The question that comes before the points
The job search opportunity card, defined in Section 20a of the German Residence Act, has two doors into it. Someone holding a German qualification, or a foreign vocational or academic qualification that is recognised in Germany, goes through the first: official guidance states that in that case there are no additional requirements to be met in order to obtain the card. No points, no scoring, no arithmetic.
The points system is the second door, for people whose qualification is recognised in the country where they obtained it but not (or not yet) in Germany. It is genuinely useful, and it is also where most published advice starts — which leaves a lot of already-qualified people convinced they have a scoring problem they do not have. Working out which door is open to you is the single most valuable hour in this process, and it is a question about qualification recognition rather than about points.
What you need before points are counted at all
The points route is not open to everyone who fancies scoring six. Two things have to be true before the categories apply:
- A completed qualification — vocational training of at least two years’ duration, or a course of higher education — and that qualification must be recognised by the state in the country where you trained.
- A language: German at A1 or above, or English at B2 or above, on the Common European Framework.
These are entry conditions, not point-scoring items. Meeting them gets you to the table; the six points are what you then have to reach. It is worth being precise about this, because "I have B2 English" is sometimes reported as though it were worth points. It is not — it is what lets you use the system.
What the eleven categories reward
A minimum of six points is required, and official guidance is explicit that reaching it normally means combining several categories rather than relying on any one. These are the criteria as Germany publishes them:
Qualification and experience
- Qualification found partially equivalent by the German recognition authority — 4 points. Also awarded where a regulated profession requires you to complete compensatory measures before being licensed.
- At least five years’ professional experience in the last seven years — 3 points.
- At least two years’ professional experience in the last five years — 2 points.
- Qualification in a shortage occupation, against Germany’s published list — 1 point.
Language
- German at B2 or above — 3 points.
- German at B1 — 2 points.
- German at A2 — 1 point.
- English at C1 or above — 1 point, awarded in addition to any points for German rather than instead of them.
Personal circumstances
- Aged under 35 at the time of applying — 2 points.
- At least six continuous months of legal residence in Germany within the last five years — 1 point. Study, language and work stays all count.
- A spouse or partner who independently meets the Opportunity Card requirements and is coming with you — 1 point.
What six points tends to look like in practice
These are illustrations of how the categories combine, not eligibility assessments. Nobody reading a web page can tell you what a German authority will award you.
- A partially equivalent qualification (4) plus two years’ recent professional experience (2) reaches six without any German at all — though the A1 German or B2 English prerequisite still has to be met.
- German at B2 (3) plus five years’ experience (3) also reaches six, with no recognition decision involved.
- German at B1 (2), two years’ experience (2) and being under 35 (2) reaches six on three modest items rather than one strong one.
- English at C1 alone (1) reaches nowhere near it. The English bonus is a top-up, not a route.
The pattern worth noticing is that German is where most people can actually move their own score. Experience and age are what they are; a recognition outcome is not yours to decide; going from A2 to B1 to B2 is a difference of two points and is the one lever a candidate genuinely controls.
Why there is no calculator on this page
We could build one in an afternoon and it would be the most-used thing on this site. We have not, for two reasons that have not changed.
The first is that the largest category depends on an assessment we cannot make. A calculator would have to ask "has your qualification been found partially equivalent?" and accept the applicant’s guess as an input — which turns a four-point legal determination into a checkbox. The second is that the criteria, the shortage-occupation list and the thresholds are set by the German authorities and revised. A calculator that quietly goes stale gives confident wrong answers, which is worse than giving none.
What a score is worth knowing for is deciding whether to pursue the route at all, and the categories above are enough for that. The assessment itself is the German mission’s, on the evidence in front of it.
Where to go from here
If you think the first door might be open to you, start with qualification recognition — it deals with anabin, the ZAB and what "recognised in Germany" actually means. If you are reasonably sure you are on the points route and want to know what applying involves from here, the UAE preparation guide covers the documents, the mission and the sequence. And the Opportunity Card service page sets out what we do and what the German authorities decide.
