Paid training in Germany, from Nigeria

This guide is for a Nigerian who wants to learn a trade in Germany as a paid trainee (an Ausbildung), with or without a trade already in her hands, and who has never done any of this before. It takes you from where you are in Nigeria to your first training pay in Germany in eight stages: learn German to the level the visa asks (B1) and pass the exam, find a company in Germany that will train you, get your contract, your training plan and the company's signed form about your job, let the company ask for the fast procedure that speeds up your visa, put your visa file together in the consulate's order, apply and attend your appointment, travel and settle in during your first weeks, and read your first payslip. A ninth stage covers the training years and after: the school, the exams, your hours and holidays, a change of company, your family, your job after the training and your stay. The training for lorry and bus drivers (Berufskraftfahrer) has its own section after the stages. Each stage says what you have just done, what you do now, where, what you need, what it costs, how long it takes and how you know you are done. Start with "Where it stands today". Then read Part 1 once from top to bottom, and come back to the stage you are on. Every fee, date and rule comes from the official page that sets it, or is given in the named body's own words. The guide's date is 15 October 2026: every "open" and "today" in it is counted on that day. Where a line says what people "wrote online", it is what people who made this journey report, not a rule.

Where it stands today

The training visa is open today. Germany's embassy and consulate in Nigeria (the missions) keep a visa for paid training, called Vocational training, with its own list of papers. They say: "You can easily apply for your visa online via the Consular Services Portal of the Federal Foreign Office." That portal is the German government's online visa site. The law behind the visa is section 16a of Germany's immigration law (the Residence Act). It says a residence permit for training in a company should be granted once Germany's job agency (the Federal Employment Agency) has approved it: "Eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis zum Zweck der betrieblichen Aus- und Weiterbildung soll erteilt werden, wenn die Bundesagentur für Arbeit nach § 39 zugestimmt hat". No official page names Nigeria as excluded or the visa as paused.

On 15 October 2026, the guide's date:

• The pay line. The missions ask that "you need to earn at least €822 net / €1,048 gross per month in the first year" (about ₦1.23 million net, or ₦1.57 million gross). Gross is your pay before tax and insurance come off; net is what is left. The lowest training pay the law allows (the legal minimum) for a training that starts in 2027 is €764 gross a month in the first year (about ₦1.14 million). That is €284 a month under the missions' gross line. A company that pays the minimum leaves a gap you must cover (Part 2, How much). For a start in 2028, the minimum is announced by 1 November 2027; until then, plan on the 2027 figure and check it then.
• Your German. You need German at B1. German is measured in levels: A1 is the lowest; then come A2, B1, B2 and higher. If you sit the exam in Nigeria, the certificate must come from Germany's own language school (the Goethe-Institut) or the Austrian German exam (ÖSD). And "We do not accept certificates that are older than one year." ÖSD's centre in Ikeja, Lagos, sits its next exams on 29 and 31 October 2026, and its registration for them closed on 6 October 2026. It has posted no later date.
• The appointment. You apply online first, then book your appointment. The German consulate in Lagos gives appointments "in strict chronological order of the waiting list", and the people already on its old waiting list go first. The Lagos booking system says the wait "can take up to several month"; no page gives a figure for people who applied on the online site. Your company can ask for a fast procedure (the accelerated procedure, section 81a). Once you hold its written yes in advance (the pre-approval) and ask for an appointment, the law has the consulate offer you one within three weeks, and decide as a rule within three weeks. The fast procedure has its own category on that same booking system (Stage 4).
• When training starts. "Generally on 1st August or 1st September", and "most companies make their selection up to one year before the training starts, larger companies generally earlier than smaller companies" (Germany's job agency). Companies are choosing their August and September 2027 trainees now.
• What the file does not ask. Neither the missions' web list nor their printed list of June 2026 asks a police certificate or a medical certificate.

What decides when you start is your German and the company. No official page says how long it takes to reach B1. One person wrote online in 2025 that a friend on an intensive course finished B1 in May 2025, about eight months after starting. A Nigerian learner wrote online in April 2026 of over two years of study to reach B2.

Most companies choose their trainees up to a year ahead, for a start on 1 August or 1 September. If you start German this month, the first start you can aim for is 1 August or 1 September 2028; you write to companies from about the middle of 2027. Time your B1 exam for the visa, not for your letters: a certificate from mid-2027 will be about a year old by a 2028 appointment.

Then the visa. With the company's fast procedure, the law sets weeks, though the Lagos booking system says its wait can be several months (The appointment, above). On the normal waiting list, without the fast procedure, a Nigerian wrote online in 2025 that the date came exactly a year after registering.

From your first German class to your first day: about two years or more (October 2026 to August 2028), if B1 takes about eight months and a company chooses you a year ahead. Keep your work in Nigeria until the visa is in your passport.

Part 1. Before you start

What this training is

Paid training for a trade (an Ausbildung) is a job with a school day. In the words of Germany's job agency (the Federal Employment Agency), in training split between the company and the school (the dual training) "you work in the company from day one. That means colleagues, professional practice and a training salary." You apply "directly to the training company". The company must let you go to the school for your trade (the vocational school, Berufsschule), and the school time counts as training time. A school day of more than five 45-minute lessons, once a week, counts as an average training day. A whole week at school (a block week) of at least 25 hours counts as an average training week.

It takes two to three and a half years, by trade. Germany's federal office for vocational training (BIBB) lists 24 months for a warehouse clerk (Fachlagerist), 36 months for a cook (Koch) or a professional driver (Berufskraftfahrer), and 42 months for a motor vehicle mechatronics technician, the car mechanic's trade (Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker), or an electronics technician (Elektroniker). The training ends when its time ends ("Das Berufsausbildungsverhältnis endet mit dem Ablauf der Ausbildungsdauer"). At the end you sit the final exam (Abschlussprüfung). If you pass early, the training ends when the exam board announces the result ("mit Bekanntgabe des Ergebnisses durch den Prüfungsausschuss").

You are paid from the first month, and the pay rises as the training goes on, at least once a year ("Die Vergütung steigt mit fortschreitender Berufsausbildung, mindestens jährlich, an"). The general minimum wage does not apply to you. The law on the minimum wage (the Minimum Wage Act) does not govern the pay of people employed for their training ("nicht geregelt wird die Vergütung von zu ihrer Berufsausbildung Beschäftigten"). Your training has its own minimum (Part 2).

If you already know the work. A mechanic, an electrician or a cook with years in a workshop or a kitchen still starts as a trainee. The law lets the training be shortened. On a joint application by you and the company, the chamber for your trade must shorten the training where the goal can be reached in the shorter time ("Auf gemeinsamen Antrag der Auszubildenden und der Ausbildenden hat die zuständige Stelle die Ausbildungsdauer zu kürzen, wenn zu erwarten ist, dass das Ausbildungsziel in der gekürzten Dauer erreicht wird"). The chamber is the body that keeps the register of training contracts (below). The law does not say by how many months. Ask the company, once you have its yes, whether it will apply with you (Stage 3).

The bodies you will deal with

The German missions in Nigeria. These are Germany's embassy in Abuja and its consulate in Lagos (the missions). "As a rule, the Consulate General in Lagos is responsible for visa applications. In certain cases, applications may also be submitted at the Embassy in Abuja." The German consulate in Lagos (the Consulate General) is at 15, Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. The German government's online visa site (the Federal Foreign Office's Consular Services Portal) is where you fill your application and upload your papers.

Germany's job agency (the Federal Employment Agency, Bundesagentur für Arbeit, the BA) approves your training for the visa. Its free advice service for people abroad who want an Ausbildung is the ZAV (Zentrale Auslands- und Fachvermittlung). The ZAV's career advice is free ("Das Angebot der ZAV-Berufsberatung steht gebührenfrei zur Verfügung").

The immigration office (the foreigners authority, Ausländerbehörde). The company asks the immigration office responsible for it for the fast procedure (Stage 4). Once you arrive, you apply for the card that lets you stay for your training (your residence permit) at the immigration office where you live (Stage 7).

The chamber. The chamber for your trade keeps the register of training contracts. For industry and trade it is the IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce). For the crafts, such as the workshop mechanic, the plumber and the baker, it is the HwK (Chamber of Crafts).

The exam centres. In Nigeria the missions take a German certificate only from Germany's own language school (the Goethe-Institut) or the Austrian German exam (ÖSD, Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch): "If you take your language exam in Nigeria, we only accept certificates from the Goethe-Institut or Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch (ÖSD)."

In Germany: the town's office where you register your address (the residents' registration office, Einwohnermeldeamt or Bürgeramt), a public health insurer of your choice (a statutory health insurer, Krankenkasse), and your bank.

In Nigeria: the Nigeria Immigration Service (your passport), the National Population Commission (NPC, your birth certificate, or the birth certificate for adults called the birth attestation), and a court (your affidavits).

Nobody may charge you for a training place

Germany's law on job services (Social Code III) says, in section 296a, that payment for placing someone in a training place may be asked or taken only from the employer ("Für die Leistungen zur Ausbildungsvermittlung dürfen nur vom Arbeitgeber Vergütungen verlangt oder entgegengenommen werden"). This covers every service needed to prepare and carry out the placement, notably testing your knowledge and the career advice tied to it ("alle Leistungen, die zur Vorbereitung und Durchführung der Vermittlung erforderlich sind, insbesondere die Feststellung der Kenntnisse der oder des Ausbildungsuchenden sowie die mit der Ausbildungsvermittlung verbundene Berufsberatung"). The company also gives you your tools, materials and books free. Companies must provide trainees, free of charge, the training materials, in particular tools, materials and specialist books ("kostenlos die Ausbildungsmittel, insbesondere Werkzeuge, Werkstoffe und Fachliteratur"). And "Booking an appointment is FREE OF CHARGE." You pay your own German course and exam, your visa fee and your own papers. You pay nobody for a place. The signs of an offer that is not real are at the end of Stage 2.

Who this route fits

You fit best if you have finished secondary school, you can study German every day for a year or more, you want to learn a trade in Germany and work in it afterwards, and you can live on a trainee's pay. Your age is not a bar. Section 16a of Germany's immigration law (the Residence Act) sets no age limit for the training permit. The missions' Vocational training page names none, and adds papers only for an applicant under 18.

