Project-Based Work in Germany: Work Permits, Visas, and Legal Requirements

German immigration law does not define “project-based work” as a distinct legal category. Instead, the framework draws distinctions based on the nature of the work, the employment relationship, the duration of the stay, and the corporate structure involved. For companies and individuals, this means that identifying the correct permit route requires careful analysis before the assignment begins.

The central legal basis for work-related residence in Germany is the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz, AufenthG), which sets out the conditions under which non-EU nationals may live and work in Germany. The Employment Ordinance (Beschäftigungsverordnung, BeschV) supplements this by specifying which categories of employment require approval from the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) and which do not.

EU and EEA nationals and Swiss citizens are not subject to these requirements. They benefit from freedom of movement and may work in Germany without a residence title or work permit.

The table below sets out the principal permit routes available for project-based work in Germany. Full details on each route are covered in the sections that follow.

Before any permit application is made, three diagnostic questions need to be answered.

The 90-day threshold is a critical dividing line in German immigration law. Assignments of up to 90 days may, in certain circumstances, be covered by a business Schengen visa or conducted without any work permit at all. Assignments exceeding 90 days require a national visa (D-Visum) and, on arrival in Germany, a formal residence title with work authorization.

The 90-day rule is calculated differently depending on the permit category. For most short-term activities covered by the non-employment fiction, it applies within a 180-day period. For assembly and installation work under the Employment Ordinance, it applies within a 12-month period.

An employed worker on a project assignment has a different legal position from an independent consultant or freelancer taking on project work. Employed workers require a residence permit for employment, which takes several forms depending on qualifications, salary, and the nature of the employment relationship. Independent professionals working on a project basis may be eligible for a residence permit for self-employment under Section 21 AufenthG — but the distinction between genuine self-employment and a disguised employment relationship (Scheinselbstständigkeit, or bogus self-employment) is closely scrutinized by German authorities.

Where a company is sending one of its own employees from a non-EU branch to a German branch or subsidiary, specific permit routes are available that do not apply to workers being hired directly by a German company. The ICT Card (Intra-Corporate Transfer Card) and certain provisions of the Employment Ordinance are designed specifically for this scenario. Where a German company is hiring a non-EU professional for a project role, the standard skilled worker permit or EU Blue Card routes apply instead.

For project work lasting up to 90 days, the legal position depends on what the worker will actually be doing in Germany.

Section 30 of the Employment Ordinance provides that certain activities are not treated as “employment” within the meaning of the Residence Act, even when they clearly involve productive professional work. Where an activity falls within this provision — the so-called non-employment fiction (Nichtbeschäftigungsfiktion) — no work permit is required. A business Schengen visa, or visa-free entry for nationals of certain privileged countries, is sufficient.

Relevant activities for project-based work include contract negotiations, contract monitoring, and trade fair visits (Section 16 BeschV), as well as monitoring and supervisory work by executives and senior employees (Section 3 BeschV). These activities may be carried out for up to 90 days within a 180-day period without triggering the work permit requirement.

The non-employment fiction applies to defined activities only. A professional who is present in Germany to perform substantive technical or commercial work that falls outside these specified categories will require proper work authorization, regardless of how short the stay is. Companies that treat all short-term project visits as automatically exempt run a meaningful risk of illegal employment (illegale Beschäftigung), which carries consequences under both German immigration and employment law.

Section 19 of the Employment Ordinance provides a specific regime for workers posted to Germany by a foreign employer to carry out assembly, installation, maintenance, or repair of machinery, equipment, or software ordered from that employer. The provision also covers workers posted to accept equipment, dismantle used equipment for reinstallation abroad, manage trade fair stands, or deliver in-house training in connection with export or licensing agreements.

For stays of up to 90 days within a 12-month period, no Federal Employment Agency approval is required. However — and this is a point companies frequently overlook — where the work involves assembly, installation, maintenance, or repair of machinery or software, or dismantling of used equipment, the employer must notify the Federal Employment Agency before work commences. Failure to submit this notification means the activity is not covered by the exemption and may constitute illegal employment.

For postings exceeding 90 days and lasting up to three years, Federal Employment Agency approval is required under Section 19(2) BeschV. The scope of permitted activities under this longer-term route is narrower, covering assembly, installation, maintenance, and repair of machinery and software, acceptance of equipment, and dismantling of used equipment for reassembly abroad.

In all cases under this provision, the employer must be seated outside Germany, and the worker must be genuinely posted to Germany by that employer. The provision does not apply to workers hired locally by a German company or contracted directly with a German client.

