Germany
EU Blue Card
A qualified-employment route for applicants with a qualifying German job offer.
Read route guide →Germany · Work for myself
Self-employment / freelance route
Separate German conditions apply to business founders and members of liberal professions.
Start here: Identify the business or freelance category first. Financing, professional permissions and, where applicable, economic benefit must be evidenced.
What does this route allow?
- Work permission and limitations
- Permission concerns the approved self-employed activity; do not assume it authorizes any salaried or freelance work.
- Family questions
- Review family-reunification requirements separately, including financial support for accompanying family.
- Costs to verify
- Request the current visa and permit fees; include business financing, health cover and professional-recognition expenses in your budget.
- Duration and next stage
- Initially up to three years. Extension depends on the activity and ability to cover living costs.
Application sequence
Use these steps to organize your research, not as a replacement for your authority’s current procedure.
- Determine whether your proposed activity is a business or liberal profession.
- Prepare the financing and any professional-licence evidence.
- Confirm requirements with the responsible mission and foreigners authority.
Evidence to investigate
This is a preparation prompt, not an exhaustive consular document list. Your nationality, application location and circumstances determine the final requirements.
- Business concept or freelance-project evidence
- Financing evidence and any required professional licence
- Pension-provision evidence where required
Common planning traps
- Online client work does not automatically qualify as a liberal profession.
- Business and freelance criteria are not interchangeable.
Residence permission, permission to work, tax residence and short-stay travel rules are separate questions. No approval probability or settlement guarantee is calculated here.
Check the official instructions
Reviewed 2026-10-22; editorial review due 2027-01-22. This date is not a promise of live monitoring. Verify fees, eligibility, quotas and appointment availability again before paying or applying.