You have a trade in your hands and no German. A mechanic, an electrician, a welder, a cook, a baker, a bricklayer or a driver. Start German this week (Stage 1). The visa does not ask your years of work, but the missions' printed list takes "If applicable: Proof of work experience". Your years of work are also your reason to ask for a shorter training (What this training is, above).

Which trades. People in Germany who answered applicants abroad online in 2026 steered them away from IT. They steered them toward care, hotel and kitchen work, warehouse and logistics, building and the crafts, and driving. Drivers from abroad wrote in 2026 that they mostly got refusals (The professional driver training). People in Germany wrote online in 2026 that from abroad, without very fluent German, an IT training place is close to out of reach.

If you are a mechanic. A mechanic's trade in Germany is the motor vehicle mechatronics technician (Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker), 42 months. Some companies follow a pay deal for their trade (a collective agreement). In 2025, those companies paid on average €1,090 a month in the first year in a crafts workshop and €1,202 in industry, gross (before tax and insurance come off). A company that follows no pay deal may pay less: ask each company for your gross in writing (Stage 2). Search the job boards with the German name, Kraftfahrzeugmechatroniker, and ask for a shorter training (Stage 3).

If you are an electrician. An electrician's trade is the electronics technician (Elektroniker), 42 months, in a crafts workshop. In industry it is the electronics technician for industrial engineering (Elektroniker für Betriebstechnik), 42 months. In 2025, companies with a pay deal paid on average €979 in the first year in the crafts, under the missions' €1,048 gross line, and €1,227 in industry. A company with no pay deal may pay less: ask each company for your gross in writing (Stage 2).

You hold B1 already. Check two things on your certificate today. First, all four parts passed: "The language certificate is only complete if all four modules have been passed. The oldest individual module examination must not be older than one year." Second, its date: the certificate must be under a year old on your appointment day. Then go to Stage 2.

You hold a contract from a German company and no visa date. Check it against Stage 3 first. Get the training plan and the company's signed form about your job (the Declaration of Employment). Then Stage 4: ask the company for the fast procedure.

You are 35 or older. The training visa itself has no age limit. The line at 35 belongs only to the visa to look for a training place from inside Germany. The law gives that one only to a person who has not yet turned 35 ("er das 35. Lebensjahr noch nicht vollendet hat"). Find your company from Nigeria (Stage 2), and the age line never touches you. A Nigerian woman with two master's degrees said online in October 2026 that she started a nursing Ausbildung in her 30s. A Nigerian of 40 in Germany wrote online in September 2026 of a fear that age would make a place hard to find. The law does not stop you. Write your letter so your years of work count for you.

You want to drive lorries or buses. The training for professional drivers (Berufskraftfahrer) is a three-year training in which you earn the lorry or bus licence. Read this whole guide, then its own section, The professional driver training, after Stage 9.

You hold a degree. This training leads to the trade's job, not to a graduate job. A Nigerian civil engineering graduate wrote online in April 2026 that after two years of training with a company, the best offer was "the work of a skilled labourer". If you want to work at your degree's level, read the German master's guide, opens in a new tab too.

You are a carer, or you want to train in nursing. The guide of Germany's job agency says training at a school (school-based training) generally pays no salary ("Unlike in the dual system of training, you will generally not receive a training salary here"). It adds: "The caring professions in demand in the health sector are an exception". The visa is the same training visa (section 16a covers school-based training that leads to a state-recognised qualification). Plan your money on the €959 net line the missions give for training at a school, the stricter one (Part 2, How much), unless the consulate tells you the €822 line applies. The pay tables in Part 2 do not cover the caring professions: ask the school or the care home for the gross pay in writing. If you are a registered nurse in Nigeria, read the German nurse guide, opens in a new tab: it walks the recognition of the licence you hold, not a new training. For a training in a health or care trade, the job agency's rulebook (section 38 of the Employment Ordinance) lets only the job agency recruit or place applicants from Nigeria. If an agent or any other body placed you, the agency gives no approval and the fast procedure is not run. Find the place yourself (your own search, your own application, or a tip from friends or family), or through the job agency itself. Expect to sign, with the company, that you found it on your own initiative.

You are under 18. The missions add your parents' passport pages and the absent parent's consent. The consent "must allow the minor to travel to Germany to study / work and to withdraw money from the blocked account". A blocked account is a German bank account filled in advance with your living money.

You are married. Your spouse can join you once you are in Germany if all of these hold. You are both 18 or over. You were married before your permit was granted. Your stay is expected to last over a year ("voraussichtlich über ein Jahr betragen wird"). Your spouse speaks basic German, at the lowest level, A1 ("sich zumindest auf einfache Art in deutscher Sprache verständigen kann"). And you have enough living space and money (Stage 9). If you marry later, or your stay is shorter, section 30(2) of the law lets the authorities set those two conditions aside. They are not bound to, and the other conditions (A1, living space, money) still apply. For children, call the federal hotline Working and Living in Germany, +49 30-1815-1111. Ask what a trainee on the training permit (section 16a) needs to bring a child. Decide this with your family before Stage 2.

Looking for a place from inside Germany (the search visa)

The law has a visa to come and look for a training place (section 17). It lasts up to nine months. You must be under 35. You must hold a school certificate that gives access to university in the country where you got it ("zum Hochschulzugang ... in dem Staat berechtigt, in dem der Schulabschluss erworben wurde"). You need German at B1. And you need money of at least €1,091 a month (about ₦1.63 million), in a blocked account or in a sponsor's signed promise to pay your keep (a declaration of commitment). On it you may work up to 20 hours a week ("bis zu 20 Stunden je Woche") and do trial work of up to two weeks in all ("von bis zu insgesamt zwei Wochen"). Once you have your place you may switch to the training permit.

The missions in Nigeria do not list it today. Their list of long-stay visas (national visas) names no category for looking for a training place, and their Financial means page gives no figure for it. No page says whether Lagos takes such an application. So this guide walks the training visa, with the company found from Nigeria.

If you are also looking at a service year in Germany, a German master's, or nursing in Germany

A service year in Germany. The German service year guide, opens in a new tab puts you in a German care home, hospital or school as a volunteer for a year, with pocket money of at most 676 euros a month (about ₦1.01 million). It is "Not vocational training, but good preparation for it". After the year you can start study or an Ausbildung in Germany, but you must apply for a new visa or permit for it ("kann man ein Studium oder eine Ausbildung in Deutschland beginnen. Man muss jedoch ein neues Visum/Aufenthaltstitel dafür beantragen"). The law lets a holder of a long-stay visa (a national visa) or a residence permit apply for another permit inside Germany. If you take the service year first, know this before you apply for its visa. The visa officers' rulebook (the visa handbook) warns that concrete plans for a job or training after the year can show that the service is not your real purpose ("Konkrete Pläne eines sich an den Freiwilligenaufenthalt anschließenden Arbeits- oder Ausbildungsverhältnisses"). The service year asks German A1 for its visa. A B1 you sit for this training serves the service year too, if it is under a year old.

A German master's. The German master's guide, opens in a new tab is for a degree holder. It asks €11,904 (about ₦17.82 million) in a blocked account for the first year. A trainee's pay counts as her money, and only a gap is covered (Part 2).

Nursing in Germany. A registered nurse in Nigeria goes by the German nurse guide, opens in a new tab, which walks the recognition of her licence.

What you do once for all of them. The same consulate in Lagos, the same free booking, and the same rule that a German certificate sat in Nigeria comes from the Goethe-Institut or ÖSD and is no older than a year. The same birth certificate rule by your year of birth, the same affidavits for names, and your school results in order. And a passport "issued in the last 10 years", "valid for at least 6 more months", with "at least two free pages" (Stage 5).

Check that you can start

Before you spend anything, check these six things:

• Your passport was issued in the last 10 years and will be valid for at least 6 more months on your appointment day, with at least two free pages. Count from the month you expect your appointment, a year or more from now. For a 2028 start, expect an appointment in the first half of 2028. If your passport will have less than six months left at that appointment (so less than about two and a half years left today), renew it during your German course. A renewal (re-issue) takes 21 days after enrolment (42 days for a fresh passport). If you renew, weigh the 10-year passport (₦200,000): your training lasts two to three and a half years after you arrive.
• Your papers spell your name the same: your passport, your birth certificate, your WAEC or NECO certificate and your other school results. If they differ, you will need an affidavit for each difference (Stage 5). The missions may also ask a check of your papers (document verification) that takes "typically 6 to 8 months".
• Your birth certificate. If you were born on or after 15 December 1992, the missions ask an NPC birth certificate "issued from the NPC of your place of birth". Without one, they take a copy from the local birth register (the register extract) with an affidavit (Stage 5). Start it now if you have neither.
• Your school certificates. You need your school results in order (primary, secondary, WAEC or national diploma, any degree). Lower Saxony's ministry of education says that for a training place a foreign school certificate needs no special German certificate of equivalence ("Einer besonderen Gleichwertigkeitsbescheinigung bedarf es nicht"): the company or school decides.
• Your money for your German course and exam, your papers, your visa and your first weeks in Germany, and the gap if your first-year pay is under the missions' line (Part 2).
• Your time. A year or more of German before most companies will consider you. Keep your work in Nigeria while you study.

What stops people first

The exam seat in Lagos, a certificate that turns a year old before the appointment, companies that do not answer an applicant abroad, a company that fears you will not arrive by its start date, first-year pay under the missions' line, a contract missing what the consulate's list asks, papers that spell your name differently, and the wait on the normal waiting list. Part 4 has each one and what you do.

The whole journey on one page

Stage 1. Your German to B1. A course, then the B1 exam at ÖSD (₦200,000 at its Lagos centre) or the Goethe-Institut, all four parts passed. Months of study; no official page says how many.

Stage 2. Find a company. Choose your trade, take the job agency's free advice for people abroad (the ZAV), write in German to many companies a year before the start, and do your interview by video. Free.

Stage 3. Your contract, your training plan and the company's declaration. The contract with everything the consulate's list asks, the training plan, the company's signed form about your job (the Declaration of Employment), and the chamber's register. Free.

