Hello,

     I am currently doing my Masters in Electrical Engineering from University of Duisburg, Germany. I wanted to ask if I can apply for Blue card if I have a job offer before finishing my Masters. I already have my Bachelors degree which is comparable to a German degree so am I eligible to apply if I get an offer of 35,000 Euros per year. I would really appreciate if someone could answer me asap.

Thanks,
Taha

Normally students are not allowed to apply for a work permit in Germany if they choose to drop out of school. Many ABHs will, however, make an exception for citizens who are normally allowed to apply for work permits in Germany. Everyone else is supposed to return to their country of origin to file their application.

So does that mean when I go back home and apply for the work visa from there they would cancel my student visa and give me the work permit if approved? Can someone please give me a definite answer for this as I really need to know whether i can get my status changed within Germany or not?

The only way to receive a definite answer is to ask at your local ABH!

Read §16 Abs 2 of the AufenthG, it states that students are only allowed to change their status in Germany if they have an "Anspruch" to the new permit. Before the Blue Card was introduced students who were not citizens of countries privileged under §34 of the BeschV were all required to return to their country of origin first. The idea being that the government doesn't want foreigners abusing the system for study permits when they really only intend to work.

So my question is under the Blue Card can I apply for the work permit if I meet the requirements of a job offer more than 35000 in Engineering, IT and a University degree equivalent to the German Degree before finishing my Masters here?