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Western Balkans Regulation
The Western Balkans Regulation: how employers hire from the region
The Western Balkans Regulation (§ 26 (2) BeschV) lets employers in Germany hire workers from the six Western Balkan countries without formal recognition of qualifications — a binding job offer and approval from the Federal Employment Agency are enough.
Platform
What you can do on the platform
Post jobs and collect applications
Manage the hiring pipeline
Message candidates directly
Message candidates in their language (auto-translated)
Schedule and run interviews
Track status from first contact to start
Roles
The regulation at a glance
No formal qualification required50,000 approvals per yearAll six Western Balkan countriesAny job subject to social insurance
In detail
Why the regulation matters for employers
For skilled-trade and industrial roles, formal recognition of foreign qualifications is often the slowest part of international hiring. The Western Balkans Regulation removes exactly that step: what counts is your job offer, not a certificate equivalence procedure. That makes it the fastest legal route to experienced welders, drivers, construction and production workers from the region.
The practical challenge moves to where it belongs: finding the right people and preparing clean paperwork. That is what CandidateForce covers — a searchable pool of candidates from all six countries, profiles with experience and language level, and direct chat with translation.
Qualifications
What to prepare as an employer
Job offer & contract
The approval request is based on a binding offer with standard local wages and hours. Have the draft contract ready before the embassy appointment search starts.
Timing
Embassy appointments in the region are the usual bottleneck. Candidates should register for an appointment as soon as the contract is signed.
Candidate documents
Passport, employment references and — where useful — certificates. Not strictly required for the regulation, but they speed up the labour-market check.
Registered on regional portals
Workers create their profiles on connected Western Balkan job portals, not scraped from elsewhere.
Complete profiles only
Candidates appear once their profile reaches the required completeness, so the data is usable.
Experience and qualifications
Work history, language level, driving licences and certificates are visible on each profile.
Process
How hiring from the Western Balkans works
- 1
Search or post a job
Search candidate profiles by profession, experience and language level – or publish a job ad and collect applications.
- 2
Contact and interview
Message candidates directly. Chat translation bridges language barriers, and you schedule interviews right from the platform.
- 3
Work permit and visa
After the offer you provide the employment contract and, if needed, pre-approval from the Federal Employment Agency; the candidate applies for the visa.
- 4
Arrival and first day
Once the visa is issued the candidate relocates. Plan a realistic 3–6 months from first contact to the first day of work.
Work permit
The Western Balkans Regulation: the simplest route to a work permit
The Western Balkans Regulation (§ 26 (2) BeschV) opens the German labour market to citizens of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania for any job – no formal recognition of qualifications required. What is needed is a concrete job offer and approval from the Federal Employment Agency; currently 50,000 approvals are available per year.
As the employer you provide the job offer and the employment contract; the candidate applies for the visa at the German embassy in their country. For professions with recognised qualifications, the skilled-worker visa or the EU Blue Card are alternatives. You can run the visa process yourself – or hand it over to our partner Balkan Recruiters.
See visa process supportFAQ
Common questions
A rule in German employment law (§ 26 (2) of the Employment Ordinance): nationals of the six Western Balkan states get access to the German labour market for any job subject to social insurance — without proving a formal qualification. The rule is now permanent, and the quota was doubled to 50,000 approvals per year in June 2024.
Managed recruitment
Talk to Balkan Recruiters Prefer not to recruit yourself?
Our partner Balkan Recruiters can handle sourcing, pre-selection and the visa process for you.
Start hiring from the Western Balkans.
Search candidates and post your job on CandidateForce, free to start.