Stage 4. The fast procedure. The company asks the immigration office responsible for it for the fast procedure (the accelerated procedure; €411, the company's). The job agency's approval counts as given if it raises nothing within a week. Or, without it, the consulate asks for the approval inside the normal visa procedure. The law sets no fixed time for the immigration office's own part (the agreement and the pre-approval); the agreement the company signs with it sets its steps and deadlines. Ask the company when it expects the pre-approval, add the Lagos wait, and time your certificate and your start from that appointment (Stage 1, Step 2, When to sit it).

Stage 5. Your visa file. The consulate's 18 items in its order, and the gap in your money covered if your pay is under the line.

Stage 6. Apply, your appointment and the decision. Apply online, book, attend in Lagos, pay €75 (about ₦112,275) in naira. With the fast procedure, the law sets an appointment within three weeks and a decision as a rule within three weeks, though the Lagos booking system says its wait can be several months. On the normal waiting list, no stated time.

Stage 7. Travel and your first weeks. Your flight, your address registered within two weeks, your health insurer, your bank account, and your residence permit (up to €100, about ₦149,700) before your visa ends.

Stage 8. Your first payslip. What it must show, your tax class and your German tax number (tax ID).

Stage 9. The training years and after. School, the exams, your hours and holidays, your family, up to 18 months to find work after the exam. A permit to stay for good (a settlement permit) is possible after two years on the work permit for a qualified worker (the skilled worker permit) and 24 months of pension contributions, with the law's other conditions.

Part 2. What it pays and what it costs

What the missions ask you to earn

The Vocational training page of Germany's embassy and consulate in Nigeria (the missions) says: "Proof of adequate financial means you need to earn at least €822 net / €1,048 gross per month in the first year." That is about ₦1.23 million net (what is left after tax and insurance), or ₦1.57 million gross (before they come off). The missions give the two figures together: €822 net is €1,048 gross. If your first-year pay meets the line, your contract is your proof of money, and you need no blocked account (a German bank account filled in advance with your living money).

"If an unpaid preparatory German course is completed or the trainee's salary is insufficient, separate proof must be provided that any monthly shortfall is covered (e.g. blocked account or formal obligation)." For training at a school (school-based training) the missions ask "959 EUR net per month" (about ₦1.44 million). And "The required amount must cover the total amount needed for your planned stay in Germany, up to a maximum of one year."

What the law makes the company pay you

The lowest training pay the law allows (section 17 of Germany's law on training, the Vocational Training Act), by the year your training starts:

All gross, a month. For a start in 2028, the minimum is announced by 1 November 2027; until then, plan on the 2027 figure and check it then.

Some companies follow a pay deal for their trade (a collective agreement). Such a company may pay that deal's rate even where it is under the law's minimum. A company that follows no pay deal should, as a rule, not pay more than 20 per cent below the deal that covers the training ("um mehr als 20 Prozent"). A room or meals the company gives you may be counted against your pay, but not beyond 75 per cent of the gross pay ("jedoch nicht über 75 Prozent der Bruttovergütung hinaus"). Time beyond your agreed daily training time is paid extra or given back as time off ("ist besonders zu vergüten oder durch die Gewährung entsprechender Freizeit auszugleichen").

The minimum is under the missions' line. A first-year pay at the 2027 minimum, €764 gross, is €284 a month under the €1,048 gross line (about ₦425,148 a month). How much you put in the account is counted on your net pay (Covering the gap, below).

What trainees were paid in 2025

These are the figures of Germany's federal office for vocational training (BIBB) for 2025, for trainees in companies that follow a pay deal. On average across all years: "1.209 Euro brutto im Monat" (€1,209 gross a month, about ₦1.81 million). In the first year: €1,117 (about ₦1.67 million). By area, from €1,329 in the public service to €1,093 in the crafts. About 15 per cent of trainees were paid €1,000 or less ("Dagegen lagen bei rund 15 Prozent der Auszubildenden die tariflichen Ausbildungsvergütungen 2025 bei 1.000 Euro oder weniger"). These are averages in companies with a pay deal, not what any one company pays you. The figures are updated each year at 1 October ("Die Vergütungsdaten werden jedes Jahr zum Stichtag 1. Oktober aktualisiert"); the latest are for 2025.

By trade, a month, gross:

"Industry" is a trade under the chamber for industry and trade (the IHK). "Crafts" is a trade under the chamber for the crafts (the HwK). Three first-year figures in the table are under the missions' €1,048 gross line: the crafts electronics technician (€979), the plumbing and heating mechanic (€927) and the baker (€1,021). In those trades, plan to cover a gap. The hairdresser, at €727 (about ₦1.09 million), is the trade with by far the lowest pay under pay deals ("dem Beruf mit den mit Abstand niedrigsten tariflichen Ausbildungsvergütungen").

Covering the gap

If your contract's first-year pay is under €822 net (€1,048 gross), you show the missing money in one of two forms:

• A blocked account (Sperrkonto). A German bank account you fill in advance with your living money. "Open the blocked account in good time BEFORE applying for a visa. When applying for a visa, only the official confirmation of the account opening, including information on the amount paid in and the amount available per month, will be accepted." "A blocked account can be opened at a bank or similar provider. You are free to choose where to open your account." "In addition to the amount blocked in the account, you have to pay the requisite banking fees." "Only a certain amount can be withdrawn every month from the blocked account." "The Federal Foreign Office does not make any recommendations".
• A sponsor's promise (a formal obligation, Verpflichtungserklärung). A person living in Germany signs a promise to pay your costs. It is signed at the immigration office (the foreigners authority) where that person lives, and the office checks the person's means. It covers all your costs, including medical treatment and return ("Krankenbehandlung und Rückführung"). It must be "not older than six months" when you apply.

How much. The missions' page does not say which line the gap is counted up to: the €822 net of training in a company, or the €959 net it gives for school-based training. Covering it up to €959 net covers either reading. Ask the company in writing for your net pay in the first year. Then put (€959 minus your net) times 12 months in the account, at most a year's gap. If the consulate tells you it counts the gap to €822, you need less: (€822 minus your net) times 12.

A post online in 2025 sold this route as needing no proof of money. At the legal minimum pay, that is wrong.

What it costs you

Every fee in the order you meet it, for you alone.

What the total leaves out. Your German course; the Goethe exam's fee if you sit there; your affidavits, photographs and copies; your courier envelope; your incoming insurance; your flight; your first weeks in Germany until your first pay; any gap in your money; a second B1 sitting if your first certificate turns a year old; and a document verification if the missions ask it.

In Germany, later. The TV and radio fee every home pays (the broadcasting fee), once you have your own flat: "For private households, the current fee is 18.36 euros per month" (about ₦27,485), "One dwelling, one fee". A landlord's deposit is at most three months' basic rent (the rent without bills). You may pay it in three equal monthly parts, the first at the start of the tenancy.

What you earn. In your first year, the legal minimum is €764 gross a month for a start in 2027 (about ₦1.14 million), unless a pay deal the company follows sets less. In a company with a pay deal, it was €1,117 on average in 2025 (about ₦1.67 million). It rises every year.

Paying from Nigeria. The visa fee is "payable at the current exchange rate of the German missionin Nigerian Naira in cash or via POS" (the page's spacing). The blocked account is in euros: ask your bank before Stage 5 how it sends euros to a German account and its limit for one payment. For your first weeks in Germany, your bank can sell you foreign cash for the trip (a Personal Travel Allowance, PTA). At Access Bank it is up to US$4,000 a quarter, asked for "not more than 14 days from the date of travel". The bank lists a valid visa, a return ticket and an account run for at least six months among its conditions (Stage 7).

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Your German to B1

Back to the short stages

You have decided to train in Germany. Now learn German and pass the B1 exam. B1 is the third German level: A1 is the lowest; then come A2, B1, B2 and higher. Companies read your application in German, the school for your trade teaches in German, and the visa asks B1.

What the visa asks. The language page of Germany's embassy and consulate in Nigeria (the missions) asks: "Vocational training B1". Only exam bodies that test to the European language testers' standard count: "We only accept certificates issued by institutions testing in accordance with the standards of the Association of Language Testers in Europe ( ALTE )." In Nigeria, that means Germany's own language school (the Goethe-Institut) or the Austrian German exam (ÖSD): "If you take your language exam in Nigeria, we only accept certificates from the Goethe-Institut or Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch (ÖSD). The Embassy or Consulate itself does not carry out any language examinations or classifications." "We do not accept certificates that are older than one year." "The language certificate is only complete if all four modules have been passed. The oldest individual module examination must not be older than one year."

What the law allows, and what Lagos asks. The law asks proof of B1 only where the company has not tested your German and you will not learn it in a German course before the training. The missions in Nigeria still list "Language certificate" in the training file and name B1 for vocational training. Bring a B1 certificate. Some companies bring a trainee for a German course in Germany before the training. If those months are unpaid, the missions ask for the money for them to be covered like a gap (Part 2). Ask the company whether it pays you during the course. Ask the consulate before you rely on a German course in Germany in place of a B1 certificate.

What companies ask. Often more. A person who helped an applicant in 2025 wrote online that every company called wanted B2, the level above B1, although B1 is enough for the visa. Trainees wrote online in 2025 that B2 made applying "much easier" and that the school for the trade "will be fully in German". Aim for B1 for the visa, and B2 for the companies if you can.

Step 1. Learn

Do. Start a German course this week, and study every day. Keep going after B1. A trainee wrote online in 2025 that you need C1, two levels above B1, "to survive the Berufsschule part" (the trade school). Nigerian presenters spoke online in 2026 of the language pressure at school.

Where. Start today for free: the German missions in Nigeria link the free online course of Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster (learngerman.dw.com). Pay for a school when you want a teacher and an exam date. Any school or teacher will do; the missions do not prescribe one. The Goethe-Institut Nigeria (30, Catholic Mission Street, opposite Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos Island; language-lagos@goethe.de) teaches and examines. Its A1 exam costs less for its own course students; ask whether the same holds for B1. Ask each school for its A1 to B1 fees in writing before you pay, and ask whether its students sit the Goethe or the ÖSD exam.

Time. No official page states how long it takes to reach a level. One person wrote online in 2025 that a friend on an intensive course finished B1 in May 2025, about eight months after starting. Part-time takes longer.

