Cooks professionally. Unregulated, chronically short-staffed, and one of the few German occupations where a foreign candidate can start work immediately — but where the visa is the hard part precisely because the pay is low.
| Official title | Koch / Köchin |
| Protected title | No |
| Category | hospitality |
| Typical qualification | Duale Ausbildung, 3 years, IHK exam |
| Regulated | No — but see the hygiene requirements below |
| Last reviewed | 2026-09 |
What the job involves
Preparation and cooking to order, station work (Posten) in a brigade, ordering and goods acceptance, and HACCP documentation, which is a legal obligation rather than an optional nicety. Settings run from hotels and restaurants to canteens (Gemeinschaftsverpflegung), hospitals, care homes and system gastronomy — and the conditions differ far more than the job title suggests.
Canteen and institutional kitchens are the quiet option: regular daytime hours, weekends off, public-sector pay. Restaurant kitchens are the opposite on all four counts.
Qualification route
- 3 years dual, employer plus Berufsschule, revised in the 2022 restructuring
- Entry: formally open; no school-leaving certificate legally required
- Paid throughout: roughly €1,000–1,200/month gross, rising by year
- Ends with the IHK Abschlussprüfung
- Afterwards: Küchenmeister/in (IHK Meister) for leadership and training rights, or Fachwirt qualifications for management
Not a Handwerk trade. Unlike the electrician and SHK files, there is no Meisterpflicht — you can open a restaurant without a Meisterbrief. What you do need is a Gaststättenerlaubnis if serving alcohol, plus an Infektionsschutz-Belehrung (§43 IfSG) before first handling food, and a registered HACCP concept.
Pay
The sector’s weak point, and the reason for its staffing crisis. Approximate gross monthly, 2026:
| Stage | Gross/month |
|---|---|
| Newly qualified | €2,400 – €2,900 |
| Experienced (Chef de Partie) | €2,900 – €3,500 |
| Sous-chef | €3,400 – €4,200 |
| Küchenchef | €3,800 – €5,500 |
| Public-sector kitchens (TVöD EG 5–7) | €3,124 – €4,045 |
Fine dining pays worse than these figures at junior levels, not better — the trade historically substitutes prestige and training for money. Canteens, hospitals and staff restaurants pay more for fewer hours, which is why they recruit successfully from restaurants.
Tips are meaningful in front-of-house and marginal in kitchens.
Demand
Severe shortage. Hospitality lost a large share of its workforce during the pandemic and did not get it back; Koch/Köchin has been among the most persistently unfilled training occupations for years. Employers are correspondingly willing to hire and sponsor.
Foreign candidates
- To work: nothing required. The occupation is unregulated.
- For the visa, everything changes. The skilled-worker permit requires a recognised qualification — a Gleichwertigkeitsfeststellung of your foreign cooking qualification via IHK FOSA. Experience alone, however long, does not substitute.
- The EU Blue Card is unavailable — the salary is far below any threshold.
- Westbalkanregelung (§26(2) BeschV): nationals of six Western Balkan states can take any job, including unqualified ones, with a job offer and Bundesagentur approval, subject to an annual quota. This is a major and underused route into German hospitality.
- Ausbildung visa (§16a AufenthG): train here from scratch. Requires B1–B2 German for Berufsschule.
- Language: B1 is workable in a kitchen; B2 if you want to progress to Sous or Küchenchef, where ordering, rostering and HACCP paperwork are all in German.
Pitfalls
- Working time law is routinely broken in this sector. Know that 10 hours is the legal maximum and that 11 hours’ rest between shifts is mandatory. Keep your own record.
- Split shifts (Teildienst) — 11:00–14:00 and 17:00–23:00 — are legal and destroy evenings. Ask explicitly before signing.
- Unpaid trial shifts are common and generally unlawful if you are producing real work.
- Seasonal contracts in Alpine and coastal resorts can be excellent money with accommodation included, but check whether the contract is genuinely befristet and what the accommodation deduction is.
- Visa vs. job mismatch: employers will happily hire you without recognition; the Ausländerbehörde will not issue the permit without it. Sort recognition first.
Sources
- Infektionsschutzgesetz §43 — gesetze-im-internet.de/ifsg, accessed 2026-09
- Arbeitszeitgesetz — gesetze-im-internet.de/arbzg, accessed 2026-09
- IHK FOSA (recognition) — ihk-fosa.de, accessed 2026-09
- DEHOGA Bundesverband — dehoga-bundesverband.de, accessed 2026-09