Can a small company hire a foreign worker in Germany?

Size is not a legal requirement

The rules on labour migration attach to the job, the person and the working conditions. § 18 of the Residence Act asks for a concrete job offer and, where consent is needed, for the approval of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit under § 39. Neither provision mentions headcount, turnover or legal form (legal position 1 September 2026). Small employers are also the normal case in the German labour market: according to the Federal Statistical Office, 54 % of employees work in small and medium-sized enterprises.

What the Bundesagentur für Arbeit checks instead

Where approval is required, § 39 of the Residence Act requires that the foreign employee is not employed on less favourable working conditions than comparable domestic employees. So the decisive comparison is pay and conditions, not the size of your company (legal position 1 September 2026). You confirm these details in the form Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, which asks about the employer, the person and the employment.

Approval can also be refused. § 40 of the Residence Act names grounds such as unmet obligations under social security, tax or labour law, penalties for breaches of labour law provisions, or a business or employment relationship created mainly to enable entry and residence. The measure here is reliability and a real workplace. The Bundesagentur für Arbeit decides in each individual case.

What a small employer prepares

• A concrete vacancy and a written employment contract for a named person, with the details you enter in the Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis.
• Pay that meets the applicable minimum. Legal position 1 September 2026: statutory minimum wage 13.90 € gross per hour, building cleaning 15.00 €, construction 15.86 €. Compliance with minimum working conditions is checked by the customs administration's unit against undeclared work.
• A company number (Betriebsnummer), which the Bundesagentur für Arbeit issues for the social security reporting procedure — you can apply for it when you take on your first employee.
• Your own records on tax, social security and labour law obligations, because § 40 of the Residence Act links refusal grounds to exactly these duties.
• Written information for the new employee about the advisory service "Faire Integration" with the nearest advice centre, at the latest on the first working day, if you recruit a third-country national living abroad (§ 45b of the Residence Act). Using the service is voluntary.

None of these steps depends on how many people you employ. You can see the full sequence from vacancy to arrival on how the process works.

Which routes are open to a small business?

Hirenord places workers from Albania and Kosovo with employers across Germany, mainly through the Western Balkans regulation. Legal position 1 September 2026: § 26 (2) of the Employment Ordinance provides a quota of 50,000 approvals per year. A reduction to 25,000 appears in the coalition agreement but is not applicable law. The priority check has been suspended since 3 November 2023. There is no approval if the person received benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act in the 24 months before the application.

Other routes follow the same logic. The salary threshold of the EU Blue Card under § 18g of the Residence Act attaches to the pay agreed, not to the size of the firm. § 81a provides an accelerated procedure for skilled workers; whether it fits your case and how it is handled is decided by the competent foreigners authority.

Does the pre-approval help a small employer?

The pre-approval (Vorabzustimmung) is voluntary and shortens the procedure considerably; it is valid for six months (legal position 1 September 2026). As the employer you can apply for it, and you can authorise a third party to act for you. Hirenord supports the pre-approval procedure and, with a corresponding power of attorney, files applications on behalf of the employer as far as this is legally permitted.

How Hirenord works with small employers

Whether you need one welder or three production workers, the work is the same. We source and pre-select candidates in Albania and Kosovo, check basic documents, arrange interviews, support employment contracts and employment documents, prepare the Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis, support the pre-approval procedure and stay in contact with both sides until entry is prepared. You can see the roles we cover under occupations and sectors and what we do for companies on the page for employers.

The placement fee is paid as a rule by the employer, as a commission per placed worker. The amount depends on the scope and is agreed in writing in advance; there is no flat rate, and the claim only arises once the employment contract exists. Applicants pay us nothing in advance — if anyone asks a candidate for money up front, treat it as a warning sign. If you have one concrete vacancy in mind, you can register as an employer and describe the role.