At the same time. Start your papers now: your passport if it falls short, your NPC birth certificate or the NPC birth certificate for adults (the birth attestation), and an affidavit for each name that differs (Stage 5). They take weeks to months.

Step 2. Sit the B1 exam

Do. Register for B1 once a date opens inside the window below, pay, sit all four parts (reading, listening, writing, speaking), and collect your certificate. If you reach B1 level long before the company's yes, write to companies on your level and your course report, and sit the exam inside the window.

ÖSD at Easyway, Ikeja, Lagos. ÖSD's licensed centre in Lagos is Easyway Language School, Unity Road, Ikeja (info@easywaylanguageschool.com). Its ÖSD exam page, opens in a new tab gives:

• Fees: A1 ₦160,000, A2 ₦190,000, B1 ₦200,000, B2 ₦210,000.
• Its dates: 29 and 31 October 2026; registration for them closed on 6 October 2026. No later date is posted: ask the centre for its next dates the week you start your course.
• Results: "2 to 4 weeks after the exam", or "As fast as 1 week" for an express fee of ₦192,500.
• How: register on ÖSD's online sign-up site (the ÖSD exam registration portal), with "A valid identity document (passport, identity card, etc.)"; "Examinees pay the fee directly to the centre." "You can take each exam or module any number of times", and ÖSD recommends "a minimum of four weeks before retaking the exam". "You will only receive your exam results at the examination centre where you took the exam."

The same centre's site sells travel packages and job placement help. You need none of them: sit the exam only. ÖSD's list of centres also names the Klar-Institut in Ibadan (3b Ade Adepoju Street, Ring Road; language-courses@klar.ng, +234 704 973 1106), with "No exam offers available" today: ask it whether it will set exam dates. There is no ÖSD centre in Abuja.

The Goethe-Institut Nigeria, Lagos Island. All its international exams "take place at Goethe-Institut Nigeria. 30, Catholic Mission Street Opp. Holy Cross Cathedral Lagos Island, Lagos". Its terms: "Bank transfer is currently the only acceptable means of payment." "The full exam fee is payable on the day of registration." "Registrations take place on a first come, first served basis." Ask for its payment and cancellation terms in writing when you register. On the day bring your "Original valid passport"; "Late comers will be excluded from the exam." "All exam results will be available from 2 weeks after the oral exam." Ask for its B1 fee and dates at language-lagos@goethe.de. Goethe exams "can be repeated as a whole as often as desired", and so can single parts of an exam sat in parts (a modular exam). Check a Goethe certificate at goethe.de/verify, opens in a new tab.

When to sit it. Your certificate, and its oldest part, must still be under a year old on your appointment day. Count back from the appointment you expect. Do not count from the company's written yes in advance (the pre-approval, Stage 4).

1. Ask the company when it expects the pre-approval.
2. Add the Lagos wait (three weeks by law, several months by the booking system's own line).
3. Sit no earlier than eleven months before that appointment.
4. Have your result in your hand before you apply online (2 to 4 weeks at ÖSD, from 2 weeks at Goethe).
5. If no date falls inside your window, ask the company whether the pre-approval request can wait for your exam.

Ask both centres for their dates as soon as the company gives you its timetable. Sit again if your appointment moves past the certificate's first birthday. On the normal waiting list, without the fast procedure, count a year back from the month you expect your appointment. Sit again at once if the date the consulate gives you falls after your certificate's first birthday.

You are done when you hold a Goethe or ÖSD B1 certificate with all four parts passed, dated less than a year before your expected appointment.

If it goes wrong.

• No seat. A Nigerian wrote online in July 2026 that Goethe's registration page failed on the registration day and "the exam is fully booked after 5-10 minutes". Be online the minute registration opens, and keep ÖSD as your second centre.
• A part failed. Your certificate is not complete until all four parts are passed. At ÖSD you can resit as often as you need, and ÖSD recommends at least four weeks before you do. Where the exam comes in two parts (modules), the written part (reading, listening, writing) is resat as a whole. At Goethe, single parts of an exam sat in parts can be resat. Watch the one-year age of your oldest part.
• Someone offers you a certificate. "For a real ÖSD certificate, you can only take the ÖSD exam in person." "The organised trade and the use of forged certificates are a criminal act and will lead to a police report." At the consulate, a forged paper means immediate refusal and a ban from entering all the European countries that share one visa ("a Schengen-wide entry ban"). Never buy one.

Same as the service year. The same centres and the same one-year rule. The service year's visa asks A1, this one B1.

Next. Find a company (Stage 2). Start writing to companies once you are at B1 level, even before your certificate is in your hand.

Stage 2. Find a company that takes you from Nigeria

Back to the short stages

You have your German, or you are close. Now find a company in Germany that will train you. This is the stage that decides your start.

Step 1. Choose your trade

Do. Pick a trade that fits what you can already do. People in Germany who answered applicants abroad online in 2026 steered them away from IT. They steered them toward care, hotel and kitchen work, warehouse and logistics, building and the crafts, and driving. Drivers from abroad wrote in 2026 that they mostly got refusals (The professional driver training). For a care or health trade, no agent may place you, only Germany's job agency (the Federal Employment Agency): find the place yourself or through the job agency (Part 1, You are a carer, or you want to train in nursing). Search with the trade's German name (Part 2, by trade). Look at the trade's pay in Part 2 against the €1,048 a month before tax (gross) that the missions ask.

Step 2. Take the free advice

Do. Write to the job agency's free advice service for people abroad (the ZAV's career advice). Its page asks whether you live abroad and want to come to Germany for an Ausbildung ("Du lebst derzeit im Ausland und hast das Ziel für eine Ausbildung ... nach Deutschland zu kommen?"). It says it advises people from all over the world ("Wir beraten und informieren Interessenten und Interessentinnen aus der ganzen Welt"), and it is free.

Where. The ZAV's own page: ZAV Berufsberatung, Wer sind wir, opens in a new tab.

Cost. Free.

Step 3. Search and apply

When. "Training start: Generally on 1st August or 1st September". "There are no fixed application deadlines, although most companies make their selection up to one year before the training starts, larger companies generally earlier than smaller companies." If you hold B1 now, apply now for 2027. If you are starting German, apply once you reach B1, for 2028.

Where. "Application directly to the training company". People in Germany who answered applicants online in 2025 and 2026 pointed to the job agency's job board. Choose smaller companies in smaller towns as well as large ones. An applicant from Morocco with lorry experience and B1 wrote online in May 2026 of "many applications, especially to companies in smaller towns and rural areas", and "Unfortunately, I mostly receive rejection emails".

What you send. A CV (Lebenslauf) and a letter (Anschreiben) in German, written for that one company: why this trade, what you have already done with your hands, and when you can start. A hotel manager's brother wrote online in 2025 that the manager "just bins the bundles" agents send of five or six applicants at once. Never let an agent send your name in a bundle.

How many. Plan on many. A person helping an applicant abroad wrote online in 2026 that he "applied for over 200 jobs and finally now he got one interview".

The interview. Expect it by video, in German. People in Germany who answered online in 2025 said employers want to "meet them, getting a feel for them and their language skills". Offer a video call in your first letter.

From people who did it. A Nigerian said online in March 2026 that he learnt German to C1 while still in Nigeria, applied for training places from Nigeria himself, and got his contract and his visa directly, with no agent.

Step 4. What you ask before you say yes

Do. When a company says yes, ask it these in writing, and keep the answers:

1. Will you ask the immigration office responsible for you (die zuständige Ausländerbehörde) for the fast procedure for skilled workers (the accelerated procedure, section 81a), and pay its fee? (Stage 4.)
2. What is my pay before tax (gross) a month in each year, and my pay after tax and insurance (net) in the first year?
3. Will the contract state the contract period, the job description, the gross annual salary, the weekly hours, my holidays a year and the place of work, as the consulate's list asks? (Stage 3.)
4. Will you give me the training plan and the missions' form about my job (the Declaration of Employment), signed and stamped?
5. Do you have a room for me, or a trainee hall, and at what rent? Will the landlord give me the written confirmation I need to register my address (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung)?
6. Which trade school (Berufsschule), on which days or whole weeks at school (block weeks), and do you pay my ticket to it?
7. Will you apply with me to the chamber that registers my contract to shorten my training, given my experience?
8. For a driver: do you pay my class B, C and CE licences? (The professional driver training, below.)

Why the first question. Companies fear the start date. A Nigerian wrote online in June 2025 that companies would not give her partner a contract "because he still has to go to Nigeria first and they aren't sure if he can make it back in time before Ausbildung starts in August". The fast procedure is the law's answer to that fear. Once you hold the company's written yes in advance (the pre-approval) and ask for an appointment, the law has the consulate offer you one within three weeks, and decide as a rule within three weeks. The Lagos booking system says its wait "can take up to several month" (Stage 4, The clocks). Offer it in your first call, in the German names the company knows: "Please ask your Ausländerbehörde for the beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren for me; the law then sets three weeks to my appointment and, as a rule, three weeks to the decision."

You are done when a company has said yes in writing and answered your questions.

The signs that an offer is not real

The step-by-step above is the route. Keep this table beside it.

A Migrant Resource Centre in Edo State named the same signs in October 2026, as the press reported: paying for job offers, no written contract, and unlicensed recruiters.

Next. Your contract, your training plan and the company's declaration (Stage 3).

Stage 3. Your contract, your training plan and the company's declaration

Back to the short stages

A company has said yes. Now get from it the three papers the consulate's list asks. Then let the company register your contract with the chamber for your trade.

Step 1. The training contract

Do. Read the contract against both lists below before you sign it, and sign only when every item is in it.

What the consulate's list asks. "Training contract in Germany must contain the following information: contract period, detailed job description, gross annual salary, weekly working hours, Vacation days per year, place of work, signed by the employer and the trainee."

