A detailed analysis from Börse-Global highlights that only 955 non-EU employees received Germany’s ICT Card in 2024—a 34 % drop year-on-year—as employers pivoted to the upgraded EU Blue Card. In response, authorities have tightened salary-parity audits from 1 January 2026: transferred specialists must now earn at least the locally prevailing wage plus documented allowances, mirroring German peers in role and region.
![ICT Card 2026: tougher salary parity tests and centralised ‘Work & Stay Agency’ reshape intra-company transfers]()
For companies looking for hands-on assistance in navigating these new compliance hurdles, VisaHQ offers an end-to-end support service. Via its dedicated Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), HR teams can book consular appointments, upload remuneration evidence and track each stage—from Federal Employment Agency pre-approval to local Ausländerbehörde registration—on a single dashboard, helping ensure that salary-parity documentation meets the stricter 2026 audit standards.
Applicants face a multi-step path: optional pre-approval by the Federal Employment Agency, visa issuance, local registration within two weeks of arrival and application for the physical ICT Card within three months. Fees remain €75 for the D-visa and €100 for the card. The newly created federal ‘Work & Stay Agency’—operational since April—acts as a single digital gateway linking consulates and Ausländerbehörden. The agency promises to cut processing times by 30 %, but early users report requests for extensive remuneration evidence, especially for “specialist” roles. HR teams should prepare benchmark tables and assignment letters that justify the business need. Despite the hurdles, the ICT Card continues to offer a valuable perk: short-term work mobility of up to 90/180 days across other EU states without extra permits, with options to switch to an EU Blue Card once a local German contract is in place. Multinationals rotating project managers or engineers into German plants should review salary grids, build in lead time for parities review, and monitor half-yearly updates to social-security ceilings that feed the compliance algorithm.
For companies looking for hands-on assistance in navigating these new compliance hurdles, VisaHQ offers an end-to-end support service. Via its dedicated Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), HR teams can book consular appointments, upload remuneration evidence and track each stage—from Federal Employment Agency pre-approval to local Ausländerbehörde registration—on a single dashboard, helping ensure that salary-parity documentation meets the stricter 2026 audit standards.
Applicants face a multi-step path: optional pre-approval by the Federal Employment Agency, visa issuance, local registration within two weeks of arrival and application for the physical ICT Card within three months. Fees remain €75 for the D-visa and €100 for the card. The newly created federal ‘Work & Stay Agency’—operational since April—acts as a single digital gateway linking consulates and Ausländerbehörden. The agency promises to cut processing times by 30 %, but early users report requests for extensive remuneration evidence, especially for “specialist” roles. HR teams should prepare benchmark tables and assignment letters that justify the business need. Despite the hurdles, the ICT Card continues to offer a valuable perk: short-term work mobility of up to 90/180 days across other EU states without extra permits, with options to switch to an EU Blue Card once a local German contract is in place. Multinationals rotating project managers or engineers into German plants should review salary grids, build in lead time for parities review, and monitor half-yearly updates to social-security ceilings that feed the compliance algorithm.
