Germany’s opportunity card, in plain words
The opportunity card is Section 20a of Germany’s Residence Act. It is a residence permit that lets you live in Germany for 12 months and look for work before you have a job offer. While you look you may work up to 20 hours a week, and you may take trial jobs of up to two weeks with an employer who is considering you. That is why people search for how to move to Germany without a job offer: almost every other work route asks for the signed contract first.
Opportunity card requirements, in two paths
There are two ways to qualify, and the first one skips the arithmetic. If your qualification is already fully recognised in Germany you are treated as a skilled worker, and no points are needed at all. If it is not, the opportunity card requirements are a university degree or a two-year state-recognised vocational training, basic language of German A1 or certified English B2, and enough points from the official table. Those points come from partial recognition, your German or English level, work experience in your field, your age, a shortage profession, a qualifying spouse, and previous legal time in Germany. The Germany opportunity card points calculator above works through that table with you, one question at a time.
The money nobody expects
You also have to show you can support yourself for the whole 12 months, because this card gives you no employer to fall back on. That is EUR 1,091 net a month, about NGN 1.7m a month and about NGN 21m across the year. Three ways of showing it are accepted: a blocked account, part-time earnings agreed in advance, or a Declaration of Commitment signed for you by a person living in Germany at their local foreigners office. They take different amounts of time to arrange, so pick yours early.
Nobody sells a result here
No fee adds a point. No agent shortens the 12 months. The points are arithmetic over documents you either hold or can build, which is why this page gives you the arithmetic and a plan rather than a promise. If you are short today, the plan names what you can add and what each addition is worth, and you can calculate again when you hold it. If you would rather a person read your case with you, the Rekoja assessment is free.
Rules and figures change. Confirm your result on the official self-check before you act on it. This is general information, not immigration advice.