What the law asks (section 11 of Germany's law on training, the Vocational Training Act). The company sets it down at once after the contract is made, at the latest before the training starts ("unverzüglich nach Abschluss des Berufsausbildungsvertrages, spätestens vor Beginn der Berufsausbildung"). It must state: the names and addresses; the kind of training, its content and timetable, and its goal ("Art, sachliche und zeitliche Gliederung sowie Ziel der Berufsausbildung"); its start and length ("Beginn und Dauer der Berufsausbildung"); the training place and any training outside it; the daily training hours ("Dauer der regelmäßigen täglichen Ausbildungszeit"); your trial period ("Dauer der Probezeit"); the pay, its amount and its make-up ("Zahlung und Höhe der Vergütung sowie deren Zusammensetzung"); overtime pay or time off ("Vergütung oder Ausgleich von Überstunden"); the holidays ("Dauer des Urlaubs"); the conditions for notice; a reference to any pay deal for the trade (collective agreement) that applies; and the form of the record you keep of your training (your training record, Ausbildungsnachweis).

The trial period (probation). It must be at least one month and at most four ("Sie muss mindestens einen Monat und darf höchstens vier Monate betragen"). During it, either side can end the training at any time, with no notice ("jederzeit ohne Einhalten einer Kündigungsfrist").

The pay on the contract. The consulate reads the gross annual salary (your pay for the year, before tax). If your first-year pay is under €1,048 gross a month, plan the gap now (Part 2, Covering the gap).

The start date. The contract's start is usually 1 August or 1 September. The Lagos appointment, the decision and your flight must all fit before it. Ask the company, in writing, whether the start can move if the visa is late.

Do not resign yet. Keep your work in Nigeria until the visa is in your passport.

Step 2. The training plan

Do. Ask the company for it. The consulate's list: "Training plan a detailed plan containing the skills and knowledge to be learned and the order in which they will be taught."

Step 3. The Declaration of Employment

Do. Send the company the missions' form about your job (the Declaration of Employment), and ask it to fill and sign it. "Declaration of Employment completely filled out including signature and stamp of the employer in Germany." The form is the missions' Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis, opens in a new tab.

Step 4. The chamber's register

What the company does. The company must apply at once, after the contract is made, to have it entered in the chamber's register of training contracts ("Ausbildende haben unverzüglich nach Abschluss des Berufsausbildungsvertrages die Eintragung in das Verzeichnis ... zu beantragen"). It applies in writing or electronically, with a copy of the contract. The chamber is the one for your trade: the chamber for industry and trade (the IHK) or the chamber for the crafts (the HwK). Ask the company to tell you when it has applied.

Your experience, and a shorter training. If you already know the work, ask the company now to apply with you to the chamber to shorten the training (Part 1, What this training is).

You are done when you hold the contract signed by both of you, the training plan, and the Declaration of Employment signed and stamped.

Next. The fast procedure (Stage 4).

Stage 4. The company asks for the fast procedure

Back to the short stages

You hold your contract. Now Germany's job agency (the Federal Employment Agency) must approve your training. The company can get that done in Germany before you apply, through the fast procedure (the accelerated procedure). If it does not, the consulate asks for the approval during your visa.

Why it matters. The job agency approves a trainee where you are not employed on worse terms than comparable local workers ("der Ausländer nicht zu ungünstigeren Arbeitsbedingungen als vergleichbare inländische Arbeitnehmer beschäftigt wird"). The company gives it details, in particular on pay, hours and other conditions ("insbesondere zum Arbeitsentgelt, zu den Arbeitszeiten und zu sonstigen Arbeitsbedingungen"). If it does not say within two weeks that the information is not enough, its approval counts as given. The two weeks run from the request of the immigration office or the consulate ("wenn die Bundesagentur für Arbeit der zuständigen Stelle nicht innerhalb von zwei Wochen ... mitteilt"). Under the fast procedure, the two weeks are cut to one week ("eine Woche"). The agency also expects that "the foreign national is not to work as a temporary agency worker": you must not be hired out by a staffing agency.

Option A: the accelerated procedure (what this guide walks)

What the company does. The company applies at the immigration office responsible for it (the foreigners authority, die zuständige Ausländerbehörde). It applies with a signed letter from you that lets it act for you (your power of attorney). Section 81a says employers can apply for the fast procedure at the immigration office, on the power of attorney of the person coming for, among others, section 16a training ("können bei der zuständigen Ausländerbehörde in Vollmacht des Ausländers, der zu einem Aufenthaltszweck nach den §§ 16a ... einreisen will, ein beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren beantragen"). The company and the office sign an agreement. The office gets the job agency's approval and gives its written yes in advance (the pre-approval, Vorabzustimmung) without delay ("unverzüglich"). The fee is the company's: "411 Euro" (about ₦615,267). The German government's site for workers from abroad (Make it in Germany) says on its sheet for the training visa: "Before submitting your application, please check whether you have the option of accelerating the entry process via the fast-track procedure for skilled workers with the help of your employer."

The immigration office's own part. The law sets no fixed time for the immigration office's own part (the agreement and the pre-approval); the agreement the company signs with it sets its steps and deadlines. Ask the company when it expects the pre-approval, add the Lagos wait, and time your certificate and your start from that appointment (Stage 1, Step 2, When to sit it).

What you do. Sign the power of attorney the company sends you. When the company sends you the pre-approval, book your appointment in Lagos under its own category (Stage 6).

The clocks. Once the pre-approval is in and you ask for an appointment, the consulate (the mission) offers you one within the next three weeks ("Im Fall des § 81a des Aufenthaltsgesetzes bietet die Auslandsvertretung unverzüglich nach Vorlage der Vorabzustimmung ... und nach dem Eingang der Terminanfrage der Fachkraft einen Termin zur Visumantragstellung an, der innerhalb der nächsten drei Wochen liegt"). It decides, as a rule, within three weeks of the complete application ("Die Bescheidung des Visumantrags erfolgt in der Regel innerhalb von drei Wochen ab Stellung des vollständigen Visumantrags"). The Lagos booking system, where the fast procedure has its own category, says: "The waiting time for an appointment can take up to several month." Plan your certificate's year and your start date on both: the law's three weeks, and the consulate's own line.

From people who did it. A Nigerian applying for a work visa at the same consulate wrote online in August 2026: "I contacted the embassy for an appointment, I got a date in about 2 weeks." About six weeks after the interview, in early September 2026, the same applicant wrote that no decision had come yet. Ask the company how long its pre-approval is valid. Nigerians on the trainee route wrote online in 2025 that they did not know who asks for it. The company asks; you sign.

Option B: the ordinary procedure

If the company will not use the fast procedure, you apply without a pre-approval. "For some jobs, approval from the Federal Employment Agency of Germany is required. This is requested internally by the embassy." The company can still ask the job agency for an early check before you apply (a preliminary check): "The preliminary check is requested by the company directly from the Federal Employment Agency of Germany in advance of the visa application. This is intended to speed up the visa process." Ask the company for that at least.

On the normal waiting list, Nigerians wrote online in 2025: "I just got visa appointment date today for an ausbildung visa i applied for just exactly one year ago", and "I already have a b2 and a contract for ausbildung but no date". Every month of that wait counts against your certificate's year and your contract's start date. This is why you ask for Option A.

You are done when you hold the pre-approval (Option A), or the company has asked for the early check and you are ready to apply (Option B).

Next. Your visa file (Stage 5). Build it while the company's procedure runs.

Stage 5. Your visa file, in the consulate's order

Back to the short stages

You hold your contract, and the company's procedure is running. Now put your file together exactly as the consulate sorts it. "Incomplete and unsorted applications will not be accepted." "The required documents must be submitted in full at the personal interview. Documents sent in advance cannot be considered." "All documents must be submitted in both copy and original form." Copies go on A4 paper, in black and white: "Copies need to be in DIN A4 format and black/white. Copies in color will not be accepted." "The Consulate General reserves the right to request further documents."

Where. The Vocational training page of Germany's embassy and consulate in Nigeria (the missions), Vocational training page, opens in a new tab, and its printable list of papers in order, the sorting list, opens in a new tab ("Status: June 2026").

The 18 items, in the printed list's order:

1. Application form. The online visa form (VIDEX), in English or German, signed.
2. Your signed promise that what you wrote is true and complete (Declaration pursuant to section 54 AufenthG), signed.
3. The data protection form (General Data Protection Regulation), signed.
4. Copy of your passport data page. Your passport must be "issued in the last 10 years", "valid for at least 6 more months", with "at least two free pages".
5. If applicable: copy of your residence permit for Nigeria (only if you are not Nigerian).
6. Training contract in Germany (Stage 3).
7. Training plan (Stage 3).
8. Declaration of Employment (the company's form about your job, Stage 3).
9. Proof of adequate financial means. Your contract, if your first-year pay is at least €822 net or €1,048 gross. Otherwise also the confirmation of your blocked account (the German account filled in advance with your living money), or the sponsor's promise (the formal obligation), for the gap (Part 2).
10. CV.
11. Letter of Motivation.
12. If applicable: proof of work experience.
13. Language certificate (your B1, Stage 1).
14. Copies of biographical documents: your birth certificate, affidavits and old identity papers (below).
15. School results in chronological order: "Primary Secondary school WAEC or National diploma Bachelor Degree Masters Degree".
16. Original documents: "all originals for the copies mentioned above must be submitted in chronological order. Your original documents will be returned to you once your application has been processed."
17. Biometric photographs (passport photos to the official standard): "2 x biometric photograph not older than 6 months uniform white background size: 3,5x4,5 cm". The printed list asks one, the web page two: bring two.
18. Prepaid courier envelope, addressed to yourself.

The printed list asks a CV and a letter of motivation that the web page's list does not name. Bring both lists' items.

Your birth certificate, by your year of birth.

• Born before 15 December 1992: a certified copy of your entry in the local birth register (the register extract). With it, an affidavit ("Declaration of Age") of a parent or the head of the family, and a copy of that person's signed identity document.
• Born on or after 15 December 1992: an "NPC birth certificate, issued from the NPC of your place of birth", or, without one, the register extract with the affidavit.
• Getting one as an adult. The National Population Commission (NPC) has a birth certificate for people 18 and above, called Birth Attestation: "Birth Attestation: For individuals 18 years and above." It needs your "National Identification Number (NIN)" and a "Court Sworn Affidavit". To download it: "Click on the 'Check Status' button. Enter your Payment Reference. Click on the 'Download Certificate' button." The NPC's page states neither its fee nor its time: start it the week you begin your German course. Ask the consulate whether it takes the birth attestation as your NPC birth certificate. The register extract with the affidavit is the missions' own alternative. NPC, FAQs (Vital-Reg), opens in a new tab.

