Process

No. There is no cost to you and you take on no obligation whatsoever. Even if we advise you against going ahead, it costs you nothing.

Not necessarily. The figure is not a salary entitlement but what the authorities want to see as a secured cost of living. If you provide free accommodation, the amount to be proven drops substantially — in most cases the easier route, and it also solves the real problem that a young person arriving from Ghana will struggle to find a room alone. Free meals are counted too.

You do not. The next step is a non-binding letter of intent, and that does not commit you either. It becomes binding only when the training contract is signed — that is step 6.

No. The letter of intent is expressly non-binding. You can withdraw at any time without cost. Up to that point we carry the entire risk.

Because the search in Accra is real work: finding candidates, verifying certificates and civil-status documents, holding interviews, organising the German course and supporting it over months. Without a stated intention on your side, our partner would be working blind.

Yes, in either direction. Just tell us as early as you can — the later a change comes, the more work has already gone in on the Accra side.

Our partner obtains them directly from the issuing register rather than accepting copies. That sounds like a formality but is the most important point of the whole phase: German authorities can have Ghanaian civil-status documents verified through the embassy, and such a procedure easily takes six to ten months. A single case with a retrospectively issued birth certificate can push the start of training back by a full year. So the work is done cleanly from the outset rather than repaired later.

The German course up to B1 is the bottleneck — that takes around nine months. Without the certificate the embassy will generally not grant a visa, and the time cannot sensibly be shortened. The search itself would be done faster.

Usually between around 20 and 28. There is no statutory age limit for this visa type; the range follows from the need for a completed school qualification and for the person to realistically see the process through.

Yes, and it costs you nothing. We then propose further candidates. If we cannot find anyone suitable for your trade, we will tell you that too, rather than placing someone who does not fit.

As many as genuinely fit — usually two to four per open position. We deliberately do not send long lists: a shortlist that passes everything through is not a shortlist.

You see everything relevant to your decision: certificates, language evidence, prior training, CV. The complete visa file only becomes relevant during the procedure and then sits with the authorities.

School-level English is enough for the conversation. If you feel unsure, we join and translate wherever it gets stuck. More important than perfect language is having someone from your company who knows the daily work and can judge whether the fit is right, professionally and personally.

Yes, and we expressly recommend it. Compare at least two. There is no additional cost to you.

Then you say no. Nothing falls due, and we keep looking. A refusal after the interview is far preferable to a hire you have a bad feeling about — the apprenticeship runs for three and a half years.

An overview of which skills the apprentice learns with you in which training year. For the chamber it is routine; for the embassy it is a mandatory document. Experience shows it is the piece of paper applications most often get stuck on — which is why we deliver it prepared rather than leaving you to it.

Yes, from here the training contract applies with the usual rules — including the probation period, during which either side can terminate without giving reasons. As for our fee: the first instalment only falls due once probation has been passed, and if the training ends before that, all outstanding instalments fall away.

Registering a training contract is normally free of charge at the chambers. What applies is your own chamber's schedule of fees — ask them if you want to be certain.

No. No priority test is provided for company-based vocational training. You do not have to prove that you advertised the position without success.

The most common reason is pay below what is locally or collectively agreed. That can usually be resolved by adjusting the contract, and it is then resubmitted. This is exactly why we work through the figures in the initial conversation — so that it does not come to this.

No, it is optional. We nevertheless recommend it in almost every case: apprenticeships in Germany start only once a year. Missing the start date means waiting twelve months — measured against that, €411 is cheap insurance.

Do not plan on it. It is an administrative fee for processing, not a success fee. What an authority refunds in an individual case follows its own schedule of fees.

No. We prepare the application, assemble the documents and handle the correspondence. From you come the signature and the fee.

Nobody honest can give you a guarantee. Refusals do happen — almost always for three reasons: insufficient cost of living, a missing training plan, doubts about documents. Those are exactly the ones we clear out of the way beforehand, in steps 1, 3 and 6.

That is standard practice there and is not directed at any individual application. For the first four weeks nothing is communicated about processing status. Asking does not speed anything up.

We look at the reasons given. If they can be remedied — a missing or incomplete document, for instance — it is submitted again or reapplied for. Either way, for you: up to that point you have paid us nothing, because our first instalment falls due only once probation has been passed.

We organise the airport pick-up and the first official errands in order: registration with the city, bank account, health insurance, enrolment at the vocational school. Together that takes about a week. You get a short overview from us of what is done and what is still outstanding — you do not need to attend any of these appointments.

Throughout the apprenticeship. Support is most intensive in the first months, but our final fee instalment depends on you keeping the apprentice on after they qualify. So we have the same interest as you right through to the qualification.