EU passport or visa route: what actually changes for you
The single biggest factor in how fast you can start work in Germany is not your CV. It is which passport you hold, and what that means in weeks and months.
People spend a great deal of energy polishing a CV when the thing that will actually decide their timeline is sitting in a drawer: their passport.
The EU route: weeks
If you hold a passport from an EU member state — Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland, and the rest — you have freedom of movement. No work visa. No embassy appointment. No consular queue.
What remains is ordinary and fast:
- Apply and pass the role’s eligibility check.
- Interview or direct offer, depending on the employer.
- Contract.
- Register your address in Germany (Anmeldung), get a tax ID, open a bank account.
- Start.
This is genuinely a matter of weeks. It is why we run a dedicated Romanian desk — when there is no visa in the path, speed becomes the whole advantage, and it is wasted if applications sit unanswered.
The visa route: months
If you need a work visa, the order is different and slower. In most cases the employer contract has to exist before you can apply, and the longest step is often simply getting an appointment at the consulate.
That is not a reason to give up. It is a reason to know the timeline honestly at the start, so you can plan around it rather than refreshing your inbox for three months wondering if you have been forgotten.
The two documents people misjudge
§ 24 AufenthG (Ukrainians under temporary protection). This grants residence and labour-market access in Germany without the standard visa route. If this is you, you are far closer to starting work than most people assume.
Fiktionsbescheinigung. A provisional certificate issued while a permit decision is pending. Depending on what is printed on it, it may permit work. We see candidates disqualify themselves over this document when it says the opposite of what they feared. Show it to a recruiter — that is a person’s decision, not a form’s.
Why we ask about status so early
Our application asks about your residence status before it asks about anything else. That looks unfriendly. It exists because the alternative — finding out at the contract stage — costs the candidate far more than an awkward question does.
And when the answer is complicated, it goes to a human recruiter rather than an automatic rejection. A permit question is exactly the kind of thing a form gets wrong and a person gets right.
Whichever route you are on, applying costs you nothing — German law requires that.
Häufige Fragen
Do Romanian citizens need a visa to work in Germany?
No. Romania is an EU member state, so Romanian citizens have freedom of movement and may work in Germany without a visa or work permit. In practice a role can move from application to start date in weeks.
How long does a German work visa take for non-EU candidates?
It varies by consulate and season, but plan in months rather than weeks. The employer contract usually has to exist first, and the appointment queue at the embassy is often the longest single step.
Can Ukrainians work in Germany?
Yes. Under § 24 AufenthG, Ukrainians granted temporary protection have residence and access to the labour market in Germany without going through the standard work-visa process.
What is a Fiktionsbescheinigung?
It is a provisional certificate issued while a residence permit decision is pending. Depending on what it states, it can allow you to work in the meantime. It is worth showing it to a recruiter rather than assuming it disqualifies you.