Costs
One price, no surprises. You pay once your apprentice is here and the training is running.
Our fee
€4,000
net per apprentice placed
That is the complete amount for our work — from selection in Accra through to support during the first six months. There is no base fee, no processing charge and no extras appearing later. For several apprenticeships in the same intake we will talk about volume pricing.
Due in four instalments — all after the apprenticeship starts
| Due when … | Share | Amount | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| the probation period is completed | 40 % | €1,600 | 3–4 months after the start |
| the interim examination is passed | 20 % | €800 | about halfway through |
| the final examination is passed | 20 % | €800 | end of training |
| you keep the apprentice on after they qualify | 20 % | €800 | afterwards |
The last instalment is deliberate: we are only paid in full once your apprentice has become a qualified worker in your company. That means we carry part of the retention risk and have the same interest as you. If the training ends early, the outstanding instalments simply fall away.
What you get for it
So that you know exactly what you are paying for — this is the full scope:
Before selection
- Personal pre-selection in Accra by our partner on the ground
- School certificates and civil documents checked for authenticity
- Technical background matched against your trade
- Support through the German course up to level B1
During selection
- Candidate profiles with certificates and language evidence
- A video conversation with every candidate before you decide
- You decide — we propose
Through the procedure
- Preparation of the training contract and chamber registration
- Support with approval by the Federal Employment Agency
- Preparation of the accelerated procedure under § 81a
- Full support through the visa procedure in Accra
- One named contact who knows where things stand
After arrival
- Travel to Germany arranged
- Residence registration, bank account, health insurance
- Enrolment at the vocational school
- The "Faire Integration" notice (mandatory for you since 2026)
- Available to you and the apprentice for the first six months
And what is explicitly not included
- The fee for the accelerated procedure — €411, paid directly to the immigration office
- Accommodation or higher apprenticeship pay, where needed to prove the cost of living is covered
- The apprenticeship wage itself and your usual training costs
- A guarantee of a specific arrival date — nobody can give you that
What the qualified worker costs that you will not have in 2031
First, the part that argues against us
An apprenticeship you do not fill costs you nothing during the training years — it actually saves money. In the skilled trades an apprentice costs a net €7,700 per year: gross cost less the productive work they already do (BIBB cost-benefit survey 2022/23). Over three and a half years that is roughly €27,000 the empty position saves you.
We would rather say this ourselves than have you work it out and stop believing us. The calculation only begins after the final examination — and from there the numbers are of a different order.
Because what you are missing is not the apprentice, it is the qualified worker of 2031. From that point every day without them costs money — exactly when the baby boomers in your company retire.
success-based, in four instalments after training starts
the average cost of recruiting a ready-made qualified worker externally — BIBB 2022/23
how long a plumbing and heating position stays empty on average (Federal Employment Agency), at roughly €100 of lost contribution margin per day
both together — and with no guarantee of success, because in 59 of 115 skilled trades the matching applicant is simply not on the market
Where the €100 a day comes from: 1,300 billable hours at €70 make around €91,000 in revenue; a qualified worker costs roughly €53,000 all in. That leaves about €38,000 a year, a good €100 a day. Work it out with your own figures — your rate, your productive hours. If you are not turning work away, the number comes out smaller, and we will tell you so. We are happy to go through it with you in the first conversation.
The calculation in one sentence
€4,000, spread over four years and tied to results — that is about 40 days of missing a qualified worker, and roughly a tenth of what a single external attempt to fill the position costs. An attempt you will have to make in a few years anyway if you train nobody today.
"It is cheaper elsewhere"
Partly true. There are programmes run by trade associations or from public funding that charge €750 or nothing at all — but their price reflects a subsidy, not the cost. In return you generally get no personal selection on the ground, no support through the language course, and nobody who handles the visa procedure for you. Commercial full-service providers, by contrast, usually sit between €5,000 and €8,000.
We deliberately sit in between. And if someone offers you a placement that is free for everyone involved, it is worth asking who is paying for it.