.
   • Confirmed: The card was created by the Act to Further Develop Skilled Immigration and has been available since 1 June 2024.
   • Confirmed: There are two ways to qualify: being a skilled worker (Fachkraft) with a German or recognised qualification, or scoring enough points.
   • Confirmed: On the points route, applicants must first have a qualification recognised by the state where it was obtained (vocational training of at least two years, or a university degree) or a qualification from a German chamber of commerce abroad, and must show basic German (A1) or English at B2.
   • Confirmed: In German law, good German means level B2, sufficient German B1 and adequate German A2.
   • Confirmed: The law gives two age points to applicants not older than 35 when they apply, and one point to those older than 35 but not older than 40, so an applicant aged exactly 35 still gets two points.
   • Confirmed: The Federal Employment Agency's newsletter summary describes the age points as "under 35" and "under 40", which is narrower than the law's wording.
   • Confirmed: Applicants on the points route must have a German expert body confirm that their foreign vocational qualification or degree meets these conditions.
   • Confirmed: Someone already in Germany can get the card only if they hold a residence title for education (Part 3 of the Residence Act) or for employment (Part 4), so a student permit counts.
   • Confirmed: An applicant who earns the four points for partial recognition does not also need to meet the basic qualification requirement.
   • Confirmed: With the card, holders may work up to 20 hours a week on average and take trial jobs of up to two weeks each.
   • Confirmed: The card is first issued for up to one year. It can be extended once by up to two years if the holder has a contract or binding offer for a qualified job and the Federal Employment Agency has agreed. This follow-up card is granted only if the holder does not qualify for another employment residence permit, and no further extension as a Chancenkarte is possible.
   • Confirmed: A new search card is possible only after spending at least as long outside Germany, or legally in Germany on another basis, as the previous card's stay.
   • Confirmed: The federal government may cap the number of cards issued to people not yet in Germany by regulation.
   • Confirmed: The Foreign Office says German missions processed "rd. 17.500 Chancenkarten" in 2025, out of "rd. 111.000 nationale Visa" for work and skilled migration. That is a count of applications processed, not of cards issued.
   • Confirmed: The BAMF's 2024 monitoring report counted almost five thousand Chancenkarte visas in the first months, from June 2024.
   • Confirmed: The government says the statistics do not record the average points applicants score, and only the Foreign Office's visa statistics have recently started to separate the skilled-worker route from the points route.
   • Confirmed: According to the Federal Employment Agency, the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) checks whether a qualification is state-recognised where it was obtained. For degrees it issues a statement of comparability, which is not needed if the anabin database lists the university as H+ and the degree as equivalent or partly comparable. For vocational training it issues a digital information on the qualification; a partial recognition notice also counts.
   • Confirmed: From abroad, the card is issued as a national (D) visa by a German mission; the fee for a national visa is 75 Euro.
   • Confirmed: The 20-hour weekly limit and the trial-job rule apply only to the search card, not to the follow-up card. The search card needs no approval from the Federal Employment Agency, and trial jobs must be qualified work.
   • Confirmed: People who graduate from a German university, or finish qualified vocational training in Germany, can get a separate job-search permit instead of the Chancenkarte, for up to 18 months, which needs no points but does require them to support themselves.
   • Source added: § 20a AufenthG - Einzelnorm (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))
   • Source added: Gesetz zur Weiterentwicklung der Fachkräfteeinwanderung, BGBl. 2023 I Nr. 217 (Regelungstext) (Bundesgesetzblatt (Federal Law Gazette))
   • Source added: BAMF: Monitoring zur Bildungs- und Erwerbsmigration, Jahresbericht 2024 (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF))
   • Source added: § 2 AufenthG - Einzelnorm (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))
   • Source added: Anlage AufenthG - Einzelnorm (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))
   • Source added: § 20b AufenthG - Einzelnorm (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))
   • Source added: Die Chancenkarte | Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit))
   • Source added: AufenthG - nichtamtliches Inhaltsverzeichnis (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))
   • Source added: Deutscher Bundestag Drucksache 21/4115: Schriftliche Fragen mit Antworten der Bundesregierung (13 February 2026) (Deutscher Bundestag)
   • Source added: Statistik zu bearbeiteten Visa (Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt))
   • Source added: § 46 AufenthV - Einzelnorm (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))
   • Source added: § 20 AufenthG - Einzelnorm (Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice))