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Changing jobs on a Blue Card or an Opportunity Card

Changing employer on an EU Blue Card, or finding work on an Opportunity Card? What to tell the foreigners authority, and when.

Your residence permit and your job are tied together, and these are the two moments that raise the most questions.

This is general information, not legal advice. The foreigners authority (Ausländerbehörde) in your city decides your case, and its word beats this page. What the Blue Card and the Opportunity Card are, and who can get them, is in the visas guide.

Changing employer on a Blue Card

In your first twelve months: tell the authority

If you change jobs within the first twelve months of employment on a Blue Card, you must tell your local foreigners authority.[1][2] You do not need its permission first, and you may start the new job.[2]

What happens next: the authority checks whether you still meet the Blue Card conditions — a qualifying degree and a job that matches it, above the salary line.[1] It can suspend the change for 30 days and refuse it within that time.[3][2]

If the new job does not meet the conditions, that is not automatically the end of your stay. You may be offered a different residence permit instead, such as the permit for qualified professionals.[1]

In practice: before you sign, check the new job against the same test your first one passed — the salary line on the visas guide, and whether the work matches your degree. The Blue Card check does the salary part in a minute.

After twelve months: no notice needed

After a year of employment on a Blue Card, changing employer no longer has to be reported to the authority for this reason, and needs no permission.[2][4]

If your job ends early

If your employment ends early — you resign, are dismissed, or the contract is ended by agreement — you must tell the foreigners authority within two weeks. Your employer has its own duty to report the end of the job, within four weeks.[4]

What happens to your permit after that depends on your situation, and this page cannot answer it. Speak to your foreigners authority straight away.

Finding a job on an Opportunity Card

The Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) gives you up to a year in Germany to look for work.[5] Two things it allows while you look are easy to miss:

  • Part-time work — one or more jobs, up to 20 hours a week in total.[5]
  • Trial work — up to two weeks per employer, so an employer can see you work before offering a contract.[5]

When you get the offer

You apply in Germany, to your local foreigners authority, for the residence permit that fits the job — for qualified employment, such as the EU Blue Card or the permit for qualified professionals, or for vocational training, for the recognition of your qualification, or for self-employment.[5]

Which permit depends on the job, your qualification and the salary — the same tests as for someone applying from abroad. The visas guide sets them out.

If the job qualifies but no permit fits

There is a fallback. If the job meets the requirements for qualified employment but none of the other residence permits applies, your Opportunity Card can be extended for up to two years.[5]

Before you sign any new contract

  • Ask the new employer whether its HR team has handled your permit type before, and who will prepare the papers the authority needs from the employer.
  • Keep your documents together — the new contract, your degree and its recognition, your current permit.
  • Contact the authority early, before the start date, not after it.

These are our practical suggestions, not legal requirements.

What we cannot do

We cannot advise on your permit, contact an authority for you, or tell you whether an employer sponsors visas. Every listing here links out to the employer's own advert; we never see your application. This page is general information, not legal advice.

This guide is about Germany. Austria and Switzerland have their own permits. See working in Austria and working in Switzerland.

Where to check

Checked on 28 September 2026 against the sources below. Residence rules change; your foreigners authority always has the last word.

Sources

  1. Make it in Germany: EU Blue Card — "if you change jobs within the first year of employment, you must notify your local foreigners authority of your new job"; the authority checks the conditions and may issue another residence permit, such as the work visa for qualified professionals. Checked 28 Sep 2026. ↑↑↑

  2. City of Munich, foreigners authority: Aufenthaltserlaubnis – Blaue Karte EU — a change of job in the first twelve months must be reported; no permission needed and the new job can start; the authority may suspend it for 30 days and refuse it; no report needed after twelve months (German). Checked 28 Sep 2026. ↑↑↑↑

  3. Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF): EU Blue Card — "The competent foreign office can suspend a change in job of an EU Blue Card holder for 30 days and reject it within this period in the first twelve months of employment." Checked 28 Sep 2026. ↑

  4. Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK Berlin): Die „Blaue Karte EU" — after one year no permission is needed to change employer; holders must report an early end of employment to the foreigners authority within two weeks; employers within four weeks (German). Checked 28 Sep 2026. ↑↑

  5. Make it in Germany: Opportunity Card — up to one year; part-time jobs totalling 20 hours a week; trial work of up to two weeks per employer; apply to the local foreigners authority for a residence permit for qualified employment, vocational training, recognition or self-employment; extension for up to two years if the job qualifies but no other permit applies. Checked 28 Sep 2026. ↑↑↑↑↑

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