The EU Blue Card

The EU Blue Card is a residence permit for qualified work that meets a minimum salary. In 2026, the standard threshold is 50,700 euros a year. A lower threshold of 45,934.20 euros applies in some cases, with approval from the Federal Employment Agency.

In short

• The EU Blue Card is not intended for EU, EEA or Swiss citizens. Your job offer must be for at least six months, and the work must be appropriate to your qualification.
• For 2026 the standard gross minimum is 50,700 euros a year. At that salary the card is issued without Federal Employment Agency approval, unless a refusal ground in section 19f applies. Do not reuse a threshold from an older year.
• The lower 2026 gross minimum is 45,934.20 euros. For initial issue it needs that agency’s approval: a listed shortage occupation, a higher-education qualification obtained not more than three years before the application, or the IT experience route. Renewal for graduates has a separate rule under section 18g(6), explained below.
• Without the academic qualification, the IT route still needs three years of experience in the last seven, in the groups section 18g (2) names, at a level comparable to a higher-education qualification and required for the job, at the lower salary, with agency approval, and a job of at least six months.
• Settlement is a later title under section 18c: 27 months of employment under section 18g with simple German, or 21 months if the German is sufficient, plus the further conditions that section names.

What you need to know

Section 18g of the Residence Act sets out the EU Blue Card (Blaue Karte EU). It is for specialists with an academic qualification. It also covers an equivalent tertiary programme that lasted at least three years and is assigned in Germany to at least ISCED 2011 level 6 or level 6 of the European Qualifications Framework. A foreign higher-education degree must be comparable to a German one. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens use a different route.

The job offer must be for at least six months, and the work must be appropriate to the qualification. The standard salary is at least 50 percent of the annual contribution-assessment ceiling in the general pension insurance. The Federal Ministry of the Interior publishes the resulting euro amount by 31 December of the previous year.

For 2026, its notice of 2 December 2025 states that amount as a gross 50,700 euros a year. At that standard salary, section 18g issues the card without approval from the Federal Employment Agency, unless a refusal ground in section 19f applies.

For initial issue under the academic route, a lower salary, at least 45.3 percent of the same ceiling, is available in two cases: a shortage occupation in the occupational groups the statute lists, or a higher-education qualification obtained not more than three years before the application.

For 2026, that notice states the lower gross minimum as 45,934.20 euros. In both of those cases the statute requires approval from the Federal Employment Agency. The same lower salary, and the same approval, apply to the IT route in section 18g (2) for people who do not meet the academic test: at least three years of experience in the last seven, in the IT occupational groups named there, at a level comparable to a higher-education qualification, and required for the job.

Renewal has a separate graduate rule in section 18g(6). The lower salary threshold applies if the university degree or equivalent tertiary qualification was obtained not more than three years before the renewal application, or if less than 24 months have passed since the first Blue Card was issued under the recent-graduate route in section 18g(1), second sentence, number 2.

Check both the qualification date and the first card’s issue date with the Ausländerbehörde; passing the three-year anniversary of the degree does not by itself end that lower-threshold renewal route. The other renewal conditions still apply.

Section 18(4) sets the card’s duration at four years. If the employment or a required Federal Employment Agency approval is limited to a shorter period, the card is issued for that shorter period plus six months, up to a maximum of four years.

Check the expiry date on your own card and ask the Ausländerbehörde about your case. Section 18g also requires the job offer itself to be for at least six months. A settlement permit is a separate, later title under section 18c; see the settlement page for the required periods.

During the first twelve months of employment with the Blue Card, section 82(1), sentence 6 requires you to notify the competent Ausländerbehörde of every change of employer and every change affecting the Blue Card conditions. Separately, if the employment for which your Blue Card was issued ends prematurely, notify that authority within two weeks of learning of the early termination under section 82(6).

Under section 52(2b), number 2, failure to give either required notice, or giving it late, can support revocation. These duties are separate from registering with the employment agency. Section 18(5) limits how a title can be shortened after an early job end in the cases it covers; it does not extend the original expiry date. The job-search guide explains the conditions. Check your card and Zusatzblatt and get advice before a new job.

What to do

1. Compare the gross annual salary in the contract with the 2026 figure that matches the case: 50,700 euros, or 45,934.20 euros if a shortage occupation, a recent qualification, or the IT experience route applies. For renewal, also check the section 18g(6) rule above. If your contract gives a monthly salary, check that its annual gross total reaches the relevant threshold. When the pension ceiling changes, the Ministry announces a new minimum; a cabinet draft is not that announcement. Use the figure for the year you apply.
2. Check the length of the job offer: section 18g requires at least six months. The contract may include a shorter probation period.
3. If you use the lower salary threshold or the IT route, plan for Federal Employment Agency approval. This approval is not required for the standard 50 percent salary threshold.
4. Ask the German mission for the place where you live now whether you need a visa to enter. After you have a dwelling, register the address. If the entry visa is not yet the full title, the local Ausländerbehörde finishes it. Document lists there are local.
5. If you later want a Niederlassungserlaubnis, section 18c sets 27 months of employment under section 18g, with pension contributions or comparable payments for that period, simple German, and the further conditions in section 9 that section 18c names. The period is 21 months if your German is sufficient rather than only simple. Section 2 defines simple German, einfache Kenntnisse, as A1, and sufficient German, ausreichende Kenntnisse, as B1. This page does not restate every section 9 condition.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the lower threshold is the easier path because the agency is “not involved”. Section 18g requires the agency’s approval precisely when the salary is the lower one, including shortage occupations, qualifications obtained not more than three years before the application, and the IT experience route.
• Treating any IT job as enough for the no-degree route. Section 18g (2) asks for three years in the last seven, in the groups it names, at a comparable level, at the lower salary, with agency approval, and with a job of at least six months.
• Changing employer in the first twelve months and telling no one. Section 18g (4) says a change of job does not require permission from the Ausländerbehörde. In the first twelve months of employment with the Blue Card, section 82(1), sentence 6 requires notice of every change of employer and every change affecting the Blue Card conditions. The authority may suspend a job change for 30 days and refuse it in that period if those conditions are not met. After those twelve months, section 18g(4) no longer gives that suspension power. The separate two-week notice of early termination under section 82(6) remains.
• Counting 21 months toward a settlement permit without sufficient German, or counting months in a job that was not employment under section 18g. The shorter route has specific requirements, so not every job in Germany counts.