Your names. Affidavits "if you changed your name or there was a mistake on any of your documents": change of names with the newspaper advertisement, reconciliation of names, spinster or bachelorhood, and facts. Bring old papers that show your identity: hospital birth registration, weighing card, baptism certificate, voter ID card, vaccination certificate, expired passports.

If your papers disagree. The missions may ask a check of your papers (document verification), "particularly if: Your documents contain differing details about your identity (e.g., names, dates of birth)", court orders, or a marriage "conducted only traditionally or religiously". It costs ₦370,000 for papers from the southern states or ₦420,000 from the northern, and "Processing time is typically 6 to 8 months." During it "you and your contacts will be interviewed by an investigator". Make your papers agree before you apply.

Your passport. If yours falls short: ₦100,000 for 32 pages and five years, ₦200,000 for 64 pages and ten years ("Exclusive of Bank Charges"). A fresh one takes "42 days after Successful Enrolment"; a renewal (re-issue) "21 days". A correction of data costs ₦30,000 in administrative charges. Nigeria Immigration Service, Passports, opens in a new tab.

Your CV and your letter. Let them tell one story with your contract: your schooling, your work with your hands, why this trade, why this company, and what you will do with the qualification.

What the file does not ask. No police certificate and no medical certificate: neither list names one. Do not pay for a Police Character Certificate unless the consulate asks for one.

Forged papers. A forged paper means a refusal and a ban from entering all the European countries that share one visa: "The consulate expressly points out that any visa application submitted with forged documents or documents containing false information will be immediately and automatically rejected. The applicant will be entered into a warning database, which will also negatively affect any subsequent visa applications. And the applicant will be issued a Schengen-wide entry ban."

You are done when your 18 items sit in one folder in the list's order, originals and black-and-white A4 copies, with your money proof inside it.

Same as the service year and the master's. The same birth certificate rule, the same affidavits, the same school results in order and the same passport rule. Papers made right once serve the service year's and the master's visas too.

Next. Apply and book your appointment (Stage 6).

Stage 6. Apply, your appointment and the decision

Back to the short stages

Your file is ready. Now apply online, book your appointment, take your file to the consulate, and wait for the decision.

Step 1. Apply online

Do. Fill in your application on the German government's online visa site (the Consular Services Portal) and upload your papers. "Fill out your application form online and upload your documents. Your details and documents will then be checked for completeness. You will receive feedback as to whether your documents are complete and have been submitted successfully." "You can check the current status of your application online in the Consular Services Portal." "Please therefore do not attempt to apply online at a different mission abroad if the application you want to submit is not yet available online at the mission responsible for you."

Where. The Consular Services Portal, opens in a new tab, from the missions' booking page, opens in a new tab.

Step 2. Book your appointment

Do. "You will then receive the link to book an appointment at the visa section." "Due to the high demand and resulting longer waiting times for booking appointments, we recommend booking the appointment as soon as the travel date is foreseeable." "Booking an appointment is FREE OF CHARGE."

The waiting list. The consulate calls the online visa site the Foreign Portal here. "Applicants that previously registered for an appointment and already have a registration number don't need to create an account on the Foreign Portal." "The Consulate schedules appointments in strict chronological order of the waiting list." "Once all applicants from the waiting list have received an appointment, applicants who have registered themselves on the Foreign Portal will receive an appointment." On the consulate's own booking system, "only one registration can be booked per person. A new registration can only be allocated after a period of one month".

With the company's pre-approval. The Lagos booking system has its own category for skilled workers whose company holds the written yes in advance (the pre-approval). Its name reads: "Registration ONLY for visa under the Skilled Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) WITH approval in advance according to § 81a residence act from your responsible ALIEN AUTHORITY in Germany". Book under it, with your pre-approval, and the law's three-week clock runs (Stage 4, The clocks, with the consulate's own line on its wait). No page says whether you also fill in the portal application before you register under this category: ask the consulate the day you have your pre-approval.

Time. The Lagos booking system says the wait "can take up to several month"; no page gives a figure for the portal. Agencies "do not have any special or preferential access to the appointment booking system, even if they claim otherwise." "cancellation is only possible well in advance, as a rule up to 1-2 days beforehand".

Step 3. Your appointment

Where. The place in your appointment email. As a rule the Consulate General in Lagos, 15, Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island. From Abuja, Ibadan or Port Harcourt, travel the day before.

Do. "At this appointment, your identity and original documents will be checked, a short interview will be conducted, your biometric data (fingerprints and photo) will be recorded and the fee will be paid." "Applicants who arrive late for their appointment cannot be accommodated and must book a new appointment." "Applicants must appear in person for visa interviews. No proxies are allowed."

Cost. "The fee for processing a visa application is 75 euros" (about ₦112,275). "The visa fee is payable at the current exchange rate of the German missionin Nigerian Naira in cash or via POS. The processing fee is not refundable in case of visa rejection."

You are done when the consulate has your file, your fingerprints and your fee.

Step 4. The decision

Time. With the pre-approval, as a rule within three weeks of the complete application (Stage 4; for one applicant's longer wait in 2026, see From people who did it there). Without it: "The processing time of visa applications may vary depending on the individual case." "inquiries regarding the processing status cannot be answered within the first 12 weeks for family reunion visas and within the first 4 weeks for all other visa categories". "We do not offer expedited processing." Write only to info@lago.auswaertiges-amt.de, with your full name, date of birth, passport number and reference number. And "avoid requesting status updates unless more than three months have passed without any communication from us". A Nigerian applicant wrote online in July 2025 that the interview was in the first week of April and nothing had come by July.

When it is positive. "If a positive decision has been made on your visa, you will be asked to provide an incoming health insurance." This is short health insurance for your first weeks in Germany. It covers you "from the time you arrive until your permanent insurance (e.g. from an employer) begins". It must meet the standards of Germany's public health insurance law (SGB V) and "must not include any cancellation clauses for long-term stays"; "Usually, only German providers offer such qualifying insurance"; "The embassy/consulate is not entitled to give advice on a specific insurer or company." No page states its price. Ask two German providers for their price for your dates the week your appointment is booked, and buy it the day the consulate asks. Then check your visa: "it is your duty to verify whether the information printed on the visa sticker is correct and complete and to report any errors to the consulate immediately." "Your original documents will be sent back to you after the decision has been made."

If it is refused.

• No appeal to the consulate. "Since 1st July 2025, it is no longer possible to appeal against visa application rejections to the diplomatic mission abroad." The refusal notice gives its grounds.
• The court. You can take the refusal to the court in Berlin that hears visa cases: "The applicant may appeal this decision within one month by filing an action with the Administrative Court in Berlin. This procedure is subject to a fee!"
• A new application. "The applicant can also reapply with complete documents and a new appointment", after you put right what the refusal names.
• Your blocked account. The refusal letter is enough to free your money: "If your visa application was rejected, the rejection notice is sufficient to lift the blocking notice."
• Tell the company the same day, so it can hold your place or move your start.

Next. Travel (Stage 7).

Stage 7. Travel and your first weeks

Back to the short stages

You hold your visa. Now fly before your start date, register your address, join your health insurer, open your bank account, and apply for your residence permit before your visa ends.

Step 1. Travel

Do.

• Book your flight for a date inside your visa, before your contract's start. The visa "is issued for 90 days as a rule, but can also be issued for up to one year for certain purposes of residence", and "You may however already take up gainful employment or study with the visa."
• Tell the company your flight, and ask who meets you and where you sleep the first night.
• Pack in your hand luggage your passport with the visa, your contract, a set of your visa papers and your insurance proof: "the border police will also ask you to present documents upon entry, as well as proof of health insurance. You should therefore take a set of your visa documents with you on your trip." "The issuance of a visa does not constitute a right of entry."
• Bring money for your first weeks: your first month's rent, the first part of any deposit (Part 2, In Germany, later) and your food until your first pay. Ask the company which day it pays. Carry it as the foreign cash your bank sells you for the trip (your Personal Travel Allowance, PTA). At Access Bank it is up to US$4,000 a quarter, asked for not more than 14 days before you travel (Part 2, Paying from Nigeria). The bank lists a return ticket and an account run for at least six months. Ask your bank before you book whether a ticket with no return flight, on a long-stay visa (a national visa), qualifies, and keep your account active from now.

Where. Any airline. With a German long-stay visa you need no visa just to change planes (an airport transit visa) at a German airport ("holders of valid visas and national residence permits of EU and Schengen states" are exempt).

Cost. The airline's fare.

Step 2. Register your address (the Anmeldung)

Do. Whoever moves into a home registers with the town's registration office within two weeks ("Wer eine Wohnung bezieht, hat sich innerhalb von zwei Wochen nach dem Einzug bei der Meldebehörde anzumelden"). Book the appointment the week you land.

What you need. Your valid passport, and the written confirmation of the person who gives you your room that you moved in ("der Bestätigung des Wohnungsgebers"). The law makes the landlord give it within the two weeks. If the landlord refuses, tell the registration office at once.

From people who did it. A Nigerian in Germany wrote online in September 2026: "you must have a registered address on your name in Germany before anyone can employ you. it is called Anmeldung". Your German tax number (tax ID) comes only after you register (Stage 8), so register in your first days. Ask the company before you fly where you can register (Stage 2, question 5).

Cost. Free.

You are done when you hold the paper that shows your address is registered (your registration certificate, Meldebestätigung).

Step 3. Your health insurer

Do. Join a public health insurer of your choice (a statutory health insurer, Krankenkasse). Give its details to the company as soon as you join; ask the company before you fly by which day it needs them. As a trainee you must be insured: workers, employees and people employed for their training are insured by law ("Versicherungspflichtig sind 1. Arbeiter, Angestellte und zu ihrer Berufsausbildung Beschäftigte, die gegen Arbeitsentgelt beschäftigt sind"). The insurer you choose may not refuse you ("darf die Mitgliedschaft nicht ablehnen"), and you stay with it at least twelve months ("mindestens zwölf Monate"). The general rate is "14,6 Prozent" of your pay plus the insurer's own extra contribution. You and the company pay half each ("jeweils zur Hälfte"). Your health insurance for your first weeks (the incoming insurance) covers you until then.

