Germany lets you come for up to nine months to find a paid apprenticeship, and stay once you have one. We take you from "could this work for me?" to your first week in Germany, with a real person beside you the whole way.
A visa for people under 35 from outside the EU who want to learn a trade in Germany. You arrive without a contract, meet employers, do trial days, and once you sign a training contract you switch to the training permit without leaving the country. An apprenticeship here is a paid job: two to three years of work and school, with a salary from month one.
Language course to B1 with a certificate, school certificate checked, blocked account opened in your own name, embassy appointment. Once the visa is issued: flight and first accommodation.
We meet you at the airport, register your address, sort your tax ID and residence permit appointment. Then the WTE Companion app covers bank account, SIM and liability insurance.
Meet employers, do trial days of up to two weeks, work up to 20 hours a week on the side. Employers hire people who are already here and speak the language.
Switch to the training permit from inside Germany. Two to three years of paid Ausbildung, then a skilled-worker permit. No flight home, no new application abroad.
The same criteria the German embassy uses. Free, no account, and we tell you honestly if the answer is no.
Start the free checkThis is an indication based on your answers, not a decision. Only the German mission abroad decides on an application.
This check is an indication based on the official criteria, not a decision. Only the German mission abroad decides on your application.
Most people who try this alone stall at the language, then at the paperwork, then at the first trial day in a German workshop. We plan the whole road from the first German lesson to your signed training contract, and we are there when you land.
People who came to Germany through our recruitment programme
“I was so stressed about the bureaucracy. WTE handled my health insurance before I even landed. I could focus on my new job instead.”
“Opening a German bank account from abroad seemed impossible. With WTE, I had my bunq account ready on day one.”
“The Companion answered all my questions at 2 AM. No waiting for office hours, no confusion about which form to fill.”
“My SIM card was activated the moment I landed. I could call my family right away. Such a small thing, but it meant everything.”
One person beside you from the first call to your first week. Keep scrolling to walk through it.
Three minutes, honest answer. If the requirements appear met, or only the language is missing, leave us your contact details.
Fifteen minutes together. We explain what the visa requires, how long the language path takes from your level, and how the nine months in Germany work. You decide.
You decide that WTE Companion should support you. Only then does anything start.
With our language partners, in your country or online. This is the longest step, and we plan the rest of the road around your exam date.
We tell you exactly what the embassy asks for. You gather, we read every document and give you feedback, and arrange the translations.
We assemble the application, secure the embassy appointment and prepare you for it. You submit in your own name.
The embassy decides. Once your visa is issued we book your flight and your first accommodation.
Someone meets you at the airport. Address registration, tax ID and your residence permit appointment, done with our team in your first days. Then your trial days begin.
From here the WTE Companion app takes over: bank account, SIM card and liability insurance in a guided conversation, and statutory health insurance once your training starts. Our team stays behind every screen.
WTE Companion was built by the team behind Charkos Europe, a recruitment company that has brought skilled workers from outside the EU into German jobs for years. We know the embassy, the authorities, the training companies and the landlords because we deal with them every week.
Fabian ScholzManaging director. Legal background. Runs partnerships and signs off every process.
Jakob ScholzManaging director. Economist. Runs operations: your file, your timeline.
Fredrik ChristensenManaging director. Product and technology. Built the app you will use after landing.
Karol BaginskiEmployers and partners. Finds the companies that hire you.
Victor GuleaDesign and brand. Makes sure nothing is confusing.No, and anyone who promises one is lying to you. What we do is get you into Germany legally with the language you need, settle you, and prepare you for trial days. Meeting an employer in person, speaking German, with a German address, is a completely different position from applying from abroad.
Only the German mission decides. What we control is the file: complete, correct, and submitted by someone who has been prepared for the interview. If yours is refused for reasons not caused by you, we refund our fee.
It depends on the trade and the region. Apprentices in Germany typically earn between about €1,000 and €1,400 a month in the first year, rising each year. Training companies pay this; it is a job, not a course fee.
Yes. The training-search visa requires German at B1, proven by a certificate, and there is no English alternative. From zero, that is usually six to nine months of regular lessons. Our language partners run courses in your country and online, and we plan the visa timeline around your exam date.
The search visa cannot be extended. If no contract is signed by then, you have to leave. That is why we prepare you for trial days and why the language matters so much: employers hire apprentices they can talk to. We tell you honestly on the first call how realistic your trade and region are.
The language is the long part: six to nine months to B1 from zero. Preparing the file takes four to eight weeks. Embassy appointments and processing vary by country and season, from a few weeks to several months. Plan for nine to fifteen months from first lesson to landing.
The app is for after you land. It walks you through the German essentials in a guided conversation: a bank account with a German IBAN, a SIM card, private liability insurance, and statutory health insurance once your training starts. The visa and relocation work before that is done by our team, not by the app.
Never. If a company takes you on as an apprentice through us, the company pays.
No. We prepare, check and coordinate. You apply in your own name. Where a legal question needs a lawyer, we say so and can point you to one.
A free three-minute check against the embassy's own criteria, with an honest answer at the end. If the requirements appear met, you get fifteen minutes with one of us to walk through what comes next. You decide from there.
