Employer information duty for new hires from abroad (§ 45c AufenthG)

What the § 45c AufenthG notice must contain and by when you send it

Two pieces of information in text form, at the latest on the first day of work. That is what § 45c AufenthG asks of an employer based in Germany who concludes a contract with a third-country national living abroad for work in Germany.

• A pointer that the person can obtain information or advice.
• At least the current contact details of the advice centre nearest to the place of work.

The notice is short. You do not file it with an authority. It goes to the employee, and nothing more is required by the wording of the provision. "Current" matters: an address you copied from an old document is not current if the centre has moved. According to the Federal Employment Agency, the duty has applied since 1 January 2026.

Who the § 45c duty covers: your company in Germany, a new hire still living abroad

Three elements have to come together in the wording of § 45c AufenthG. The employer has its seat in Germany. The other party is a third-country national whose residence or habitual abode is abroad. The contract is for work performed in Germany.

Candidates from Albania and Kosovo are not citizens of an EU member state, so they are third-country nationals. Hires of EU citizens are not covered by § 45c AufenthG and are not dealt with on this page. If you are unsure how a particular constellation is assessed, that is a question for your legal adviser, not for a recruiter.

The duty sits with you as the employer. It does not replace the checks you make before the person starts, such as looking at the residence document and the work authorisation it carries. Those are a separate topic, covered in employer obligations when you employ a third-country national.

Does an email count? What "text form" means for the notice under § 45c AufenthG

§ 45c AufenthG requires text form, not a handwritten signature. Text form is defined in § 126b BGB: a readable declaration on a durable medium, in which the person making it is named. A durable medium is one that keeps the declaration accessible and reproduces it unchanged.

The BMAS leaflet for employers names email, an annex to the employment contract and a letter as possible ways to give the notice. So an email from your HR address, with your company named as sender, fits that description. A verbal remark at the gate on day one does not.

Practical consequence: keep a copy. If the notice is an annex to the contract, it travels with the contract file. If it is an email, the sent message is your record. The provision does not state a particular language, so this page does not claim one.

Which advice centre do you name, and what does the free advice under § 45b AufenthG offer?

The reference point is the place of work: you name the advice centre nearest to it. The service behind this is the nationwide, free and low-threshold advice on employment and social law for third-country nationals under § 45b AufenthG, set out in more detail in the Drittstaatsangehörigenberatungsverordnung (DBV).

According to the BMAS, there is one advice centre in each federal state, the advice is open to all occupational groups and sectors, and it is free for third-country nationals. Topics include pay, working time, holiday, termination, health insurance and pension entitlements. Advice is to be given in the person's mother tongue where possible. The current contact details per federal state are published on the BMAS page for the service.

Nobody has to use the offer. The Federal Employment Agency states that neither employers nor employees are obliged to take up the advice. Your duty is to hand over the pointer and the contact details, not to arrange an appointment. Handing it over early also fits well into the first weeks on the job, which we describe in onboarding foreign employees in Germany.

§ 45c AufenthG notice or Nachweisgesetz statement: two separate papers around day one

Doing one does not cover the other. If you send the advice notice as an annex to the contract, the Nachweisgesetz statement is still owed on its own terms. Check the wording of § 2 NachwG for the exact catalogue and the form requirements before you build your template.

Where this page stops: the exception in the wording and the question of consequences

§ 45c AufenthG names one exception in its wording: cross-border placement within the meaning of § 299 SGB III. Whether a specific arrangement falls under that exception depends on how the individual case is set up. We do not assess that for you, and nobody should treat a recruiter's involvement as an automatic release from the duty.

If you are unsure, send the notice. It is one email with two pieces of information, and sending it costs you less than the uncertainty.

We also do not state what happens if the notice is missing. No penalty for a breach of § 45c AufenthG could be confirmed in an official source, so this page names none. A lawyer can answer that for your case. Which steps belong to you and which to the authorities is set out in employer vs. authorities when hiring from abroad.

If you want support with candidate selection, employment documents and the steps before entry, you can register as an employer and tell us what you are looking for.