With an offer in hand, two things matter before the visa: the contract and recognition of your qualifications.

The contract should state your role, salary, working hours and start date — the embassy will look at it. For an EU Blue Card your gross annual salary must clear the 2026 thresholds: €50,700 standard, or €45,934.20 for shortage professions (IT and communications technology, engineering, natural sciences, mathematics, medicine and others) and for graduates within three years of finishing their degree. The thresholds change every January — check the current figures.

Recognition:

Look up your university in the Anabin database. If your institution is rated H+ and your degree type is listed as equivalent, you're usually fine.
If it's not listed or unclear, request a Statement of Comparability (Zeugnisbewertung) from the ZAB — €208, up to three months processing. Start immediately; this is the classic hidden delay.
Regulated professions (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, and engineers in some states) always need formal recognition of the professional qualification before you may work at all.

Speed lever: ask your employer's HR whether they'll run the fast-track skilled worker procedure (beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren, €411, initiated by the employer at the Ausländerbehörde) — it compresses recognition and visa steps into legally binding deadlines and can cut months down to weeks.

Red flags:

A salary in the contract quietly below the threshold you were promised in the interview — check the number in writing, not the conversation.
"Start as a freelancer, we'll employ you later" constructions: a freelance setup does not carry a skilled-worker visa and needs a completely different permit.
Employers who won't put role, salary and start date in writing, or who "don't do" the fast-track procedure and won't explain the visa support they do offer.
For regulated professions: anyone telling you recognition "can be sorted after arrival" — you may not work until it exists.

With an offer in hand, two things matter before the visa: the contract and recognition of your qualifications.

Recognition:

Look up your university in the Anabin database. If your institution is rated H+ and your degree type is listed as equivalent, you're usually fine.
If it's not listed or unclear, request a Statement of Comparability (Zeugnisbewertung) from the ZAB — €208, up to three months processing. Start immediately; this is the classic hidden delay.
Regulated professions (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, and engineers in some states) always need formal recognition of the professional qualification before you may work at all.

Red flags:

A salary in the contract quietly below the threshold you were promised in the interview — check the number in writing, not the conversation.
"Start as a freelancer, we'll employ you later" constructions: a freelance setup does not carry a skilled-worker visa and needs a completely different permit.
Employers who won't put role, salary and start date in writing, or who "don't do" the fast-track procedure and won't explain the visa support they do offer.
For regulated professions: anyone telling you recognition "can be sorted after arrival" — you may not work until it exists.

Sign your contract & check recognition

Sign your contract & check recognition