Our Model
We get paid when it works — and in full only once your apprentice has become a skilled worker in your company.
How we get paid
The usual arrangement in this industry is an advance on signature and the balance on entry. At that point the agency has been paid before anyone can tell whether the placement was any good. We do it the other way round.
No advance
No money changes hands before the training contract is signed. The initial conversation, the search in Accra, selection, the language course, the video interviews — all of it runs at our risk.
First instalment after probation
Not on entry, not at the start of training. Only once both sides have the probation period behind them and the arrangement is working.
A termination ends the payments
If the training ends early, all outstanding instalments fall away. We carry the loss with you rather than leaving it to you.
The last instalment depends on retention
We are paid in full only once you keep the apprentice on after they qualify. That gives us the same interest as you for four years.
What that covers
One price for the entire placement — from selection in Accra through to support after arrival. No basic charge, no handling fee, no extras appearing later.
Before selection
- Personal shortlisting in Accra by our partner on the ground
- Verification of school certificates and documents
- Matching technical background against your trade
- Support through the German course up to level B1
During selection
- Candidate profiles with certificates and language evidence
- A video interview with every candidate before you decide
- You decide — we propose
During the procedure
- Preparation of the training contract and chamber registration
- The detailed training plan the embassy requires
- Support through approval by the Federal Employment Agency
- Preparation of the accelerated procedure
- Full support through the visa procedure in Accra
- One named contact who knows where things stand
After arrival
- Travel arrangements to Germany
- Registration, bank account, health insurance
- Enrolment at the vocational school
- "Faire Integration" information sheet (mandatory for you since 2026)
- Available to you and the apprentice, also beyond the first months
The four instalments
| Due when … | Share | Amount | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| the probation period has been completed | 40 % | €1,600 | 3–4 months after training begins |
| the interim examination has been passed | 20 % | €800 | around halfway through the training |
| the final examination has been passed | 20 % | €800 | end of the training |
| you keep the apprentice on after they qualify | 20 % | €800 | thereafter |
The final instalment is deliberate: we are paid in full only once your apprentice has become a skilled worker in your company. That means we share the retention risk — and have the same interest as you. If the training ends earlier, the outstanding instalments fall away.
The price
€4,000
net per apprentice placed
We state the figure openly because nine of twelve providers in this market do not. You should know where you stand before the first phone call. For several apprenticeships in the same intake we will talk about a volume price.
What is expressly not included
- The fee for the accelerated procedure — €411, paid directly to the immigration office
- Accommodation or higher training pay, where needed to prove the cost of living
- The training allowance itself and your usual training costs
- A guarantee of a particular arrival date — nobody can give you that
What the skilled worker is worth that you would otherwise be missing
First, the part that argues against us
An apprenticeship you do not fill costs you nothing during the training years — it even saves money. An apprentice in the skilled trades costs around €7,700 net per year: gross costs less the productive work they already contribute (BIBB cost-benefit survey 2022/23). Over three and a half years that is around €27,000 the empty position saves.
We would rather say this ourselves than have you do the arithmetic and stop believing us. The calculation only begins after the final examination — and there the orders of magnitude are different.
Because what you are missing is not the apprentice but the skilled worker of 2031. From that point on, every day without them costs money — precisely when the baby boomers in your company are retiring.
success-based, in four instalments after the apprenticeship starts
the average cost of recruiting a fully qualified worker externally — BIBB 2022/23
how long a plumbing and heating position stays empty on average (Federal Employment Agency), at around €100 of lost contribution margin per day
both together — and with no guarantee of success, since in 59 of 115 skilled trades there is no suitable applicant on the market
Where the €100 a day comes from: 1,300 billable hours at €70 give around €91,000 of revenue; a qualified worker costs about €53,000 all in. That leaves around €38,000 a year, a good €100 a day. Check this against your own figures — your hourly rate and your productive hours. If you are not having to turn work away, the calculation comes out smaller, and we will say so. We are happy to work through it together in the initial 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 hiring attempt costs. Which you will have to make in a few years anyway if you train nobody today.
"It is cheaper elsewhere"
Partly true. There are association and subsidy-funded programmes 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 to handle the visa procedure for you. Commercial full-service providers, by contrast, mostly sit between €5,000 and €8,000.
We sit deliberately in between. And if somebody offers you a placement that is free for everyone involved, it is worth asking who is paying for it.