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Chancenkarte Points Calculator
The Chancenkarte is a points-based job-seeker visa: you need at least 6 points to qualify. Answer these questions for a first estimate.
Is your diploma recognized or partially recognized in Germany (anabin)?
Your professional experience in your trade
Your language level
Your age
Have you already stayed legally in Germany?
Is your trade on Germany's shortage occupation list (Mangelberuf)?
/ 14 points
Eligibility threshold: 6 points minimum
Your profile doesn't reach the threshold yet
That's not a dead end. Improving your language level or getting your diploma checked could be enough to earn the points you're missing. We can look at this together.
This calculator is indicative and unofficial. Only German authorities decide actual eligibility for the Chancenkarte.
A card for searching, not a work visa
The Chancenkarte is set out in §§ 20a and 20b of the German Residence Act (AufenthG) and has been in force since 1 June 2024. It is for searching, nothing else — and for searching for two things, not one: qualified employment, or a recognition procedure for your foreign qualification (Anerkennungsmaßnahme). § 20a(5) caps it at one year, and you may be granted less if your proof of funds only covers a few months. While you search, you may work 20 hours a week on average, counting all activities together, plus trial periods with employers of at most two weeks each — provided they concern qualified work, aim at an Ausbildung, or serve a recognition procedure. It is not a work visa and not a promise of a job. And it does not allow the Ausbildung itself, because it caps work at 20 hours a week: starting an apprenticeship means switching to § 16a.
Two purposes, not one: looking for qualified employment, but also looking for a procedure to have your professional qualification recognised (§ 20a(1) AufenthG) — almost everyone misses the second.
Up to one year, never automatically one year: § 20a(5) requires your living costs to be covered for the whole period granted.
20 hours a week ON AVERAGE and across ALL activities combined (§ 20a(2)) — not 20 hours per employer.
Trial employment under the Chancenkarte lasts TWO WEEKS AT MOST EACH TIME (§ 20a(2)), and it must concern qualified work, aim at an Ausbildung, or serve a recognition procedure. Do not confuse it with the two weeks IN TOTAL under § 17, the separate permit for looking for an apprenticeship.
According to the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, neither the search card nor the 20-hour job needs its approval; approval only comes in at the extension stage.
The points table, criterion by criterion
The minimum is six points: "Die Mindestpunktzahl beträgt sechs Punkte", says the annex to the AufenthG. But before counting, your application has to be admissible at all: a higher education degree recognised by the state that issued it, or a vocational qualification of at least two years recognised by that state, or a vocational qualification issued by a German Chamber of Commerce Abroad (§ 20a(4)). For this points route — the route of almost every Moroccan profile — you also need German at A1 or English at B2, plus 1 091 € for every month of stay, i.e. 13 092 € for twelve months according to the Federal Foreign Office's Chancenkarte information sheet (check the amount again on the date you apply). The other route is that of a qualification FULLY recognised as equivalent: the card may then be issued without the points table and without any language requirement, on proof of funds — § 20a(3) says "kann erteilt werden", a possibility and never a right, and the general conditions of § 5 AufenthG still apply.
Partial recognition of the qualification
- What is required
- A competent authority has found that adaptation measures or additional qualifications are needed — these 4 points also exempt you from the qualification condition of § 20a(4) sentence 3 no. 1 (§ 20b(1) sentence 2)
- Points
- 4
German
- What is required
- B2 = 3 points · B1 = 2 · A2 = 1 — only one level counts, they do not stack; A1 scores 0
- Points
- 1 to 3
English
- What is required
- Level C1 — the only language criterion that stacks with a German level
- Points
- 1
Work experience
- What is required
- 5 years related to your qualification and gained AFTER you obtained it, within the last 7 years = 3 points · 2 years, likewise gained after obtaining the qualification, within the last 5 = 2 — the two tiers are mutually exclusive
- Points
- 2 or 3
Occupational group under § 18g(1) sentence 2 no. 1
- What is required
- A qualification in one of the occupational groups on that closed shortage list of the EU Blue Card (ISCO groups, overwhelmingly academic)
- Points
- 1
Age
- What is required
- 35 or under on the day you apply = 2 points · over 35 and up to 40 = 1 — the two brackets are mutually exclusive
- Points
- 1 or 2
Previous stay in Germany
- What is required
- At least six months of lawful, uninterrupted residence within the last five years
- Points
- 1
Spouse or registered partner
- What is required
- Four conditions together: they also meet the requirements, they apply for a Chancenkarte at the same authority, they enter Germany with you or intend to, and you must expressly refer to their application when you file your own
- Points
- 1
The points table, criterion by criterion
The table that counts is the annex to the AufenthG — "Anlage (zu § 20a Absatz 3 Nummer 2, § 20b)" — published on gesetze-im-internet.de, and the German legislator can amend it: check it on the date you apply. Not everything adds up either — German, work experience and age work in mutually exclusive groups. And the occupational group point does not refer to the Bundesagentur für Arbeit's shortage occupation list but to the statutory list of § 18g(1) sentence 2 no. 1: have your occupation checked before you count that point.
