Learning German from abroad: what to do before you fly

First work out which level your route actually requires

The most expensive mistake here is learning to the wrong level. German residence law sets a language condition for some permits and none at all for others, and the difference between them is roughly a year of evening classes.

The EU Blue Card and the skilled-worker permits under § 18a and § 18b AufenthG contain no language condition. Your employer may want German, the regulated profession behind the job may require it, but the permit itself does not. The Chancenkarte is split: if you qualify as a Fachkraft, no language proof is asked; on the points route, § 20a (4) AufenthG requires simple German (A1) or English at B2. A recognition permit under § 16d asks for hinreichende Kenntnisse — A2 in the legal shorthand of § 2 (10) AufenthG. Vocational training is the strictest of the pre-arrival levels: § 16a (3) AufenthG requires proof of ausreichende, meaning B1, unless the training provider has tested your German itself or a preparatory language course is part of the plan.

Regulated professions sit outside this logic entirely. Nursing licences are granted by the states at B2, doctors need a specialist language examination on top, and no residence permit will substitute for that. If that is your route, the level is set by the licensing body, not by the visa section.

Nothing the German state funds reaches you before you land — with one exception

The integration course is the course everyone has heard of, and it is not available to you abroad. § 43 (1) AufenthG describes it as support for foreigners „rechtmäßig auf Dauer im Bundesgebiet lebend", and § 44 (1) grants the entitlement only to someone „der sich dauerhaft im Bundesgebiet aufhält" who has just been issued one of the listed residence titles. Living permanently in Germany is the precondition, not the goal.

The job-related courses, the Berufssprachkurse, sit one storey above that. § 4 (3) DeuFöV makes B1 the entry requirement, and § 12 DeuFöV describes the basic courses as B1 to B2, B2 to C1 and C1 to C2. There are courses aimed at A2 and at B1 in the regulation — and here is the part nobody tells candidates: the BAMF states on its own page that since 1 January 2025 the courses have to be prioritised, and that the A2 and B1 courses, along with the practice-based ones, cannot be offered. Job, apprentice, early-years and recognition courses run without restriction; B2 courses run close to demand. In practice the funded ladder currently starts at B1, which is exactly the level most people were hoping the state would get them to.

The exception is worth knowing because it is written for people in your situation. § 4 (1a) DeuFöV lets someone whose residence is not in Germany receive a participation entitlement in three cases: a German job is lined up for at least one year, a recognition or professional-access procedure requires a particular level, or an apprenticeship contract has been registered with the competent body. The BAMF spells the third case out on its Azubi course page — people abroad who have signed a training contract in Germany can apply to the Federal Office for a participation entitlement, and those courses may run in person, online or hybrid.

So the honest picture is: unless an employer, a training company or a bilateral programme is already behind you, the road to B1 is one you finance yourself.

How long it takes, in numbers rather than adjectives

The Goethe-Institut publishes a range for each level, measured in Unterrichtseinheiten of 45 minutes: 80 to 200 units for A1, 200 to 350 for A2, 350 to 650 for B1, 600 to 800 for B2, 800 to 1000 for C1. The institute is careful to call these estimates and adds a caveat that matters for this guide — where you learn changes the number, because in Germany you hear and use the language outside the classroom.

A second, entirely independent benchmark comes from a state programme. The Federal Employment Agency brochure on Triple Win, the nurse recruitment programme run by the ZAV together with the GIZ, sets out the idealised timeline: about one month of planning, about one month of recruitment, then 8 to 10 months of language learning to B1 in the home country combined with visa preparation, then arrival and 6 to 12 months more to reach B2 alongside work — 16 to 24 months in total, depending on whether B1 or B2 is required.

Read those two together and the planning number falls out on its own. Eight to ten months to B1 is what a funded, structured, full-attention programme achieves. An evening class twice a week will take longer, and there is no version of this where three months of an app produces a certificate an authority accepts.

What free material gets you, and where it stops

Two free offers are worth more than most paid apps, and both come from institutions rather than start-ups. Deutsche Welle publishes complete courses at learngerman.dw.com free of charge from A1 upwards, including the Nicos Weg video course for beginners, a placement test and daily news written at graded levels. The Goethe-Institut runs the portal Mein Weg nach Deutschland, which combines practice material with practical information about arriving; the portal names 61 locations worldwide where free events and advice are offered, alongside Welcome Coaches inside Germany.

