EU Blue Card Germany Salary Calculator (2026)

€50,700 gross per year — €4,225 a month — on the standard track. In a shortage occupation, or within three years of finishing your degree, the threshold is €45,934.20, and the Bundesagentur für Arbeit has to approve it.

Because it is a percentage, not a round figure. §18g of the Residence Act sets the standard bar at 50% and the reduced bar at 45.3% of the pension contribution ceiling, which is €101,400 for 2026. Both figures follow automatically from that one number.

Yes. The pension contribution ceiling is re-set by ordinance each year with effect from 1 January, and the Blue Card thresholds move with it. A salary that clears the bar in December can fall short in January, which is why offers agreed late in the year are worth re-checking.

Gross. The comparison is against contractually agreed annual gross pay. For context, a salary exactly at the €50,700 standard threshold leaves roughly €2,725.90 a month net for a single employee with no church tax.

The reduced threshold applies to occupation groups listed in §18g Abs. 2 — including many STEM, IT, engineering, medical and certain managerial roles — and to applicants who completed their degree within the previous three years. Whether a specific role falls inside a listed group is decided by the authorities, not by this calculator.

The assessment is based on the agreed annual gross salary. How guaranteed bonuses, 13th-month payments or variable components are treated is assessed case by case by the immigration authority, so this calculator compares base gross only.

The calculator shows the exact gap rather than a pass/fail. Someone on €48,000 is €2,700 a year short of the standard threshold — €225 a month — while already clearing the €45,934.20 bar that applies to shortage occupations and recent graduates.