Germany’s promise to plug acute labour gaps with a new "short-term contingent work" scheme has run into an uncomfortable truth: no one in government can say for sure how many of the visa-holders ever went home. According to an investigative report first published by *Welt am Sonntag* and widely picked up by *FOCUS online*, officials at the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the Federal Foreign Office and even the Federal Interior Ministry concede that exit data for participants are simply **not collected**. The programme, created in March 2024, allows up to 25,000 non-EU nationals without formal qualifications or German language skills to take up seasonal jobs of up to eight months (§15d Beschäftigungsverordnung).
![Berlin admits it lost track of thousands of short-term visa workers]()
At this point, both employers and prospective seasonal workers could benefit from the streamlined visa guidance offered by VisaHQ, which keeps applicants informed of the latest German entry rules and helps organisations track documentation more efficiently; full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/germany/
BA told journalists it issued 14,963 approvals in 2025, but the Foreign Office confirmed that only about 7,650 national visas were actually granted. Neither body, however, records whether recipients ever crossed the border—or whether they subsequently applied for asylum or another residence status. The immigration authority BAMF admits that “only a fraction” of these workers appears in the Central Register of Foreigners, and that roughly one in six asylum applicants in 2025 had originally entered Germany on some kind of visa. Business groups argue the scheme is vital for hospitality, logistics and agriculture, yet lack of monitoring risks turning a flexible labour tool into a de-facto back door to irregular stay. Critics from the opposition CDU/CSU are already calling for automated exit-controls tied to the upcoming EU Entry/Exit System, while NGOs warn that tighter surveillance could push vulnerable workers into exploitation. For employers the practical takeaway is clear: expect stricter compliance checks once the government moves to repair the data gap. Companies using contingent workers should keep meticulous records of contract duration, social-security registration and—crucially—departure confirmation in case the authorities shift responsibility onto sponsors. Multinationals running seasonal operations in Germany may also need to budget for additional legal advice as policymakers debate whether to cap, expand or fundamentally redesign the programme ahead of the 2027 review of the Skilled Immigration Act.
At this point, both employers and prospective seasonal workers could benefit from the streamlined visa guidance offered by VisaHQ, which keeps applicants informed of the latest German entry rules and helps organisations track documentation more efficiently; full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/germany/
BA told journalists it issued 14,963 approvals in 2025, but the Foreign Office confirmed that only about 7,650 national visas were actually granted. Neither body, however, records whether recipients ever crossed the border—or whether they subsequently applied for asylum or another residence status. The immigration authority BAMF admits that “only a fraction” of these workers appears in the Central Register of Foreigners, and that roughly one in six asylum applicants in 2025 had originally entered Germany on some kind of visa. Business groups argue the scheme is vital for hospitality, logistics and agriculture, yet lack of monitoring risks turning a flexible labour tool into a de-facto back door to irregular stay. Critics from the opposition CDU/CSU are already calling for automated exit-controls tied to the upcoming EU Entry/Exit System, while NGOs warn that tighter surveillance could push vulnerable workers into exploitation. For employers the practical takeaway is clear: expect stricter compliance checks once the government moves to repair the data gap. Companies using contingent workers should keep meticulous records of contract duration, social-security registration and—crucially—departure confirmation in case the authorities shift responsibility onto sponsors. Multinationals running seasonal operations in Germany may also need to budget for additional legal advice as policymakers debate whether to cap, expand or fundamentally redesign the programme ahead of the 2027 review of the Skilled Immigration Act.