Step 4. Your bank account

Do. Open an everyday bank account (a current account) once you are registered. Every consumer lawfully living in the EU has a right to a basic account. The bank must offer it within ten business days of your application at the latest ("spätestens jedoch innerhalb von zehn Geschäftstagen"). Give the account to the company for your pay, and to your blocked account's provider if you have one.

Step 5. Your residence permit

Do. Book an appointment at the immigration office of your town (the foreigners authority). Apply for the card that lets you stay for your training (your residence permit) before your visa ends. The German government's site for workers from abroad (Make it in Germany) lists the steps on its sheet: register your address, book the immigration office, "Apply for residence permit for the purpose of in company or school-based vocational training (Section 16a of the Residence Act [AufenthG]).", "Fees may add up to 100", and "the application for the residence permit must be submitted before the entry visa expires."

Cost. Up to €100 (about ₦149,700).

From people who did it. A Nigerian worker wrote online in November 2025 that the residence permit appointment "takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks" after arrival. Book in your first week.

You are done when you hold your residence permit. The office may not decide before your visa runs out. If you applied in time, it then gives you a written confirmation that your visa counts as continuing while it decides (a Fiktionsbescheinigung). Keep it with your passport until the permit comes.

Step 6. Your first days at the company and at school

Do. Start on your contract's date. Your trial period (probation) runs from your first day (one to four months, Stage 3). Ask the company for your school timetable and your training record (the record you keep of what you learn). Under 18, the law that protects young workers applies to you: "Für Auszubildende unter 18 Jahren gilt das Jugendarbeitsschutzgesetz."

The TV and radio fee (the broadcasting fee). When you register, the registration office tells the fee service, which writes to you: "For private households, the current fee is 18.36 euros per month" (about ₦27,485), "One dwelling, one fee". In a shared flat one person pays for all.

Next. Your first payslip (Stage 8).

Stage 8. Your first payslip

Back to the short stages

You have worked your first month. Now read your payslip.

What it must show. With each payment you get a written statement of the period and the make-up of your pay ("Dem Arbeitnehmer ist bei Zahlung des Arbeitsentgelts eine Abrechnung in Textform zu erteilen. Die Abrechnung muss mindestens Angaben über Abrechnungszeitraum und Zusammensetzung des Arbeitsentgelts enthalten"). It shows each extra and each deduction ("Art und Höhe der Zuschläge, Zulagen, sonstige Vergütungen, Art und Höhe der Abzüge").

Your gross. Your pay before tax and insurance (gross) is at least your contract's first-year figure (Part 2).

Your tax class. A single person is taxed in class I. Without your German tax number (your tax ID), the company must deduct tax at class VI, the highest ("hat ... die Lohnsteuer nach Steuerklasse VI zu ermitteln"). If the delay is not your fault, it uses the expected class for up to three months. Germany's federal tax office (the Federal Central Tax Office, BZSt) gives you your tax ID (IdNr) once the registration office has sent it your details. If you have no tax ID three months after registering, send the tax office a copy of your passport and your registration certificate ("Sollte Ihnen trotz Anmeldung bei der Meldebehörde nach drei Monaten keine IdNr mitgeteilt worden sein, können Sie dem BZSt eine Kopie Ihres Ausweisdokumentes und der Meldebestätigung zusenden"). Give it to the company the day it comes.

Your deductions. Tax, your half of health insurance and the other social insurance come off your gross; your payslip shows each one.

From people who did it. Nigerian presenters spoke online in 2026 of side jobs and of "Ausbildung salary vs real monthly expenses". Your permit allows other work up to 20 hours a week. Ask your company how a side job sits with your training hours, and tell it before you start one (Stage 9).

You are done when your payslip shows your gross and your insurer, your pay is in your account, and your tax ID is with the company (class I once it is; Your tax class, above).

Next. The training years and after (Stage 9).

Stage 9. The training years and after

Back to the short stages

Your hours and your holidays

The law's limit on your hours, for an adult: work may not exceed eight hours a working day ("darf acht Stunden nicht überschreiten"). It may go up to ten only where eight are kept on average over six months or 24 weeks. Holidays: at least 24 working days a year ("Der Urlaub beträgt jährlich mindestens 24 Werktage"), counted on a six-day week, so 20 days on a five-day week. Your contract and any pay deal for your trade (collective agreement) may give more. Overtime is paid extra or given back as time off.

The school and the exams

School days and whole weeks at school (block weeks) are training time. The company may not make you work before a school day that starts before 9 o'clock. Keep studying German: the school is taught in German. Ask the company, the week you start, whether your trade has a mid-training exam (an intermediate exam) or a final exam in two parts. The driver training sets its intermediate exam before the end of the second year ("vor dem Ende des zweiten Ausbildungsjahres").

If you fail the final exam. If you fail, the training is extended at your request until the next resit, by at most a year ("Bestehen Auszubildende die Abschlussprüfung nicht, so verlängert sich das Berufsausbildungsverhältnis auf ihr Verlangen bis zur nächstmöglichen Wiederholungsprüfung, höchstens um ein Jahr"). Ask for it in writing the day you get the result.

Work beside the training

Your permit allows other work of up to 20 hours a week ("von bis zu 20 Stunden je Woche") that is not part of your training. Ask your company how a side job sits with your training hours, and tell it before you start one.

Leaving, or losing, your place

After your trial period (probation) the company may end your training only for an important reason ("aus einem wichtigen Grund"). You may end it with four weeks' notice, if you give up the training or want to train for another job ("mit einer Kündigungsfrist von vier Wochen, wenn sie die Berufsausbildung aufgeben oder sich für eine andere Berufstätigkeit ausbilden lassen wollen"). Notice must be in writing on paper; electronic form is not allowed ("die elektronische Form ist ausgeschlossen").

If your training ends through no fault of yours, the law gives you time. Before your permit is withdrawn for reasons you are not responsible for ("aus Gründen, die der Ausländer nicht zu vertreten hat"), you are given up to six months to look for another training place ("für die Dauer von bis zu sechs Monaten die Möglichkeit ..., einen anderen Ausbildungsplatz zu suchen").

Before you change company. Your permit is for your training. Where a permit was granted for a specific job ("zum Zweck der Ausübung einer bestimmten Beschäftigung erteilt"), other work is forbidden until the authority allows it ("solange und soweit die zuständige Behörde die Ausübung der anderen Erwerbstätigkeit nicht erlaubt hat"). Take the new contract to your immigration office (the foreigners authority) before you start with the new company.

From people who did it. Nigerian presenters spoke online in 2026 of loneliness, of culture shock, of feeling tied to one company, and of the language pressure at school. A nurse in Germany said online in September 2026: "Would I choose Ausbildung first if I could do it over? Yes".

Your family

Your spouse can join you if all of these hold. You are both 18 or over. You were married before your permit was granted, and your stay is expected to last over a year. Your spouse speaks basic German, at the lowest level (A1). You have enough living space ("ausreichender Wohnraum"), and your living is secure. The A1 is not waived for a trainee. The law waives it only for holders of the permits it lists. Among them are Germany's work permit for graduates with a high salary (the Blue Card) and the skilled worker permits. The training permit (section 16a) is not among them. If you marry later, or your stay is shorter, section 30(2) lets the authorities set those two conditions aside. They are not bound to, and the other conditions (A1, living space, money) still apply. Count your family's living costs against your trainee's pay before your spouse applies. For children, ask the hotline (Part 1).

After your exam

Up to 18 months to find work. After you pass, the law gives you a permit to look for a job. It is for a person who has successfully finished a qualified training in Germany on a training stay under section 16a ("nach erfolgreichem Abschluss einer qualifizierten Berufsausbildung im Bundesgebiet im Rahmen eines Aufenthalts nach § 16a"). It lasts for up to 18 months ("für einen Zeitraum von bis zu 18 Monaten"), if your living is secure. It cannot be extended beyond that.

The work permit for a qualified worker (the skilled worker permit). A skilled worker with a vocational training is given a permit for any qualified work ("Einer Fachkraft mit Berufsausbildung wird eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Ausübung jeder qualifizierten Beschäftigung erteilt"). Your German training is the qualification it asks. Once a company offers you a qualified job, you apply for this permit, with the conditions the law lists. A concrete job offer and the approval of Germany's job agency (the Federal Employment Agency) are among them. Ask your training company early whether it will keep you on.

Settling. A permit to stay for good (a settlement permit) can be granted after three years on the skilled worker permit and 36 months of payments into the state pension (pension contributions), with the other conditions the law lists. With a German training, the times are cut to two years and 24 months ("Die Frist ... verkürzt sich auf zwei Jahre und die Frist ... verkürzt sich auf 24 Monate, wenn die Fachkraft eine inländische Berufsausbildung ... erfolgreich abgeschlossen hat"). Its fee is €113 (about ₦169,161).

From people who did it. A Nigerian engineer wrote online in April 2026 that after two years of training the best offer was "the work of a skilled labourer". Your training opens your trade's jobs: choose the trade you want to work in.

The professional driver training (Berufskraftfahrer)

This section is for you if you want to drive lorries or buses in Germany. Every stage above applies to you; this adds what is special to the driver training.

What the training is. It is a training the state recognises, and it lasts three years ("Der Ausbildungsberuf Berufskraftfahrer/Berufskraftfahrerin wird staatlich anerkannt." "Die Ausbildung dauert drei Jahre."). It covers 13 areas. Among them: checking, servicing and caring for the vehicles ("Kontrollieren, Warten und Pflegen der Fahrzeuge"); preparing and carrying out transport ("Vorbereiten und Durchführen der Beförderung"); road safety, driving on public roads ("Verkehrssicherheit, Führen von Fahrzeugen auf öffentlichen Straßen"); and planning and logistics ("Betriebliche Planung und Logistik"). The mid-training exam (the intermediate exam) comes before the end of the second year. In the final exam, the first practical task is to drive safely, on public roads, a class CE lorry and trailer or articulated lorry of at least 16 metres, or a class D bus of at least 11.80 metres ("Verkehrssicheres Führen einer Fahrzeugkombination oder eines Sattelkraftfahrzeuges der Klasse CE mit einer Mindestlänge von 16 Metern oder eines Fahrzeuges der Klasse D mit einer Mindestlänge von 11,80 Metern auf öffentlichen Straßen"). So you earn the lorry or bus licence inside the training. A chamber's sheet on the trade says getting the licence is part of the training ("Daher ist der Erwerb der entsprechenden Fahrerlaubnis Bestandteil der Ausbildung").

