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Germany · digital nomad visa · 2026

Germany's digital nomad visa: no dedicated visa

Germany has no dedicated digital nomad visa. Here is what that means in practice, what route remote workers actually use, and how the days are counted.

Next step

One email when the app can count this stay for you.

How we know

Every figure here is as bamf.de publishes it, checked 18 August 2026. Where a number is our own arithmetic rather than a printed figure, the row says so.

Status
No dedicated visa
Visa
Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Ausübung einer selbständigen bzw. freiberuflichen Tätigkeit (residence permit for self-employment / freelance work), § 21 AufenthG — NOT a digital nomad visa
Renewal
Issued for a maximum of three years ('Die Aufenthaltserlaubnis wird auf längstens drei Jahre befristet'). After three years of successful self-employment a settlement permit (Niederlassungserlaubnis) may be granted; freelancers can obtain permanent residence after five years.
Who qualifies
§ 21(1) AufenthG: a residence permit for self-employment may be granted where there is an economic interest or a regional need ('wenn ein wirtschaftliches Interesse oder ein regionales Bedürfnis besteht'), the activity is expected to have a positive economic effect, and financing is secured — assessed via a business plan covering viability, business experience, capital invested, regional employment/training effects and innovation. § 21(5) AufenthG allows a permit for a 'freiberufliche Tätigkeit' (liberal profession — e.g. doctors, interpreters, artists, writers, architects) under less strict conditions, subject to holding any required professional authorisation. § 21(2a) gives preferential treatment to graduates and researchers whose self-employment relates to their studies or research. Applicants over 45 are as a rule only granted the permit if they have adequate old-age provision ('Ausländern, die älter sind als 45 Jahre, soll die Aufenthaltserlaubnis nur erteilt werden, wenn sie über eine angemessene Altersversorgung verfügen').
Official page
bamf.de
Checked
18 August 2026

Sources are listed further down the page.

What to know before you apply

Germany has NO digital nomad visa. BAMF's list of work-related residence titles for third-country nationals covers skilled workers with vocational training, skilled workers with academic education, skilled workers without training, scientists, ICT transfers, self-employment/freelancing, and au pair/internship/voluntary service — there is no remote-work or digital nomad category anywhere on it. The nearest route is the § 21 AufenthG residence permit for self-employment or freelance work, which is a permit to run a business or practise a liberal profession IN Germany with an economic-interest/regional-need test; it is not designed for, and does not describe, remote work performed for clients or an employer abroad. No official page fetched states an income threshold, a fee, or a processing time for this permit (both are set by the individual local Ausländerbehörde and the mission handling the national visa), so those fields are omitted rather than guessed. make-it-in-germany.com is behind Radware bot protection and could not be fetched; BAMF and gesetze-im-internet.de were used instead, both official.

What it means for your tax days

A visa is permission to stay; tax residency follows the days you actually spend. Check Germany's tax authority for the day test that applies to you — and count the days either way.

Sources

Questions people ask about Germany

Does Germany have a digital nomad visa?

No. Germany has no dedicated digital nomad visa. Germany has NO digital nomad visa. BAMF's list of work-related residence titles for third-country nationals covers skilled workers with vocational training, skilled workers with academic education, skilled workers without training, scientists, ICT transfers, self-employment/freelancing, and au pair/internship/voluntary service — there is no remote-work or digital nomad category anywhere on it. The nearest route is the § 21 AufenthG residence permit for self-employment or freelance work, which is a permit to run a business or practise a liberal profession IN Germany with an economic-interest/regional-need test; it is not designed for, and does not describe, remote work performed for clients or an employer abroad. No official page fetched states an income threshold, a fee, or a processing time for this permit (both are set by the individual local Ausländerbehörde and the mission handling the national visa), so those fields are omitted rather than guessed. make-it-in-germany.com is behind Radware bot protection and could not be fetched; BAMF and gesetze-im-internet.de were used instead, both official.

Does a digital nomad visa in Germany make you tax resident?

A visa and tax residency are different things: the visa lets you stay, the tax rules follow the days you actually spend. Check Germany's tax authority for the day test that applies to you.

How does Stretch help with the Germany stay?

Log the day you land and Stretch counts the days against the permission you are on, shows the date you must be out, and reminds you at 14, 7, 3 and 1 days. It also tallies the days that count towards tax residency, so the 183-day question answers itself. The counting and the alerts are free, forever.

Other digital nomad visas

Germany, the rest of it

Stretch is a tracker, not legal advice, and this is not tax advice. Visa and tax rules change and are applied by the authority, not by an app — every figure here shows its source and the date we checked it. Checked 2026-08-18; confirm on the official page before you apply or file.