Germany’s long-promised digital transformation of its immigration system is finally moving from policy paper to production. On 20 February 2026 the Federal Foreign Office confirmed that the nationwide e-visa portal created under the 2024 Skilled Workers Immigration Act is now live in all 167 German missions abroad as well as in local foreigners’ authorities. Employers can submit a complete work-visa package online, including labour-market approval, qualification checks and residence-permit issuance. The system interfaces with the Federal Employment Agency and state recognition bodies, eliminating the multiple paper submissions that previously slowed corporate transfers by months. (jobbatical.com)
Behind the scenes, the platform uses automated plausibility checks and optical character-recognition to flag missing documents. This has already cut average processing times for Blue-Card and ICT permits to 27 days in pilot locations – down from 66 days in 2025, according to the Interior Ministry. Mobility managers receive real-time status updates, reducing the “black-box” uncertainty that often derailed start dates for urgently needed engineers and IT specialists. (jobbatical.com)
Service-providers such as Jobbatical have integrated the new APIs, offering one-stop dashboards that combine visa tracking with relocation, housing search and onboarding tasks. HR teams at Siemens, SAP and several Mittelstand exporters told industry association BDA that the change will save “thousands of staff hours” each year and improve Germany’s competitiveness for global talent at a time when unemployment is at a historic low of 3.7 percent. (jobbatical.com)
![Germany rolls out fully-digital visa processing portal for skilled workers]()
VisaHQ’s dedicated Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/) dovetails with the government’s e-visa platform, letting companies and skilled workers pre-screen eligibility, assemble digital document packs and monitor application milestones from one intuitive dashboard. By automating reminders for biometric appointments and renewal deadlines, VisaHQ reduces the administrative overhead that often accompanies large mobility programmes.
For foreign applicants the user experience is also markedly different. Biometric data are now captured once at the visa centre; subsequent renewals or family-reunification applications can be handled completely online. A multilingual chatbot guides users through common pitfalls, while automatic data-exchange with recognition databases means that craftsmen with foreign vocational qualifications no longer need separate paper notarisation.
Practically, companies should update internal mobility checklists: electronic signatures are now accepted, physical original diplomas are no longer required at the embassy stage, and payment of the €75 national-visa fee can be made by credit card. Early adopters recommend factoring in at least two weeks for the still-manual security screening, but overall lead times have shortened enough to make on-demand staffing of German projects far easier than just a year ago.
Behind the scenes, the platform uses automated plausibility checks and optical character-recognition to flag missing documents. This has already cut average processing times for Blue-Card and ICT permits to 27 days in pilot locations – down from 66 days in 2025, according to the Interior Ministry. Mobility managers receive real-time status updates, reducing the “black-box” uncertainty that often derailed start dates for urgently needed engineers and IT specialists. (jobbatical.com)
Service-providers such as Jobbatical have integrated the new APIs, offering one-stop dashboards that combine visa tracking with relocation, housing search and onboarding tasks. HR teams at Siemens, SAP and several Mittelstand exporters told industry association BDA that the change will save “thousands of staff hours” each year and improve Germany’s competitiveness for global talent at a time when unemployment is at a historic low of 3.7 percent. (jobbatical.com)
VisaHQ’s dedicated Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/) dovetails with the government’s e-visa platform, letting companies and skilled workers pre-screen eligibility, assemble digital document packs and monitor application milestones from one intuitive dashboard. By automating reminders for biometric appointments and renewal deadlines, VisaHQ reduces the administrative overhead that often accompanies large mobility programmes.
For foreign applicants the user experience is also markedly different. Biometric data are now captured once at the visa centre; subsequent renewals or family-reunification applications can be handled completely online. A multilingual chatbot guides users through common pitfalls, while automatic data-exchange with recognition databases means that craftsmen with foreign vocational qualifications no longer need separate paper notarisation.
Practically, companies should update internal mobility checklists: electronic signatures are now accepted, physical original diplomas are no longer required at the embassy stage, and payment of the €75 national-visa fee can be made by credit card. Early adopters recommend factoring in at least two weeks for the still-manual security screening, but overall lead times have shortened enough to make on-demand staffing of German projects far easier than just a year ago.
