EU Blue Card for Indian nationals
EU Blue Card for Indian nationals
You are an Indian citizen who is interested in working in Germany and the European Union? Then the EU Blue Card may be your key to unlocking the many opportunities Germany has to offer. It is a residence permit directed at highly educated non-EU professionals, allowing them to work and live in any of the EU’s member states.
Advantages of an EU Blue Card
The EU Blue Card is a popular option among professionals looking to work in Germany. And for good reason: It grants access to the German job market under the same conditions and with the same rights and protections that German citizens enjoy. It also enables recipients to bring their close family with them. And once you are a EU Blue Card holder, the path to a permanent residency right is rather straightforward. Last but not least, with more than a quarter of the card’s recipients being Indian, you will be in good company.
Requirements for an EU Blue Card as an Indian
To obtain the EU Blue Card in Germany, you must have a valid job offer from a German employer, a university degree or comparable qualification that qualifies you to perform the job offered and a salary that meets a certain threshold. For 2024, this threshold is EUR 45,300 per year before tax. However, in certain areas of work, a lower threshold of only EUR 41,041.80 per year before tax applies. These areas include all STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), in particular information technology (IT), and many more. You can find a comprehensive list of all privileged areas of work, a brief outlook on the future development of the salary threshold and a FAQ section in our main article on the EU Blue Card.
To determine whether your degree is sufficient for a Blue Card application, anabin.org can be a helpful resource. If your qualification is rated as “entspricht” or “gleichwertig” and the university you graduated from is rated at “H+”, your degree is sufficiently comparable to a German qualification. Alternatively, you can also apply for a statement of comparability at the Central Office for Foreign Education. If you are unsure whether your degree is recognized in Germany, we will be happy to assist you.
If you are an IT specialist but do not have a comparable university degree (or no degree at all), you may still be able to obtain an EU Blue Card. To do so, you must have gained at least three years of professional experience in IT professions in the past seven years and have theoretical knowledge at the level of a university graduate. In this article, we explain exactly what you need to bear in mind for this exception for IT specialists.
Application process for the EU Blue Card
Applying for a German EU Blue Card from India can be divided into two steps: First, an entry visa for Germany (so-called national visa) is required to be able to enter Germany. Unfortunately, India is not one of the privileged countries whose citizens can enter Germany without an entry visa. Therefore, it is mandatory for Indian nationals to apply for a visa if they wish to obtain an EU Blue Card. You can apply for it at the German embassy in New Delhi or at one of the German consulates, depending on which consulate is responsible for your region. A detailed list of all the documents you need for your application can be found on the website of the German missions in India.
Once you have obtained your visa and entered into Germany, you then have to complete the second step of the process and apply for the EU Blue Card at the respective national authority. This will be the immigration office (“Ausländerbehörde”) responsible for whichever city or region in you intend to live in. The documents needed for this second application will be more or less the same as for your visa, but there are some minor differences from one immigration office to the other. Our lawyers have experience with many different immigration authorities and can make sure your application is complete and meets their standards.
Accelerated procedure
Due to the Blue Card’s popularity and authorities being understaffed, a lot of time can pass between your national visa application and the time you are finally granted your EU Blue Card. This creates uncertainty, both in regards to your living situation and to your prospective employment. However, you can alleviate this uncertainty and accelerate the whole process considerably if you choose the Fast-Track Procedure for Skilled Workers (“Beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren”). It enables your employer to file your application on your behalf and it usually reduces the processing time for both your entry visa and your Blue Card application to no more than three weeks each. For more information on this procedure, visit our main page on the subject or contact our lawyers via the contact form at the bottom of this page.
How lawyers from Germany can help you
As you have seen, getting an EU Blue Card can be a lengthy and rather strenuous endeavour. That's why we offer a comprehensive application service to guide you through the process. Our team of lawyers is more than happy to help you navigate the maze that is German bureaucracy. We will ensure that you can move here and start working as soon as possible, minimizing uncertainty and maximizing your chances of success.
