Germany skilled worker visa from India and Pakistan 2026: recognition, salaries, where to apply

Every skilled work visa needs a concrete job offer and, as a rule, the approval of the Federal Employment Agency ¹. What differs is your qualification and your salary:

Route	For	Key condition
Skilled worker with vocational training (s. 18a)	Training equivalent to a German qualification	Recognition decision
Skilled worker with a degree (s. 18b)	Recognised or comparable degree	Degree checked in anabin or evaluated
EU Blue Card (s. 18g)	Degree and a higher salary	50,700 euros a year in 2026
Practical experience (s. 19c with s. 6 BeschV)	Degree or 2-year training recognised in your home country	2 years of experience and 45,630 euros

Sources: section 18a ², section 18b ³, Blue Card ^{4 9}, experience route ⁷.

A permit under section 18a or 18b lets you take any qualified job ^{2 3}. If your profession is regulated in Germany, such as medicine or nursing, you also need the licence to practise (Berufsausübungserlaubnis) ¹.

Indian and Pakistani degrees are checked against the anabin database, which German missions use to see whether a foreign degree corresponds to a German one. Where a degree or university is not listed, missions refer you to the Standing Conference of Education Ministers (KMK) for an evaluation ¹⁸.

For vocational qualifications, the equivalence procedure must usually be finished before you apply: German missions do not accept a section 18a application without the recognition decision ¹⁹. The federal portal Anerkennung in Deutschland says the procedure normally takes three to four months, and that costs vary by profession, often several hundred euros plus translations and certified copies ²⁰.

If the authority finds gaps, section 16d gives a residence permit of up to 24 months for adaptation measures, with up to 20 hours a week of other work ⁵. The missions in India and Pakistan list it as a separate category: recognition measures or qualification analysis ^{15 16}.

The experience route skips recognition in Germany. It needs at least two years of relevant experience in the last five years and a degree or a training of at least two years recognised by the country where you got it; IT professions are exempt from the qualification condition ⁷.

The 45+ rule is still in force. If you are 45 or older when you first receive a permit under section 18a or 18b, your salary must reach 55% of the annual contribution ceiling of the statutory pension insurance, unless you prove adequate pension provision ¹. The ceiling for 2026 is 101,400 euros ⁸, and the Federal Ministry of the Interior has published the 2026 minimum: 55,770 euros gross a year ¹⁰. Authorities may waive it in the public interest, for example when the salary or the age is only slightly off ¹. The rule also applies when you switch to a skilled worker permit from an Opportunity Card or a recognition measure ¹². The same 55,770 euros apply at 45 or older on the practical experience route ¹⁰.

Scheme	2026 minimum, gross a year
Skilled worker or experience route, first permit at 45 or older	55,770 euros
EU Blue Card, general	50,700 euros
EU Blue Card, shortage occupations and graduates of the last 3 years	45,934.20 euros
Practical experience route	45,630 euros

Sources: 45+ rule ^{1 10}, Blue Card ⁹, experience route ^{7 11}. The experience route threshold does not apply when the employer is bound by a collective agreement and pays its rates ⁷. Some embassy checklists still show older figures from 2024 and 2025 ^{18 19}: use the 2026 amounts.

New Delhi. Employment visas for graduates, including the EU Blue Card, for recognised training, for recognition measures and for job training go through the Consular Services Portal, which has more appointments; you then appear at VFS ¹³. Applicants with a pre-approval under section 81a (the fast-track procedure) contact the visa section through its contact form ¹³. When slots are full, VFS runs a waiting list ¹³.

Mumbai. National visas are submitted at the VFS centre in Mahalaxmi or at the Consulate General. Skilled workers with a degree or with vocational training book via VFS, and these categories are available on the portal ¹⁴. The consulate covers Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli ¹⁴.

Chennai. The Blue Card, sections 18a and 18b, the experience route and section 16d are filed online on the portal, with biometrics later at VFS ¹⁵.

At the appointment you present your originals and passport, give fingerprints and a photo, and pay the visa fee ¹⁴.

Pakistan has two visa offices ¹⁶:

• Embassy in Islamabad: for the Islamabad Capital Territory, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
• Consulate General in Karachi: for Sindh and Balochistan.

Both use the Consular Services Portal for the EU Blue Card, skilled workers with a degree, skilled workers with vocational training, skilled workers with practical experience, vocational training, the Opportunity Card and recognition measures ¹⁶. If you hold a section 81a pre-approval letter no older than three months, you can register on the embassy priority list for faster processing ¹⁶. Research, self-employment and voluntary service visas still need a regular appointment ¹⁶.

For Karachi, the vocational qualification route asks for a valid contract with a company in Germany and a qualification recognised by the competent German authority ¹⁷.