Employer obligations when you employ a third-country national in Germany

What must you check in the residence document before the first working day?

Look at the residence document and its endorsements before the person starts work. A third-country national may take up employment in Germany only if a residence title permits it and no ban or restriction stands in the way. As an employer in Germany you may only employ the person on that basis (§ 4a AufenthG). If a title was issued for one specific job, other work needs permission from the competent authority.

The document itself shows what is allowed. The ancillary provisions carry wordings such as "Erwerbstätigkeit gestattet" (gainful employment permitted) or "Erwerbstätigkeit nicht gestattet" (not permitted). The Federal Employment Agency explains these entries on its page about residence status and labour market admission.

• The type of document: residence title, work permit issued by the Federal Employment Agency, or a certificate of permission to stay or of a Duldung (temporary suspension of deportation)
• The endorsement on gainful employment, including any limitation to one employer, one occupation or one region
• The period of validity of the document
• Whether the occupation is regulated and needs a licence to practise before work starts — the competent body decides on that licence

Which copy must you keep, and what must you report if the job ends early?

Keep a copy of the residence title, the work permit or the certificate for the entire duration of the employment, in electronic or paper form. § 4a AufenthG requires this of employers in Germany. A copy that only exists until the probation period ends is not enough.

You must also inform the competent foreigners authority within four weeks if employment for which a residence title under Chapter 2, Section 4 of the Residence Act was granted ends ahead of time. The four weeks run from the day you learn of the early end. Put a note in your HR process so this deadline is not missed when someone resigns or is dismissed.

Social insurance notifications apply as for any other employee. You report your staff through the DEÜV notification procedure. Since 1 January 2023 the Versicherungsnummernachweis (proof of insurance number) has replaced the social insurance card. Employees no longer have to present it as a rule; you can ask the data centre of the German pension insurance for the insurance number.

Which working-time records and ID duties apply in the sectors the customs administration inspects?

In the sectors named in the Act to Combat Undeclared Work (SchwarzArbG) and for marginal employment, extra recording duties apply to every employee, German or foreign. The customs administration sets them out in its information sheets and on its pages for employers based in Germany.

• Record the start, the end and the duration of daily working time, at the latest by the end of the seventh calendar day following the day worked
• Keep these records for at least two years
• Hold the documents ready in Germany and in German
• Your employees must carry their identity card or passport with them and present it on request; copies are not sufficient
• Inform each employee about this duty in writing, keep the notice for the duration of the work and present it on request

The Financial Control of Undeclared Work unit of the customs administration carries out the checks. Inspectors may enter business premises and land during working hours, announced or unannounced. You and the employees present must tolerate the check and cooperate. You present documents that show the extent, type and duration of the employment relationships, for example payroll records, and make stored data available in machine-readable form. Refusing to give information or to grant access is an administrative offence.

What does the Federal Employment Agency ask you before it decides on approval?

The Federal Employment Agency checks the working conditions of the planned job. It may approve the employment if the foreign national is not employed on less favourable working conditions than comparable domestic workers (§ 39 AufenthG). As the employer you owe information about the employment relationship. This covers pay, working hours, other working conditions, liability to social insurance and whether a licence to practise the occupation is needed. For seasonal employment, details on accommodation, rental terms and the amount of rent are added.

Approval must be refused if the employment came about through unlawful placement or recruitment, or if employment as a temporary agency worker is intended (§ 40 AufenthG). It may be refused if the employer has not met social insurance, tax or labour law duties. The Federal Employment Agency decides in each individual case.

The nationwide priority check has been suspended since 3 November 2023. That does not make approval certain, and it does not replace the check of pay and working hours. How that works in practice is described in our page on advertising a job before hiring from abroad.

Which written notice has been mandatory since 1 January 2026?

Since 1 January 2026, employers must inform newly recruited third-country nationals in text form about the advisory service "Faire Integration". The duty applies when you hire people whose residence or habitual residence is abroad. The information is due at the latest on the first working day. It must include the contact details of the nearest advice centre.

Faire Integration advises employees on pay, working time, holiday, termination, health insurance and pension insurance. The advice is free of charge for third-country nationals. Text form means the notice must be readable and durable, for example an e-mail or a printed sheet handed over with the contract documents. Keep a record of when and how you sent it.

What is your liability if someone works without the required entitlement?

You owe the agreed pay even if the person had no entitlement to work. § 98a AufenthG sets this out. The law presumes that the employment lasted three months. The customary remuneration counts as the agreed remuneration, unless a lower or a higher one was lawfully agreed.

• Contractor liability: a business that commissions another business with works or services is liable for that company's obligations under § 98a AufenthG; the liability does not apply if the business proves that after careful checking it could assume that no foreign nationals were employed without the required entitlement
• Costs of removal: alongside the foreign national, the employer can be held liable for the costs of refusal of entry or of deportation (§ 66 AufenthG); this liability lapses if the employer met the duties under § 4a (5) AufenthG and the social insurance reporting duty, unless the employer knew that the document presented was invalid; several liable parties are jointly and severally liable
• Fines: § 98 AufenthG and § 404 SGB III provide for fines against employers, graded by the offence
• Criminal law: employing more than five foreign nationals at the same time contrary to § 4a (5) sentence 1 AufenthG is a criminal offence under § 11 SchwarzArbG; § 10 SchwarzArbG provides for imprisonment or a fine in further cases

Who decides on the outcome — and where does a placement agency fit in?

Authorities decide, not you and not an agency. The German mission abroad decides on the visa. The foreigners authority decides on the residence title and on permissions noted in it. The Federal Employment Agency decides on approval for the employment. For a regulated occupation, the competent body decides on the licence to practise. Each of these is a decision in the individual case. Which steps are yours is set out in what you decide and what the authorities decide.

Hirenord is a private placement agency for workers from Albania and Kosovo and not a German authority. We win and preselect candidates, check basic candidate documents, support you with employment contracts and employment documents, prepare the declaration on the employment relationship and support the pre-approval procedure. Where you grant power of attorney, we file applications on your behalf, as far as this is legally permitted. The single steps are described under how the process works.

If you want to fill a vacancy with a worker from Albania or Kosovo, you can register as an employer and we will go through the documents with you.