Do you qualify?
The Chancenkarte lets you move to Germany without a job offer and search for cloud engineering roles for up to 12 months. You need a qualifying degree (ISCED 6 or higher) and — if not fully recognised — at least 6 points.
A 4-year BSc CS or BSc CE from a recognised Ghanaian university meets the base requirement. HNDs from Technical Universities (below ISCED 6) do not.
Which route applies to you?
| Your situation | Route |
|---|---|
| 4-year BSc from H+ institution, programme listed | Route 1: no points needed |
| 4-year BSc, programme not individually listed | Route 2: 6 points required |
| HND | Not eligible |
Route 2: points table
| Criterion | Points | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Partial equivalence (ZAB decision) | 4 | |
| Shortage occupation (cloud engineering, ISCO-08 group 25) | 1 | |
| At least 2 years qualifying experience in last 5 years | 2 | Infrastructure design scope |
| At least 5 years qualifying experience in last 7 years | 3 | Replaces 2-year tier |
| German A2 / B1 / B2+ | 1 / 2 / 3 | |
| English at B2 or higher (certificate required) | 1 | WAEC English not accepted — IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge required |
| Age under 35 | 2 | |
| Age 35–39 | 1 | |
| Prior lawful German residence ≥ 6 months in last 5 years | 1 | |
| Spouse applies jointly | 1 |
Worked example: Nana Adjoa Acheampong, 29, cloud engineer, BSc CS KNUST (programme not listed), 3 years AWS platform engineering, IELTS 6.5 (B2), no German: 1 (shortage) + 2 (experience) + 2 (under 35) + 1 (English B2) = 6 points ✓
Financial requirement: the Sperrkonto
€13,092 in a blocked Sperrkonto before your appointment. Open at least 4 weeks early (Fintiba, Coracle, Expatrio).
What you can do on the Opportunity Card
- Part-time work: up to 20 hours per week on average
- Trial employment: up to 2 weeks per employer
- Freelancing: not permitted
Document checklist
- Passport (at least 2 empty pages)
- Degree certificate with MFARI apostille
- Academic transcript with MFARI apostille
- anabin printout or ZAB Statement of Comparability
- Language certificate (IELTS/TOEFL/Cambridge or Goethe-Institut/telc/ÖSD)
- Experience letters (IaC: Terraform/Pulumi/CDK; cloud platforms: AWS/GCP/Azure; multi-region architecture, FinOps, security posture, SLOs; seniority) and payslips. Cloud certifications as supporting attachments — they do not contribute to points.
- Sperrkonto certificate (€13,092)
- Travel health insurance
Common mistakes
Cloud certifications counted toward points. AWS SAP, Azure Expert, GCP Pro Cloud Architect are not in the Chancenkarte points table. They are useful for job applications once in Germany, but they do not affect your score.
WAEC English used as the language certificate. Not accepted. IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge at B2 is required.
HND submitted as the base qualification. Below ISCED 6 — not eligible.
Experience letters describing only provisioning and monitoring. Qualifying experience must show infrastructure design: IaC authorship, multi-region architecture decisions, capacity planning, cost optimisation.
Sources
- § 20a AufenthG, Bundesministerium der Justiz
- Opportunity Card: Make it in Germany
- anabin database, KMK / ZAB
Not legal advice. Verify requirements with the German Embassy Accra before applying.
See also
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