Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) for Nepali Graduates: Points, Funds and Process

Since June 2024, Germany has offered qualified people from outside the EU a way to come and look for work without a job offer: the Opportunity Card, or Chancenkarte. For a graduate in Nepal, the deciding question is not your points score. It is how Germany rates your degree, because that decides which of two routes you take and which documents the Embassy in Kathmandu will ask for.

What the card allows

The Opportunity Card is a residence permit to look for work, set out in Section 20a of the Residence Act. It is issued for up to one year. During that year you may:

• work part-time, up to an average of 20 hours a week in total;
• do trial work of up to two weeks at a time with an employer, if the job is qualified, leads to vocational training, or is part of a recognition measure;
• switch to a work permit at the local foreigners office once you find a qualified job.

If you find a qualified job but no other residence permit fits, the card can be extended for up to two years as a follow-on card, with the approval of the Federal Employment Agency. A second job-search card is possible only after a gap at least as long as your first card lasted, spent abroad or in Germany on another permit.

Two groups don't need it. Anyone can job-hunt from Nepal and apply for a work visa with an offer in hand, as Make it in Germany points out. And graduates of German universities get the longer 18-month job-search permit instead.

Route 1 or route 2: it depends on your degree

The German Embassy in Kathmandu describes two options, and it is blunt about the boundary: applications with a qualification that is not recognised, or not checked positively by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB), cannot be accepted.

Route 1: your degree counts as fully recognised

You count as a skilled worker and skip the points system. You also don't have to prove language skills, though German still helps you find a job. For a Nepali university degree, the Embassy accepts an anabin printout showing your degree as "entspricht" (equivalent) at an institution rated H+. If either rating is missing, you need a ZAB Statement of Comparability, which costs EUR 208 and takes about three months on the regular track.

anabin rates the 4-year Nepali bachelor, for example a BE or a 4-year BBA, as equivalent to a German bachelor. If your university also carries the H+ rating, route 1 is likely open to you. Our anabin guide shows how to check both ratings.

Route 2: your degree is state-recognised but not fully equivalent

This is the path for many 3-year bachelor's holders, whose degree anabin rates only as conditionally comparable. You need all of the following:

• a degree recognised by the state where you earned it, or a vocational qualification of at least two years, confirmed by an anabin printout or by ZAB;
• German at A1 or English at B2, certified by a member of the Association of Language Testers in Europe or by TOEFL;
• at least 6 points.

The points table

Points come from Section 20b and the annex to the Act:

Work experience counts only if it came after your degree and relates to it. Tourist visits don't count towards the six-month stay.

A worked example

Take a 27-year-old with a 3-year BBS from Nepal and two years in a bank since graduating. Age gives 2 points and experience 2, so 4 so far. English at B2 meets the language condition but earns nothing. A B1 German certificate adds 2 and reaches the minimum of 6; B2 would give 7. For an applicant under 35 without partial recognition, German is usually the lever that tips the score.

The money question

The Embassy's Opportunity Card document list names a blocked account containing EUR 13,104 as mandatory, yet the same list also accepts a formal sponsorship letter from someone in Germany, proof of financial status such as employer letters and land ownership certificates, or a concrete part-time job offer. Make it in Germany puts the 2026 requirement at EUR 1,091 net per month. Confirm with the Embassy which proof it expects before you move money; our blocked account guide covers how the accounts work.

Moving that money out of Nepal is a second hurdle. The Nepal Rastra Bank circular explained in our NRB money transfer guide is written for study abroad, so ask your bank how it treats a job-search card before you count on the transfer.

Applying from Kathmandu

Start with the online application in the Consular Services Portal. You upload your documents there, the Embassy tells you if anything is missing, and you can correct it online. Only then do you appear in person to show the originals, give fingerprints and a photo, and pay. Appointments are allocated through a waiting list; our guide to the Embassy's visa process explains how that works.

The Embassy's paper checklist is now labelled as the old procedure, but it is still the clearest list of what you will need to scan and bring:

• a passport issued within the last 10 years, valid for at least one more year, with two empty pages;
• a biometric photo, the VIDEX form, the declaration on true and complete information and A4 copies of all passport pages;
• your citizenship certificate and a CV;
• degree, recognition proof and experience certificates;
• language certificate (route 2), proof of funds and health insurance for your stay;
• the EUR 75 fee in Nepali rupees.

Documents must be in German or English or come with a certified translation, and nothing may be stapled or clipped.

Unsure whether your degree points to route 1 or route 2? A free profile evaluation checks it before you spend money on ZAB or a language exam.