If you are residing in Germany under a “Duldung” (certificate of suspension of deportation), you are only permitted to work if this is expressly stated in your Duldung. If you wish to work, you must therefore apply for a work permit at the Office of Foreigners. This also applies to participating in vocational training or an internship.

You may be granted a work permit if you have been residing in Germany for three months with a valid residence permit, a “geduld” status, or a temporary residence permit, and you have found an employer who is willing to hire you.

Tolerated persons who are required to live in a reception center are not granted access to the labor market until after six months.

To process your application, the Foreigners’ Registration Office typically involves the Federal Employment Agency, which reviews the working conditions. After an uninterrupted stay in Germany of more than four years, the Federal Employment Agency no longer needs to be involved.

If you wish to complete a company-based vocational training program (dual training), you must apply individually for a work permit for the specific training position. School-based vocational training programs do not require a permit.

The work permit is issued for a maximum duration equal to that of your current temporary residence permit. If the requirements are met, it can be extended accordingly when your temporary residence permit is renewed.

Engaging in gainful employment is generally prohibited if

• you have come to Germany to receive benefits under the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act,
• your removal cannot be enforced for reasons for which you are personally responsible, or you have violated your obligation to cooperate in removing the obstacle to removal (for example, insufficient cooperation in obtaining a passport or proof of identity, misrepresentation of your identity or nationality),
• the temporary stay permit was granted with the notation “Temporary Stay Permit for Persons of Unclear Identity,” or

you are from a so-called “safe country of origin,” that is, a member state of the European Union, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ghana, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (North Macedonia), Montenegro, Senegal, or Serbia, and who submitted an asylum application after August 31, 2015, which was rejected or withdrawn—unless the withdrawal was made following counseling at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. Even without an asylum application, individuals from safe countries of origin cannot obtain a work permit.