MIGRATION & CERTIFICATES
Germany Chancenkarte from South Korea: the 6-point table, the English B2 floor, and the Seoul route
The Chancenkarte for Koreans: the 6-point table, the A1-German-or-B2-English floor, €1,091/month funds, and the in-country rule most pages get wrong.
VON GERMANIUM
Editorial desk — sourced to make-it-in-germany.com (the Federal Government portal), chancenkarte.com's official frame and the German Embassy Seoul's Korean-language 기회 카드 page
The Chancenkarte — the Opportunity Card (기회 카드) — is the points-based permit that lets you come to Germany without a job offer and search for one for up to a year. For Koreans it occupies an odd position in the SERP: the German Embassy Seoul's own Korean-language page ranks first for the query — proof of the demand — but it is a one-screen Q&A, and the Korean-language pages below it are agency material with lightly sourced points tables. The card deserves the structured treatment: the full table, the Korea-specific language story, and the one procedural rule that most Korean-language pages get wrong — where the application can actually happen.
Two entry routes — which one is yours?
| Route | Requirement | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled-worker route | A qualification recognised in Germany (degree, or 2+ years of regulated vocational training comparable in Anabin) + A1 German OR B2 English + secured funds | Anyone whose diploma is already recognised — no points calculation needed |
| Points route | The same base requirements + 6 points from extra criteria (experience, language above the floor, age, Germany connection) | Applicants whose recognition procedure is still running, or whose profile is strong on experience and age |
The base requirement — at least two years of vocational training or a university degree under the rules of your home country — is where every Korean application starts, and the same Anabin check that governs the Blue Card decides it: H+ listing for the university, and the diploma's own comparability for the field. The points route exists for profiles that do not clear full recognition yet.
The language floor: why many Koreans already meet it on day one
The card's language requirement is a floor, not points: prove A1 German OR B2 English — one of the two, not both. This is the Korea-specific gift of the whole table: a Korean IT professional with a solid English B2 certificate (TOEIC Speaking, IELTS, or the equivalent — check what the mission accepts as evidence) satisfies the floor without a word of German. The floor is where the German question starts, not ends, because German above it is the cheapest source of points:
| Language level | Points |
|---|---|
| A1 German (or B2 English) — the floor | 0 points — but required: below it the application is not accepted |
| German A2 | +1 |
| German B1 | +2 |
| German B2 | +3 |
The points table 2026
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| A qualification recognised in Germany (full recognition; partial while the procedure runs) | 4 (base) |
| 2 years of experience in the last 5 in one occupation (vocational-training background) | +2 |
| 2 years of experience in the last 5 (the IT exception, without a diploma) | +3 |
| B2+ German / C1 English (not your native language) | +3 / +2 |
| Age ≤ 35 | +2 |
| Age 35–40 | +1 |
| Previous residence in Germany | +1 |
| Spouse eligible to migrate together (the spouse meets the requirements too) | +1 |
| Total needed | **6 / 6 |
Weights vary slightly between agency pages — the citable bases are the official portal (make-it-in-germany.com ↗) and the missions' current merkblatt, and this table should be checked against them at application time. The two scoring mistakes that recur in Korean files: counting experience outside the diploma's field (it does not count), and counting the English B2 that met the floor a second time as an 'additional language' — the floor consumes it once.
Funds: €1,091 per month — €13,092 in the blocked account
The card requires a secured livelihood: €1,091 per month — €13,092 for the year in a blocked account (Sperrkonto), or a livelihood covered by a part-time employment contract of up to 20 hours a week. In won that is roughly ₩1,810만 for the year at 2026 agency rates — a dated conversion of the euro source, not a rule. Note the figure is higher than the student floor (€992/month): the job-seeker must fund a year with no guaranteed salary, and the mechanism details are on the blocked-account explainer in the study article.
Where Koreans apply — and the in-country rule most pages get wrong
The classic road runs through the German Embassy Seoul, by appointment, with the standard national-visa file. The card's own official channels — the digital.diplo.de portal ↗ and the chancenkarte.com frame ↗ — state the in-country rule plainly: applying inside Germany requires an already-valid residence permit. The 90-day visa-free stay Koreans enjoy is not a residence permit; it does not open the in-country Chancenkarte route. This is the concrete, citable slice of the in-country question the Blue Card article names: for the Chancenkarte specifically, the answer is documented and the visa-free entrant is not in scope. Plan the Seoul application; do not build a strategy on a page that waves the visa-free stay at the Ausländerbehörde.
The year on the card
- Valid for up to 12 months — job-search residence, not a work permit in itself
- Part-time work up to 20 hours/week, flexibly distributed, plus two-week trial jobs with no limit on how many employers
- No extension if no job is found — the card's one-year limit is hard
- With the contract: the switch — to a skilled-worker permit or the Blue Card (2026 thresholds: €50,700 standard / €45,934.20 shortage), where the 21-month settlement fast track waits
Can I apply for the Chancenkarte inside Germany after entering visa-free?
No. The in-country application requires an already-valid residence permit, and the 90-day visa-free stay is not one — the official Chancenkarte frame states this directly. Koreans apply for the card at the German Embassy Seoul on the classic road. Any page that treats the visa-free entry as an in-country Chancenkarte route has not checked the rule.
Does English B2 replace German on the Chancenkarte?
As the floor, yes: A1 German OR B2 English satisfies the language requirement, and many Korean IT professionals already hold the English side. As points, no — points come from German above the floor (A2 +1, B1 +2, B2 +3) or C1-level English as a second language beyond it. B1 German is the cheapest two points the table offers.
What happens if I don't find a job within the year?
The card is issued for up to 12 months and is not extended. If no qualified job lands, the stay ends — which is why point optimisation (above all B1 German) and a realistic funds plan belong before the application, not during the year. With a contract, the switch to a skilled-worker or Blue Card title happens at the Ausländerbehörde.
Do Korean degrees and experience count in the points table?
Degrees from Korean universities with Anabin H+ status count as the base qualification, and full or partial recognition is worth 4 of the 6 points on the points route. Experience counts only in the field of the qualification — two years in the last five, +2 (or +3 for the IT exception without a diploma). Age ≤ 35 adds +2, 35–40 adds +1.