EU Blue Card Eligibility Checker

Germany's EU Blue Card has two salary thresholds for 2026: €50,700 gross per year for general professions, and €45,934.20 gross per year for shortage occupations (including IT, engineering, medicine, and natural sciences), recent graduates who completed their degree within the last 3 years, and qualifying IT specialists with at least 3 years of professional experience instead of a degree. These thresholds are set annually by the Bundesministerium des Innern and apply from January 1, 2026.

Germany's shortage occupations (Engpassberufe) eligible for the lower €45,934.20 Blue Card threshold in 2026 include: software developers and IT specialists, civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, medical doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals, natural scientists (physics, chemistry, biology), mathematicians and statisticians, and certain other technical STEM roles. The Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) publishes the updated shortage list annually.

Yes. If you completed your university degree within the last 3 years, you qualify for the lower salary threshold of €45,934.20/year (rather than the standard €50,700) regardless of your occupation. This "recent graduate" exception was introduced to make Germany more attractive for fresh international talent. Your degree must be recognised in Germany (verified via the Anabin database — look for H+ status).

EU Blue Card holders can apply for permanent residency (Niederlassungserlaubnis) after just 21 months if they have B1-level German language skills, or after 33 months without language requirements. This is significantly faster than the standard 5-year residency requirement. You must have been continuously employed under the Blue Card during this period and paid into the German pension system.

No. EU, EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), and Swiss citizens have freedom of movement and can live and work in Germany without any visa or residence permit. The EU Blue Card is specifically designed for non-EU/EEA nationals (e.g. Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, American, Brazilian citizens) who want to work in Germany as highly qualified professionals.