Where free material stops is the certificate. None of these produce a document a visa section, a course provider or a licensing body will read, and the paper is the part with rules attached to it — which provider, which examination location, how old the certificate may be. We have set those rules out separately in the guide on language certificates, and reading it before you book an exam is cheaper than reading it afterwards.

Used properly, the free material is what carries you between paid course blocks. Used as a substitute for a course, it tends to produce people who understand a lot and cannot yet speak.

The trade-off nobody mentions: arriving at B1 costs you the integration course

§ 44 (3) Nr. 3 AufenthG removes the entitlement to the integration course from anyone who already has ausreichende Kenntnisse of German — that is B1. Sentence 2 of the same paragraph keeps your entitlement to the orientation course, the 100 hours on law, culture and history under § 12 IntV. And § 44 (4) still allows the authority to admit you within available course places. So it is the entitlement you lose, not necessarily the place.

What you lose in money terms is modest. § 9 (1) IntV sets the participant contribution at 50 percent of the reimbursement rate, § 9 (2) exempts people on benefits or low pay, and § 9 (6) refunds half of the contribution if you finish successfully within two years. Against that, arriving at B1 means the Berufssprachkurse are open to you from day one, at a level the state is currently able to deliver. For anyone with a job or a recognition procedure waiting, that trade is worth making.

There is a deadline in the other direction that is easier to miss. § 44 (2) AufenthG extinguishes the integration course entitlement one year after the residence title was issued, not one year after you get around to it. If you arrive below B1, registering with a course provider is a first-month task, not a first-year one.

Coming to Germany to learn: the language-course permit

There is a residence permit for learning German inside Germany. § 16f (1) AufenthG allows a permit for language courses that are not preparation for university study, and the German mission in Pristina names it plainly as the basis for staying up to a year on an intensive course. Two features make it more useful than people expect: § 16f (3) sentence 4 allows employment of up to 20 hours a week on this permit, and the restrictions on switching purpose in the same paragraph are written for school attendance and pupil exchange, not for the language course.

The conditions are strict about what counts as a course. The embassy leaflet in Bratislava (Stand July 2024) defines an intensive course as daily instruction of at least 18 teaching hours a week and states that evening or weekend courses do not meet the requirement. You must show the school's registration confirmation together with proof that the course fee is already paid, the visa fee is 75 euro, and because the local foreigners authority has to be involved and consent, that leaflet puts processing at roughly one to three months. Plan the application around the course start, not the other way round.

This route makes sense for people whose target level is far above what they can reach at home and who can fund a year without a full-time salary. It is a poor substitute for a work permit, and it is not a shortcut into one — you still have to meet the requirements of the work title at the end of it.

Do not pay a recruiter for your language course

Language training is the most common wrapper for placement fees that are not allowed to be charged in the first place. The pattern is always the same: the course is real, the price is several times the local rate, and the invoice quietly covers the job placement that the employer is required to pay for. Our guide on recruitment scams sets out what may and may not be charged, and it is the one to read before you transfer anything.

Where a programme or an employer does fund the course — Triple Win pays for the B1 phase in the home country, and companies recruiting apprentices routinely fund preparatory courses under § 16a (1) AufenthG — that funding comes without an invoice to you. Working out which route your case fits, and therefore which level you need before you fly, is the part we take on free for you, because employers pay our fee.

The honest answer

Aim for B1 before you fly, and treat everything below it as your own investment rather than something the state will finish for you. That is not a motivational line, it is where two separate facts meet: the BAMF cannot currently offer its funded A2 and B1 courses, and its B2 courses require B1 to enter. Arrive below B1 and you land in the one gap in the system.

The exceptions are real, though, and they are worth chasing before you pay for a single lesson: if a German employer, a training company or a programme such as Triple Win is already involved, § 4 (1a) DeuFöV may open a funded course to you while you are still at home. Ask about it in writing before you sign a course contract. If nobody is behind you yet, start with the free Deutsche Welle courses, book paid classes for the level you actually need, and buy the exam only from a provider the receiving authority accepts.