Hire foreign workers directly or through a staffing agency: what changes when the person is abroad

Direct employment or a staffing agency for workers from abroad: where do the two routes differ?

Legal position as at 1 September 2026. Whether the conditions for consent are met is decided by the Federal Employment Agency in each individual case, and the visa is decided by the German mission abroad.

Why consent is refused when a worker from abroad is to be employed as an agency worker

Consent to employment is to be refused if the foreign national is to work as a temporary agency worker. The rule stands in § 40 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 AufenthG and bites wherever consent of the Federal Employment Agency is needed at all. The agency repeats the same point in its leaflet for employers and employees.

A residence title granted for employment purposes does not cover work as a temporary agency worker. The Federal Employment Agency says this on its page for companies and points out that lending without the required permit breaches the Temporary Employment Act. Consent is also tied to one job with one employer. A change of employer or of the activity inside your business is examined again.

When hiring foreign workers directly is the route that fits your situation

Hire directly when the vacancy is permanent and the person you want is still outside Germany. The contract is then between the worker and your company, and the job you describe is the job the authorities look at. That matters, because the Federal Employment Agency works with a declaration on the employment relationship in which you confirm the concrete job offer.

• A post in your production, kitchen, warehouse or workshop has stayed open and you have no local applicants.
• You can state the tasks, the working hours and the pay in writing before anything is filed.
• You want the person in your own shift plan, with your own induction and your own training.
• You can keep employer records and handle the paperwork that comes with a third-country national.

A placement agency is something different from a staffing agency. Hirenord is a private placement agency for workers from Albania and Kosovo: it finds and pre-selects candidates, organises interviews and supports the preliminary approval procedure at the Federal Employment Agency. The employment contract is signed between you and the worker. How the steps follow each other is described on how the process works.

When a staffing agency is the better option than recruiting abroad yourself

A staffing agency is the better option when you need people on the floor now and the gap is short. Someone is off sick, a seasonal peak hits, a second line runs for a few weeks — in those cases a recruitment procedure abroad does not help you, because the worker can only start once the visa procedure is finished.

The route works where no consent of the Federal Employment Agency is needed in the first place. Citizens of the EU as well as of Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland can take up employment without consent. For third-country nationals who are already in Germany, whether agency work is allowed depends on their title and on the decision of the competent authorities.

Two limits belong on the table before you sign with a staffing provider. The lender needs a permit under the Temporary Employment Act, and you can ask to see it. And lending into construction businesses for work usually done by labourers is barred, apart from the exceptions named in § 1b AÜG. Legal position as at 1 September 2026.

What you have to check and keep on file when you employ a third-country national directly

An employer who hires a third-country national directly has to check whether the employment is permitted at all. § 4a AufenthG also requires you to keep a copy of the residence title or work permit — in electronic or paper form — for the whole duration of the employment. If the employment for which the title was granted ends early, you have to inform the competent immigration authority within four weeks of learning about it.

These duties do not disappear when a placement agency helps you with the paperwork. They sit with the employer. What belongs in the file and how long it stays there is set out in employer obligations when you employ a third-country national. Who decides what in the procedure is explained in employer vs. authorities when hiring from abroad. Legal position as at 1 September 2026.

What happens if workers are lent out without the required permit

Lending without the required permit can make the contract between lender and worker invalid. § 9 AÜG sets out when that happens, and § 10 AÜG adds the consequence: an employment relationship is then deemed to have come about between the hirer and the worker. For the hirer that means the person counts as your employee, with everything that follows from it.

The criminal provisions reach the hirer as well. § 15a AÜG covers a hirer who employs lent foreign workers without the required residence title, under the conditions named there. Checks are run by the customs unit for undeclared work, which looks at whether workers are lent or hired without a permit and whether the pay rules of the Minimum Wage Act, the Posted Workers Act and the Temporary Employment Act are kept.

During such a check the duties also fall on you as the hirer. You have to tolerate the inspection, give information, make rooms available and produce documents. Legal position as at 1 September 2026.

Direct hire or staffing agency: which one to choose for your vacancy

Hire foreign workers directly if the post is permanent, the person is still abroad and the employment needs consent of the Federal Employment Agency. For agency work that consent is to be refused by law, so the direct contract is the route that stays open.

Use a staffing agency if the need is short, the start date cannot wait and the workers do not need consent — EU citizens, for instance, or citizens of Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland. Check the provider's permit and the sector limits before the first assignment. If you are unsure whether a partner is working lawfully, how to check if a recruitment agency is legitimate lists the signs to look for.

If your vacancy is the permanent kind and you want to look at candidates from Albania and Kosovo, you can register as an employer and describe the post you need to fill.