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I am software engineer with 5 years of experience in Russia, have a Degree in Civil Engineering and want try to apply to the Blue Card program (country I am most interested is Germany).

I have read http://apply.eu/BlueCard/Germany/ and did not found any info that I need Degree in the field that I will work on. http://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/for-qualified-professionals/working/demanded-professions/scientists-and-it-specialists here at the bottom 'Foreign degrees' - it look like I will need to have appropriate degree future work field.

so question: is it enough to have Degree in other field to apply to Blue Card? In my case: I work in IT and and studied Civil construction.

Subquestion is - if I will have Master's in IT in an addition to my Civil Engineering study will it increase my chances to receive Blue Card? or important thing is only to have any university degree?

P.S. I understand that I will need to have good language knowledge, and be very proficient in my area to get job offer first.

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    The question is at the same time broad (covering multiple countries) and too specific (asking about your chances, which depend on a lot of personal factors). Maybe you could ask separate questions about the bachelor thing in Australia, Canada or the EU blue card separately. Note that the EU Blue Card did not replace the earlier schemes that exist all over Europe (e.g. kennismigrant in the Netherlands, carte de séjour compétence et talent in France) and the some countries like the UK do not even participate in it (the UK has a point-based system).
    – Gala
    Jun 8, 2015 at 7:29
  • ok, thank you for you comment! I will split question
    – R A
    Jun 8, 2015 at 8:55
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    You do not need to learn German first to get a job offer in Germany, and it is not required for getting the "Blaue Karte EU". You just need a concrete job offer. Many companies offer relocation, and will often help with the blue card also. Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich (and maybe Hamburg) are the best shots for companies that do that as there are the most IT companies and expats are common. In fact, many Berlin startups hardly have Germans working there and everyone just speaks English. I have friends that have trouble learning German because of this.
    – simbabque
    Jun 25, 2015 at 11:12

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The EU directive is somewhat vague about that and the details are left to each individual participating state. In Germany, the relevant statute is the Aufenthaltsgesetz (“Residence act”). My reading of article 19 is that you do not need a degree in the exact same field (outside of regulated professions of course).

But you do need some recognised higher education (see EU Blue Card FAQs). You will also need to have it evaluated by the Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen. Incidentally, I don't really know but I would guess that Civil Engineering counts as STEM.

In practice, you must fulfil two rather stringent requirements: You need a concrete job offer with a yearly salary over some threshold (depends on the occupation). To the extent it helps you find a job meeting the conditions, a master's degree in computer science could definitely be useful but if you manage to find a job in IT without one, you could still get a blue card (provided you have some other recognised university education of course).

I don't think the info you found on make-it-in-germany.com really contradicts all this. Clearly, language like “you may apply to have your degree verified” and “show [the equivalent German qualification] on your job applications” does not refer to a legal requirement. It's mostly about what you need to get a job. German employers are especially diploma and certification-oriented, it's customary to submit a whole bunch of certificates with each and every application so a clear equivalence with a German diploma would certainly help.

Note that unlike some other highly skilled migrant schemes, the EU Blue Card is not a point-based system, you either qualify or you do not. So you can't really increase or decrease your chances or compensate weaknesses in one area with other characteristics, you simply have to fulfil all the relevant requirements.

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    If the university the applicant attended is not in the database of accepted universities, it is neccecary to get the verification yourself, unless the embassy doesn't care, which can happen. It can also happen that they take it too literal and reject/ask for verification if the university is listed and the degree is listed, but not both together.
    – simbabque
    Jun 25, 2015 at 11:14
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    However, the document here daad.de/medien/deutschland/stipendien/formulare/…, page 5 states that for "IT specialists" and "language teachers", there's no need for any degree at all: For jobs requiring qualified professional training, approval may be issued for qualified workers with a recognised degree or a foreign university degree equivalent to a German university degree (Section 27 No. 1 Employment Regulation), to IT specialists (Section 27 No. 2 Employment Regulation) or language teachers (Section 26 Employment Regulation).
    – xji
    Oct 5, 2015 at 16:07
  • Also this guy here says he doesn't have a degree even though he works as an "IT specialist" in Germany currently: expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/7074/… So it seems a bit confusing to me.
    – xji
    Oct 5, 2015 at 16:12
  • @XiangJi I am not sure what this is about, would you know the German name of this “Employment regulation”? In any case, that's completely unrelated to the Blue Card requirements.
    – Gala
    Oct 7, 2015 at 20:56
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    @HelloWorldGuy I'm currently in Germany as a student so I didn't go through the route of applying for a job directly. Sorry I am unable to answer your question here.
    – xji
    Mar 17, 2017 at 23:53
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In germany, computer science degree is required for a developer's blue card, however, it is not required for national visa (any recognized degree will work).

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    actually it is not true, any "technical" degree is okay for blue card
    – igor
    Feb 4, 2019 at 16:22
  • A degree in business and accounting with 10 years experience will work?
    – StatguyUser
    Feb 14, 2020 at 18:55
  • @Enthusiast for a blue card I think not, but for a national visa I think yes
    – igor
    Feb 15, 2020 at 20:56

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