Once you are there: find a job, then switch permits
The Chancenkarte gives you no long-term right of residence by itself — it gives you time. If you find qualified employment, another permit takes over: § 18a with a vocational qualification, § 18b with a higher education degree, § 18g for the EU Blue Card, and § 16d if you enter a recognition procedure. Changing purpose can in principle be done from inside Germany under § 39 of the Residence Ordinance (AufenthV), but in most cases it remains a discretionary decision of the Ausländerbehörde: nobody can guarantee it. If you find nothing, § 20a(5) is blunt: a new search card is issued only after a period spent outside Germany — or spent in Germany on another authorised residence — at least as long as the previous card. Waiting on the spot without a valid permit therefore runs no useful clock: it puts you in unlawful residence.
One extension only, as a Folge-Chancenkarte for a maximum of two years (§ 20a(5)) — it requires an employment contract or a firm job offer for qualified employment, plus the approval of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit.
In practice that extension is subsidiary: it is granted only if you do not already meet the conditions for another work permit.
Qualified employment means a post that normally requires a qualifying vocational training or a degree. Helper jobs and apprenticeships do not count.
Section 20a(1) also names the search for a recognition procedure: if your qualification is only partly recognised, the realistic goal may be to enter an Anpassungsqualifizierung rather than land a Fachkraft post immediately.
No successor permit is automatic: the law names none. What comes next depends entirely on the job you find.
From Morocco: what to prepare before you leave
Recognition of your qualification is prepared before departure, not after. The anabin database, run by the Standing Conference of Education Ministers (Kultusministerkonferenz), is free: it is where you check how your Moroccan institution and diploma are classified. Where a written assessment is required, the ZAB Zeugnisbewertung costs 208 € (104 € for a duplicate). There is no APS procedure for Morocco, whatever entire forum threads claim: the criterion is the country of the diploma, not your nationality. For the visa, you apply online on the consular portal, submission goes through TLScontact in Rabat and nowhere else, and the national D visa costs 75 €, payable in dirhams.
- Language: for the points route — the route of almost every Moroccan profile — your application is admissible only with German at A1 or English at B2 (§ 20a(4), as stated by the German Embassy in Rabat). The fully-recognised-qualification route, by contrast, requires no language level at all. The trap: A1 opens the file but scores zero points — the first German point starts at A2, and B2 is worth three.
- Certificate: for German work visas in general it must come from a provider on the closed list — Goethe-Institut, telc, ÖSD, TestDaF (from B2 only), ECL — and be less than twelve months old when you apply. Have both conditions confirmed for the Chancenkarte before you pay for an exam.
- Funds: 13 092 € for twelve months, through a blocked account (Sperrkonto) or a formal declaration of commitment (Verpflichtungserklärung). Do not confuse this with the 992 € net a month for the student visa: two different amounts, both correct.
- Without a higher education degree and without a state-recognised vocational qualification of at least two years, the points route is closed — unless a competent authority has issued a partial recognition decision, which is worth 4 points and exempts you from that qualification condition (§ 20b(1) sentence 2). Someone who has neither is not admissible, whatever their theoretical score.
- An honest comparison: for many Moroccan profiles, an Ausbildung with a contract signed before departure — statutory minimum pay of 724 € a month in the first year in 2026 — or a direct employment contract is safer than a search card that makes you fund twelve months with no guaranteed income.
- Documents that are not in German, English or French must be translated, according to the German Embassy in Rabat.
Common questions
I only have the baccalaureate. Can I apply for the Chancenkarte?
No. § 20a(4) AufenthG requires a higher education degree recognised by the state that issued it, a vocational qualification of at least two years recognised by that state, or a qualification from a German Chamber of Commerce Abroad. Without one of those three, the points table does not even open. The only exception the law provides assumes a partial recognition decision issued on a professional qualification (§ 20b(1) sentence 2) — which someone with no professional qualification does not have. The baccalaureate alone is not enough.
Can I come on a Chancenkarte and start an Ausbildung?
Not the Ausbildung itself: the card caps work at 20 hours a week, which an apprenticeship exceeds. § 20a(2) does allow trial periods of at most two weeks each aiming at an Ausbildung, and starting the apprenticeship means switching to § 16a — in principle possible from inside Germany (§ 39 AufenthV), but it is a discretionary decision of the Ausländerbehörde that nobody can guarantee. To look for an apprenticeship place, the dedicated permit remains § 17(1): under 35, a school qualification giving access to university, German at B1, secured funds, up to nine months.
My qualification is fully recognised. Do I still count points?
No, and that is the second route in. A person with a fully recognised foreign qualification MAY obtain the Chancenkarte without the points table and without any language requirement, provided funds are proven. But issuing it remains a decision of the authority: § 20a(3) says "kann erteilt werden" — a possibility, not a right — and the general conditions of § 5 AufenthG, such as a valid passport, still apply. Partial recognition, by contrast, is worth 4 points in the table.
I have German at A1. How many points is that worth?
Zero. A1 is an admissibility condition for the points route, not a criterion of the table itself. The first language point starts at A2 with 1 point, B1 gives 2 and B2 gives 3 — and those three levels are mutually exclusive, they do not add up. Only English at C1 combines with a German level, for 1 point.
What if I find nothing within twelve months?
Two outcomes. Either you hold a contract or a firm offer for a qualified post, and you can apply for a Folge-Chancenkarte of up to two years with the approval of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit. Or you hold nothing, and § 20a(5) requires you to spend a period outside Germany — or in Germany on another authorised residence — at least as long as your card lasted before applying again. Budget for that before you block 13 092 €.
Official sources
The figures on this page come from these sources. Check them yourself — it is your application.
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