The Compass Dispatch #9

After last issue’s three elections, you might have hoped for a lighter one. It is... mostly! The AfD wants Germany to put a price tag on immigration, so I did the math for them. Hesse finally has a fast lane for employers that might actually be fast.

And in the Spotlight, an unpopular opinion for anyone who just graduated in Germany: don’t rush into the Blue Card.

You thought I wouldn’t mention the AfD? Then you don’t know me very well. Jokes aside, there is also (somewhat) good news this time!

Today, the German parliament debates an AfD motion to tally the “costs and benefits” of immigration. Happy to help with the math! Between June 2025 and June 2026, the number of people employed in Germany fell by about 169,000, while employment of foreign nationals grew by 180,000. Without them, the drop would have been closer to 350,000 (you can read the report from the IAB, the Federal Employment Agency’s research institute, here, in German). That’s the benefit column, and I doubt it makes it into a single AfD speech. 🙄

About time! Germany has had a fast-track procedure since 2020 to help employers bring their hires over faster. The issue? It’s often not faster at all, which is hard to explain to HR teams and to the people relocating. In cities like Frankfurt, applying could almost be counterproductive. But there is good news.

Since October 1, a new central office in Darmstadt has been handling fast-track pre-approvals for Frankfurt employers. On December 1, it opens to employers across the rest of Hesse, the German region (or federal state) where Frankfurt is located. The 31 local immigration offices will keep handling the procedure too, so employers get to choose. With pre-approvals up from 184 in 2020 to over 2,100 in 2025, it was about time.

One catch for HR teams: you choose central or local once, and there’s no switching mid-procedure. If your local office has been a bottleneck, the central office is worth a try.

If you follow me on LinkedIn, you may have seen my post from a few days ago (maybe that’s even why you’re here!). It may be an unpopular opinion, but if you studied in Germany and just graduated, I don’t think applying for a Blue Card is the best idea.

Germany has a special permit for university graduates: the job seeker permit (which has nothing to do with the Opportunity Card). You can apply once you have graduated, which usually means presenting your official degree certificate (something a lot of people seem to misunderstand).

Why apply for that instead of the Blue Card?

Because the Blue Card is a work permit and the job seeker permit isn’t (or at least, it’s much more flexible). If you get a Blue Card and lose your job, you may end up in a difficult situation: you’d need to find a new one within 3 months to keep your status. The job seeker permit is issued for 18 months, and during that time you are free to work full-time, anywhere, for any salary, or not at all. You get 18 months of freedom to figure out the rest. That means less pressure, especially in this economy, when we never know when the next round of layoffs is coming.

The question that usually comes up is: “But if I work for these 18 months and only then apply for the Blue Card, haven’t I lost 18 months that could have counted toward my settlement permit?” The answer is no, you haven’t. You don’t need to have held the Blue Card for 21 or 27 months to qualify. You need to have worked at Blue Card level for that long. So if you speak German at B1 level and worked for 18 months on the job seeker permit, you only need another 3 months to qualify (provided, of course, that all the Blue Card requirements are met). Easy. ✅

The only time I would not recommend the job seeker permit is if you live in a very slow jurisdiction (e.g., Munich 🐢). If it takes them a year to process anything, you’re better off applying for a regular work permit as soon as you start working. Otherwise, you may end up waiting all over again down the line.

Not sure which permit makes sense for you, or already thinking about your settlement permit? Reply to this email.

Fall is slowly arriving in Paris ☕ and I feel like getting cozy, drinking tea and reading a good book 📚 (I have plenty on my list!). Being self-employed means always being on the clock, but it also means I could take most of last Monday off for a Parisian day with my boyfriend. It may mean working this weekend, and I’ll take that trade every time. Funny enough, it’s the same reason I love the job seeker permit: freedom is worth a lot.

I am learning video editing little by little (one video can take me about 10 hours!). After 5 videos, the stats have already taught me something: on my first three, viewers left the moment I started presenting the program of the video. So no more spoken agenda, I now go straight to the answer. Lesson learned! 📝

My latest video is the one I promised last issue on what the elections mean if you’re moving to Germany. It’s the one that got the most views so far. People love a controversy! Maybe calling it “Is Germany Racist?” was a bit of a rage bait 🤭

I am getting clearer on where I want to take Compass, and one thing I know for sure: I want to work more with people who are already in Germany. Renewals, changing your status, settlement permits (yes, the Spotlight wasn’t a coincidence 😉). If that’s you or someone you know, just reply to this email. And if you’re in HR and your team keeps hitting the same immigration walls, my inbox is open too. ✨

We’re getting closer to Halloween 🎃 and even though I have never celebrated it, every year I think “maybe this time.” I have no plans yet, but I feel like getting spooky and taking the Ouija board out of the closet! 🧙 I used to do that quite a bit, until my best friend admitted she was the one making it move!

How are y’all celebrating? 👻

If you have any comments or questions, I’ll be happy to hear from you!

See you in the next one.

Charlotte

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