Where a multinational company wishes to send an employee from a branch outside the EU to a German branch or subsidiary for a project assignment of more than 90 days, two distinct legal frameworks may be relevant: the ICT Card under the Residence Act, and the international personnel exchange and project preparation provisions of the Employment Ordinance.

The ICT Card (Intra-Corporate Transfer Card) is a residence title under Section 19 of the Residence Act (AufenthG), implementing EU Directive 2014/66/EU on intra-corporate transfers. It is available to managers, specialists, and trainees transferred within a corporate group from a non-EU branch to a branch in Germany, for assignments of more than 90 days.

To qualify, the employee must have been employed continuously by the company or group for at least six months immediately before the transfer, must not be in a probationary period, and must present an employment contract and — where required — a secondment letter covering the full duration of the transfer. The statutory definitions of manager (Führungskraft) and specialist (Spezialist) are precise: a specialist must hold essential and company-specific knowledge of the receiving branch’s activities combined with a high level of qualification and relevant professional experience. Applications are assessed against these criteria by the Federal Employment Agency and the local immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde), and cases that do not clearly meet the definitions can face difficulties.

A notable advantage over the EU Blue Card is that there is no minimum salary requirement. The card is issued for up to three years for managers and specialists and up to one year for trainees. A six-month cooling-off period applies before a further ICT Card can be issued following the end of a previous stay.

Workers already holding an ICT Card from another EU member state who are moving to Germany for more than 90 days can apply for a German Mobile ICT Card (Section 19b AufenthG), provided their time in Germany does not exceed the time in the country that issued the original card. For short-term intra-company assignments of up to 90 days, a lighter notification procedure under Section 19a AufenthG applies instead.

Section 10 of the Employment Ordinance provides a further route for intra-company project assignments that may not fit the ICT Card framework, with Federal Employment Agency approval available for up to three years.

The first scenario covers foreign nationals with a university degree or comparable qualification on a personnel exchange within an internationally active company or group (Section 10(1) No. 1 BeschV) — no requirement exists that the work relate to a specific project. The second applies to employees ordinarily based abroad who are posted to the German branch to prepare a foreign project, where their presence in Germany is indispensable to that preparation and they will be actively involved in executing the project abroad (Section 10(1) No. 2 BeschV).

Section 10(2) BeschV extends the second route to employees of the project client (Auftraggeber) who are temporarily engaged by the contractor (Auftragnehmer) for preparatory work in Germany, provided the contract includes a corresponding obligation and the work is necessary for the employee’s later involvement in the completed project. This applies even where the contractor has no presence outside Germany.

Where a German company is hiring a non-EU professional on a fixed-term project contract — rather than transferring an existing group employee — the standard employment-based residence titles apply. The two principal routes are the skilled worker residence permit and the EU Blue Card.

Sections 18a and 18b of the Residence Act provide for residence permits for qualified employment, covering workers with recognized vocational qualifications (Section 18a) and those with recognized university degrees (Section 18b). Following the reforms introduced by the Skilled Immigration Act, eligibility was extended to include formally recognized vocational qualifications alongside university degrees, and the requirement to prioritize local candidates was removed for most roles. The qualification must still be recognized in Germany or demonstrably comparable to a German qualification, and the position offered must be a qualified one.

Federal Employment Agency approval is generally required, involving a review of salary, working conditions, and — in some cases — availability of local candidates. Residence permits for qualified employment are issued for up to four years, or for the duration of the employment contract plus three months where the contract is for a shorter period. For companies with project start dates to meet, the fast-track procedure for skilled workers (Beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren) under Section 81a AufenthG allows the employer to lead the process — coordinating qualification recognition, Federal Employment Agency approval, and preliminary visa authorization in Germany before the candidate travels — significantly reducing overall processing time.

The EU Blue Card (Section 18g AufenthG) is available to highly qualified professionals with a recognized university degree and a job offer that meets the applicable salary threshold. For 2026, the general threshold is €50,700 gross per year. A reduced threshold of €45,934.20 applies to shortage occupations — including IT professionals, STEM academics, and medical professionals — as well as to new market entrants, meaning foreign graduates who obtained their degree within the past three years.

The EU Blue Card is issued for up to four years and provides a clear pathway to permanent residency: holders who can demonstrate German language skills at B1 level may apply for a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) after 21 months. Without B1 proficiency, the qualifying period is 33 months.

For project-based employment, the EU Blue Card has one important operational characteristic: changes of employer during the first 12 months of the card’s validity require notification to the immigration authority, which has 30 days to raise an objection. After 12 months, employer changes are unrestricted. Where a project role may transition to a position with a different employer, this should be factored into planning from the outset.

