Employment and job training

Often you are not allowed to work.
If you are living in a reception facility (Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung, EA), you are allowed to work until at least ten months after arriving.
If you are from a „safe country of origin“ and arrived in Germany after August 31st 2015, you are never allowed to work. You can do school-based job training.
All other people can possibly get permission to work from the Ausländerbehörde. It depends on how long you have been in Germany. You can go to an advice officee. They can help you look for work.

You live in an EA and have had an Aufenthaltsgestattung for nine months or less
You are not allowed to work in the first nine months after getting an „Aufenthaltsgestattung“. There is nothing you can do about this. Your ID document says „Erwerbstätigkeit nicht gestattet“ - „Employment not permitted“.

You live in an EA and have had an Aufenthaltsgestattung for ten months or more
You are not allowed to work without permission. But in most cases you have the right to a work permit for a specific job.

Job training
You can do school-based job training. You can also do workplace-based job training. If you want to do workplace-based job training, you have to apply for permission from the immigration authority (Ausländerbehörde). Sometimes, job training helps you to get a right to stay. This is known as an Ausbildungs-Duldung. Ask an advice office.

Work
You have to make an application, together with your employer. This application is called a Stellenbeschreibung. You have to send the application to the immigration authority.
The immigration authority sends the application to the Employment Agency.
The Employment Agency checks the working conditions. For example, equal pay and equal working hours to others working in the company.

There is currently no Vorrangprüfung in Germany.
Your ID document says „Beschäftigung mit Genehmigung der Ausländerbehörde gestattet“ - „Employment permitted, with permission of the immigration authority“. If your ID document does not say „Beschäftigung mit Genehmigung der Ausländerbehörde gestattet“, ask an advice officee.
You can get information from the Employment Agency or from an advice office.

You have been in Germany more than 48 months
If you are in Germany for longer than 48 months the Ausländerbehörde can write in your ID document : „Beschäftigung gestattet“. Then the Agentur für Arbeit does not check your working conditions any longer.
If you want to work you still have to ask the Ausländerbehörde for permission. If you have an „Aufenthaltsgestattung“ or „Duldung“ you are not allowed to be self-employed.

You are only allowed to work in some cases. You are never allowed to work if you are from a „safe country of origin“ and made your asylum claim after the 31st of August 2015. If you are from a „safe country of origin“ and you made your asylum claim before the 31st of August 2015 but made your application for asylum after the 31st of August 2015, ask an advice office if you are allowed to work. If you are from a „safe country of origin“ and you did your application for asylum before the 31st of August 2015 or if you are not from a „safe country of origin“ the same rules apply as for people with an „Aufenthaltsgestattung“. [href]en/willkommen/ausbildung_und_arbeit#chapter1">“Working and job training with an Aufenthaltsgestattung“. The immigration authority may in some cases impose an employment ban (ausländerrechtliches Arbeitsverbot) for people with a Duldung. If you have an employment ban, you are not allowed to work. Sometimes the immigration authority makes mistakes. Ask an advice office if you are given an employment ban.

You are allowed to work and to do job training. You can go to the Job Center or to an advice office. They can help ypu look for a job.

In Germany, there are jobs for which one gets little or no money. An internship (Praktikum) is meant to allow you to try out a job. A volunteer service is about helping other people.
You are allowed to do many interships and volunteer services. On the GGUA website you can find more information (unfortunately, only in German).
Ask an advice office.

If you can work, but do not have a job, social services can give you work. This work is called AGH or FIM. This will often be work in the accomodation where you live. You may also be offered work with the municipality. There are rules which govern this kind of work. If you are offered this kind of work, you have to take it. If you have a reason not to do the work, you have to tell social services the reason. Reasons can be: another job, job training, a language course, illness. If you do not do the work without a reason, you may be given less money. Even if you have an employment ban, you can still do this kind of work.
People from so-called „safe countries of origin“ are not allowed to do FIM.

It can be very difficult to find a job in Germany. Often, you have to be able to speak german in order to find work. On the website of the Job Center you can find jobs being offered. On the pages workeer.de and jobbörse.deyou can find jobs being offered specially for refugees.
Advice offices, often know what jobs are available locally and can help you look for a job. Go to an advice office.

More information can be found on the website of ProAsyl. The information is in german and english.

In Germany, there are many laws which protect the rights of people at work. For example, you are normally not allowed to work more than eight hours per day. You have the right to paid holidays. In Germany, there is a minimum wage of 9,19 Euro. Every person who works must receive a wage receipt every month. This receipt says how much the person was paid and how much was deducted for taxes and social insurance. You have a right to be paid on time. Unfortunately, there are some employers who exploit refugees, taking advantage of the fact that many are unaware of their legal rights. If you have the impression that you are being treated unjustly at work, you can contact the advice office MIRA. There you can receive free advice and support in different languages.
The German Trade Union Federation has produced information leaflets on the subject of workers‘ rights in german, english, french, arabic and dari. You can find these online by following this link