Where drivers work. Mostly in freight transport, logistics, waste disposal, coach travel and public transport ("vor allem in Unternehmen des Güterkraftverkehrs, der Logistik, der Entsorgung, des Reiseverkehrs oder des öffentlichen Personen-Nahverkehrs").

The pay. The 2025 figures of Germany's federal office for vocational training (BIBB), for companies that follow a pay deal (a collective agreement): €1,114 in the first year (about ₦1.67 million), €1,200 in the second, €1,290 in the third, €1,195 on average. A first year at €1,114 gross is over the €1,048 line of Germany's embassy and consulate in Nigeria (the missions). A company that follows no pay deal may pay less: ask for the gross in writing (Stage 2).

The licence ages for a trainee. The law lets a driver trainee drive younger than others:

• Class B (car): 17 if the licence is given during or after the driver training ("17 Jahre ... bei Erteilung der Fahrerlaubnis während oder nach Abschluss einer Berufsausbildung" as a Berufskraftfahrer); otherwise 18.
• Class C and CE (lorry): 18 during or after the training, otherwise 21. Until you are 21 or have passed your training, you may use it only inside Germany and within your training ("nur bei Fahrten im Inland und im Rahmen des Ausbildungsverhältnisses").
• Class D (bus): 20 during or after the training (18 on lines up to 50 km or with no passengers), otherwise 24.
• B comes first. A lorry or bus licence is given only to someone who already holds class B, or meets its conditions ("darf nur erteilt werden, wenn der Bewerber bereits die Fahrerlaubnis der Klasse B besitzt oder die Voraussetzungen für deren Erteilung erfüllt hat").

Your Nigerian licence. It stays valid for six months after you make your home in Germany ("Begründet der Inhaber einer in einem anderen Staat erteilten Fahrerlaubnis einen ordentlichen Wohnsitz im Inland, besteht die Berechtigung noch sechs Monate."). It must carry a translation, unless it is in the international form set by the 1968 road traffic treaty (the 1968 Convention). The translation must be made by an internationally recognised automobile club of the issuing country, or a body the federal ministry names ("einem international anerkannten Automobilklub des Ausstellungsstaates oder einer vom Bundesministerium ... bestimmten Stelle"). Nigeria is not on the list of countries whose licences change over without a test. So, to get a German licence, the driving-school lessons are waived but you sit the theory and the practical tests. You get the German licence only when you hand in the foreign one ("nur gegen Abgabe des ausländischen Führerscheins").

Who pays the licences. The licence is part of the training, and the final exam is driven in a CE or D vehicle. The law gives you free the materials needed for your training and your exams; it does not say whether the licence is one of them. People in Germany who answered driver applicants online in 2025 said: "You can do a normal Ausbildung as a truck driver and the company will pay the truck license". The class B is a separate question. Ask each company in writing whether it pays your class B, C and CE (Stage 2, question 8), and sign only with the answer in your contract or in writing.

From people who did it. Applicants from abroad wrote online in 2026 that they mostly got refusals. The visa asks B1. A resident wrote online in 2025 that companies ask B2, the level above, for this trade ("Truck driver is in demand at present, but B2 German is required for the Ausbildung"). Aim for B2 if you can, write to many logistics and transport companies, and ask about the licences in your first letter.

Part 4. What can stop you

Your deadlines

Write each date down the day it comes.

Before you fly

Your first weeks

The years after

What stops people, in the order you meet it

No exam seat, or a part failed. Registration at Goethe fills in minutes. Be online the minute it opens, keep ÖSD as your second centre, and resit a failed part inside your window (Stage 1, Step 2).

A certificate that turns a year old. The missions take none older than a year, counted from its oldest part. Reach B1 level while you look for your company, and time the exam by Stage 1, Step 2 (When to sit it). Count back from the appointment you expect, not from the pre-approval: the company's expected pre-approval plus the Lagos wait (three weeks by law, several months by the booking system's own line). Sit no earlier than eleven months before that appointment, and have your result before you apply online. If no exam date falls inside your window, ask the company whether the pre-approval request can wait for your exam (Stages 1 and 4).

Companies that do not answer. Many applications, in German, one company at a time, to smaller companies too, a year before the start, with a video interview offered (Stage 2).

A company that fears your start date. Offer it the fast procedure (the accelerated procedure) in your first call (Stage 2, Step 4).

Pay under the line. A first-year pay under €1,048 gross (before tax) means a blocked account or a sponsor's promise (formal obligation) for the gap, up to a year (Part 2).

A contract that misses an item. The consulate reads the contract period, the job description, the gross annual salary, the weekly hours, the holidays and the place of work, signed by both. Check it before you sign (Stage 3).

Papers that disagree. Your names and your date of birth the same on every paper, with an affidavit for each difference, or a check of your papers (document verification) of 6 to 8 months (Stage 5).

The normal waiting list. A Nigerian wrote online in 2025 that the date came exactly a year after registering. Ask for Option A, the fast procedure (Stage 4).

A police certificate nobody asked for. The training lists do not ask one. Spend nothing on it unless the consulate asks.

The 35 line. It belongs to the visa to look for a place from inside Germany (the search visa), not to the training. At any age, find your company from Nigeria (Part 1).

School in German. Keep studying after B1, and aim for B2 (Stage 1).

A failed final exam. Ask the company in writing for the extension, up to a year, the day you get the result (Stage 9).

Part 5. If you already did some of this

Start at the first stage you have not finished.

You have not started. This week: start German, free on Deutsche Welle's online course or at a school (Stage 1); check your passport's dates (Part 1); check that your names match on every paper; check your birth certificate against the 15 December 1992 rule, and start the NPC birth certificate for adults (the birth attestation) if you need it (Stage 5); make sure you have your national identity number (NIN), since the birth attestation and a fresh passport both ask it, and swear the court affidavit the attestation asks; keep a bank account active (the bank's foreign cash for travel, the PTA, asks an account run for six months). Keep your work.

You have started German. Stay in Stage 1. Start your papers now (Stage 5), and write to companies once you reach B1 level (Stage 2).

You hold a B1 certificate. Check that all four parts are passed and that it will be under a year old on your appointment day. Then Stage 2.

You hold a B1 that is over a year old, or will be by your appointment. Apply to companies now on your certificate and your level (Stage 2), and sit again inside the window in Stage 1, Step 2 (When to sit it).

You hold a contract. Check it against Stage 3, Step 1. Get the training plan and the company's form about your job (the Declaration of Employment). Then Stage 4: ask the company for the fast procedure (the accelerated procedure).

The company has the written yes in advance (the pre-approval). Book under the Lagos category for a pre-approval (Stage 6, Step 2), with your file ready (Stage 5).

You registered on the consulate's old waiting list. Keep your registration number; you need no new account on the online visa site (the portal). Keep your certificate under a year old for the day your date comes.

You have had your appointment. You are in Stage 6, Step 4: choose your health insurance for your first weeks (the incoming insurance) now, and keep your work in Nigeria.

You hold your visa. Start at Stage 7: check the sticker, keep your insurance proof with your papers, book your flight before your start date.

You are in Germany. Register your address within two weeks and join your health insurer. Then open your bank account and get your residence permit before your visa ends (Stage 7).

You are on a service year in Germany. You apply for the training permit inside Germany, with your contract (Part 1, If you are also looking at a service year). Tell your immigration office (the foreigners authority) before your purpose changes.

You are a registered nurse. Go to the German nurse guide, opens in a new tab.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, your German: no official page says how long; one 2025 account, about eight months on an intensive course to B1. The exam results 2 to 4 weeks at ÖSD (about a week express), from 2 weeks at Goethe.
• Stage 2, the company: as long as it takes a company to say yes. Most companies choose up to a year before a start on 1 August or 1 September.
• Stage 3, the contract: as long as the company takes to send the three papers; ask for all three the week it says yes.
• Stage 4, the approval: on the fast procedure, the job agency's approval counts as given after one week of silence; otherwise two weeks. The law sets no fixed time for the immigration office's own part (the agreement and the company's written yes in advance, the pre-approval); the agreement the company signs with it sets its steps and deadlines. Ask the company when it expects the pre-approval, add the Lagos wait, and time your certificate and your start from that appointment (Stage 1, Step 2, When to sit it).
• Stage 5, your file: a new passport 42 days, a renewal (re-issue) 21 days; a check of your papers (document verification) 6 to 8 months if the missions ask it.
• Stage 6, the visa: with the pre-approval, the law sets an appointment within three weeks and a decision as a rule within three weeks, though the Lagos booking system says its wait can take several months. On the normal waiting list no stated time, and a Nigerian wrote online in 2025 that the date came exactly a year after registering.
• Stage 7, your first weeks: your address within two weeks; your bank account within ten business days; your residence permit before your visa ends (6 to 8 weeks to an appointment in one 2025 report).
• Stage 8, your first payslip: your tax number (tax ID) once the registration office has sent your details; write to the tax office after three months without one.
• Stage 9, the training: two to three and a half years by trade; up to 18 months to find work after the exam. A permit to stay for good (a settlement permit) is possible after two years on the work permit for a qualified worker (the skilled worker permit) and 24 months of pension contributions, with the law's other conditions.

From your first German class to your first day: about two years or more (October 2026 to August 2028), if B1 takes about eight months and a company chooses you a year ahead. Most of it is German and the company's yes. If you start German this month, the first start you can aim for is 1 August or 1 September 2028.

The guide's date is 15 October 2026. Every fee, date and rule in it comes from the official page that sets it, or is given in the named body's own words; reports from people who did it are marked as theirs.

Nobody may charge you for placing you in a training place. Only the employer may be asked to pay ("Für die Leistungen zur Ausbildungsvermittlung dürfen nur vom Arbeitgeber Vergütungen verlangt oder entgegengenommen werden", section 296a of Germany's law on job services, Social Code III). Your tools and books are the company's to give, and booking your appointment is free.