Germany's Opportunity Card for Nigerians: Points, Money, and the 12-Month Plan

Last checked 30 August 2026. Every figure below links to the official page; confirm there before you act.

Every rejection email says the same thing: we cannot sponsor you from abroad. Germany built a route that deletes that sentence. The opportunity card (Section 20a of the German Residence Act) lets you live in Germany for up to 12 months to look for a job from inside the country, working part-time up to 20 hours a week while you search, with two-week trial jobs allowed. The official portal is Make it in Germany.

The two ways in

If your degree or vocational training is fully recognised in Germany, you enter as a skilled worker and no points are needed. If it isn't fully recognised yet, you need a degree recognised in Nigeria (or two-year state-recognised training), basic language (German A1 or English B2), and six points.

Calculating your six points

Run the government's own self-check before believing anybody, including us. The scoring: partial recognition of your qualification carries 4 points on its own. German language adds 1 to 3 points (A2 to B2). Certified English at C1 adds 1. Work experience adds 2 points for two of the last five years, 3 for five of the last seven. Being under 35 adds 2 (35 to 39 adds 1). A qualifying spouse adds 1, and a past six-month stay in Germany adds 1.

Take a typical profile: a 29-year-old accountant, four years in a Lagos firm, strong certified English, no German. Partial recognition 4, English 1, experience 2, age 2. That's nine points, and six is the line. Most graduates are past the line before learning one German word; they just never calculated it.

Three legal ways to show the money

Germany asks you to show about ₦1.7m a month (EUR 1,091 net on the official questions page), which is around ₦21m for the year in a blocked account, an account that releases your own money back to you monthly. That's option one. Option two is earnings: an agreed part-time job paying that monthly figure. Option three is the one families should know: the Declaration of Commitment, where a relative or close friend living in Germany formally signs at their local foreigners office to carry your costs. Family carrying family is written into the process; it simply has to be documented Germany's way. Before you bury this route over money, ask one question: who do I know in Germany?

Real talk

A card is not a job. If twelve months pass without qualified employment, you leave, and the year rewards people who land with a plan: applications out from week one, German classes continuing, trial jobs taken seriously. The German embassy in Nigeria has also said publicly that it works with no visa agents, which tells you two things: nobody has a "connection" to sell you, and this route was built to be walked without a middleman.

Not ready yet? The 12-month build

Under six points today is a plan, not a verdict. German A2 (a few months of evening classes) adds a point and B1 adds two. Certified English at C1 adds one. A recognition finding is worth four by itself, so starting your recognition paperwork can be the single biggest move. Sequence those over a year and most near-misses cross the line.

Calculate your points now with our free Point Calculator, and the full pack, with the document list, all three money options with their exact forms, and the 90-day job search plan, is in the Germany One-Year Pack. Your crossing, done right.