The EU Blue Card in Germany: thresholds, occupations and the IT route

Last checked against the official sources: 29 August 2026

The EU Blue Card is the strongest thing German residence law offers a qualification holder: no Federal Employment Agency consent, and the freedom to change jobs without the immigration office’s permission. Its conditions are usually reduced to a single number, yet the statute contains two different thresholds, an occupation list that lowers the bar, and a complete route for IT professionals with no degree at all.

Two thresholds, not one

Paragraph 1 sets the rule: a skilled worker with academic training is issued a Blue Card without Employment Agency consent for domestic employment appropriate to their qualification, where the salary is at least 50% of the annual contribution assessment ceiling in the general pension insurance and none of the refusal grounds in § 19f applies.

The second sentence then introduces the lower threshold — 45.3% — for two groups:

• those working in an occupation belonging to ISCO-08 groups 132, 133, 134, 21, 221, 222, 225, 226, 23 or 25 — production, mining, construction and distribution managers; ICT service managers; professional services managers; science and engineering professionals; medical doctors; nursing and midwifery professionals; veterinarians; other health professionals; teaching professionals; and ICT professionals;
• or those who obtained their degree no more than three years before applying for the Blue Card — recent graduates.

In those cases the card is issued with Employment Agency consent, not without it. That is the procedural difference between the two thresholds.

The figures themselves are not to be guessed: paragraph 7 obliges the Federal Ministry of the Interior to publish the minimum salaries for each calendar year in the Federal Gazette by 31 December of the preceding year. Any number copied from an older article has already been overtaken.

What counts as “academic training”

The provision is not limited to a conventional university degree. Sentence 5 of paragraph 1 applies equally to anyone who has successfully completed a tertiary education programme equivalent to a degree and requiring at least three years of study, provided its level corresponds in Germany to at least level 6 of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011) or level 6 of the European Qualifications Framework.

Two simplifications apply to anyone already holding a § 18b permit: the licence-to-practise condition counts as met where the same licence is required for both permits, and the recognition condition counts as met where the degree submitted for that permit is the one relied on for the Blue Card. Moving from § 18b to the Blue Card therefore does not reopen the recognition file.

The route many IT professionals have never heard of

Paragraph 2 opens an entirely separate route for anyone who does not meet the conditions of paragraph 1 — that is, who holds no degree at all.

They are issued a Blue Card with Employment Agency consent, expressly departing from the recognition condition in § 18, for employment appropriate to their qualification in an occupation from groups 133 or 25 — ICT service managers and ICT professionals — on three conditions:

1. Salary of at least 45.3% of the annual contribution assessment ceiling.
2. No refusal ground under § 19f applies.
3. Skills, knowledge and abilities resting on at least three years of professional experience gained within the last seven years in an occupation from those same groups, at a level comparable to a degree, and necessary for the employment.

Three precise time limits in one provision: three years of experience, inside a seven-year window, in the same occupational group. Anyone meeting them enters with no degree whatsoever.

After the grant: mobility and renewal

Changing jobs. Paragraph 4 exempts Blue Card holders from a general rule: no permission from the immigration office is needed to change employer. The only exception falls in the first twelve months of employment, where the competent office may suspend the change for thirty days and refuse it within that period if the conditions for the grant are no longer met.

Secured livelihood. Paragraph 5 adds a helpful presumption: the livelihood counts as secured where the applicant holds a permit under § 18a or § 18b and does not change jobs.

Renewal. Paragraph 6 lets the lower threshold continue to apply on extension in two cases: where the degree was obtained no more than three years before the extension application, or where fewer than 24 months have passed since the first Blue Card was issued on the listed-occupation route.

Contract length. And no card is issued at all unless the job offer provides for employment of at least six months — a simple clause that disqualifies many short contracts.

Frequently asked questions

What salary does a Blue Card require?

Two thresholds: 50% of the annual contribution assessment ceiling in the general case, and 45.3% for the occupations named in the statute and for graduates of the last three years. The amounts are published annually in the Federal Gazette by 31 December.

Do I need Employment Agency consent?

Not on the general route at the higher threshold. Yes on the reduced-threshold route and on the IT route without a degree.

I work in IT without a degree — is there a route for me?

Yes. Paragraph 2 grants the card with Employment Agency consent at a salary of 45.3% and at least three years of experience gained in the last seven in groups 133 or 25, at a level comparable to a degree.

Can I change employer?

Yes, without permission from the immigration office. Only in the first twelve months may the office suspend the change for thirty days and refuse it within that time.

Is a three-month contract enough?

No. The statute requires the job offer to provide for employment of at least six months.