Many professionals who take on project-based work in Germany do so not as employees but as independent consultants or contractors. For non-EU nationals who are genuinely self-employed, the German Freelance Visa — a residence permit for self-employment under Section 21 of the Residence Act — provides the appropriate legal framework.

Professionals in liberal professions (freie Berufe, or Freiberufler) — a category that encompasses IT consultants, engineers, management consultants, translators, architects, journalists, and others whose work is primarily intellectual or academic — may apply under Section 21(5) AufenthG. Those whose activities fall outside the liberal professions and constitute a commercial trade (Gewerbe) apply under Section 21(1) AufenthG, where the requirements are more demanding, including demonstration that the activity serves an economic interest and will have a positive impact on the German economy.

Key documents for the application include an earnings projection, letters of intent or preliminary contracts from clients, evidence of professional qualifications, proof of health insurance, and confirmation of accommodation. The freelance residence permit is initially issued for up to three years and is renewable. Applicants over 45 must additionally demonstrate adequate pension provision.

Two issues deserve particular attention for independent project workers. First, the Scheinselbstständigkeit risk: where a freelancer works exclusively or predominantly for a single client over an extended period, German authorities may treat the relationship as disguised employment rather than genuine self-employment. This has significant consequences under both immigration and employment law. Professionals working on long-term project contracts with a single client should obtain legal advice on how their engagement is structured before applying.

Second, the Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) — while a recognized pathway for skilled workers seeking employment in Germany — does not permit freelance or self-employed activity and is not a viable route for independent project workers.

EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals are not subject to the work permit framework described above. They may work in Germany freely under EU freedom of movement rules and are required only to register their address with the local residents’ registration office (Einwohnermeldeamt) if staying for more than three months.

Nationals of a number of third countries — including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Israel — benefit from a visa-free entry privilege for stays of up to 90 days. These nationals may also enter Germany without a visa and apply for a residence permit directly from within Germany at the responsible immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde), rather than being required to apply at a German embassy or consulate abroad before traveling. This considerably simplifies the logistics of project assignments for professionals from these countries.

It should be noted that visa-free entry does not carry any automatic right to work. Even for privileged nationals, substantive work during a short-term stay requires either an applicable exemption under the non-employment fiction provisions or proper work authorization.

Companies managing project assignments in Germany should be aware of several compliance risks that arise specifically in this context.

Assuming all short-term work is automatically exempt is one of the most frequent mistakes. The non-employment fiction provisions of the Employment Ordinance apply to defined activities only. A professional conducting substantive technical work or delivering project services under a contract that does not fall within the specified categories requires full work authorization, regardless of how brief the stay is.

Overlooking the notification requirement for assembly and installation work under Section 19(1) BeschV is another recurring issue. The notification must be submitted to the Federal Employment Agency before work begins. Retrospective notification does not satisfy this requirement.

Misclassifying an employment relationship as self-employment — whether through insufficient analysis or deliberate structuring — exposes both the company and the individual to consequences under immigration and employment law.

Failing to apply for permits with sufficient lead time creates avoidable difficulties. ICT Card applications processed through German diplomatic missions typically take four to six weeks from the point at which all documentation has been compiled, and longer in complex cases. Skilled worker permit and EU Blue Card applications typically take six to twelve weeks. Project timelines should be built around these processing periods, not the other way around.

Finally, companies should note that German employment law — including provisions on minimum wage, working time, and equal treatment — applies in full to non-EU workers on assignment in Germany, irrespective of the permit category under which they are present.

The illegal employment of a foreign national in Germany is treated as an administrative offence and, in more serious cases, as a criminal offence. For employers, fines of up to €500,000 can be imposed under Section 404(2)(3) of the Third Book of the German Social Code (SGB III) and Section 98(2a) No. 1 AufenthG. Where the illegal employment is persistent, involves more than five foreign nationals, or involves working conditions disproportionately inferior to those of comparable German employees, criminal prosecution can result in a prison sentence of up to three years — or up to five years in the most serious cases.

For the foreign national, working in Germany on a Schengen visa without the appropriate authorization is a criminal offence under Section 95(1a) AufenthG. Conducting self-employed activity without the required residence title carries a fine of up to €5,000 under Section 93(3) No. 1 AufenthG. Enforcement is carried out primarily by the customs administration (Hauptzollamt), with support from the Federal Employment Agency, tax authorities, and the police.

At Schlun & Elseven Rechtsanwälte, our lawyers advise both employers on avoiding illegal employment and represent clients where illegal employment allegations have been made.