A bricklayer vacancy that has been open for months cannot be bridged with an agency worker in the main construction trade. The Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (German Temporary Agency Work Act) rules that route out as a rule. If you need bricklayers, you hire them yourself, including workers from countries outside the EU. At MioTalent we prepare that hiring, from the search to the arrival, but we never become the employer ourselves. For bricklayers there are two routes into employment that work without a recognition procedure.
Agency work is barred in construction, twice over for workers from third countries
In agency work, called Arbeitnehmerüberlassung in German law, an agency employs people and hires them out to another business that directs their work. Section 1b of the Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (AÜG) declares this hiring-out to construction businesses inadmissible where the work is of the kind usually done by manual workers.
Which businesses count as construction businesses is set out in the Baubetriebe-Verordnung (Construction Businesses Ordinance). It covers businesses that mainly provide construction work, including bricklaying as well as screed and drywall work. Exceptions to the ban require construction-sector collective agreements, and an ordinary staffing agency practically never meets them.
For workers from a third country, a second barrier applies. Third countries are all countries outside the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland. Anyone coming from there needs the approval of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) for most kinds of employment.
Under Section 40 (1) no. 2 of the Aufenthaltsgesetz (Residence Act), that approval must be refused if the person intends to work as an agency worker. This applies in every sector. A bricklayer from Serbia therefore cannot come to Germany as an agency worker. He needs an employer who employs him directly.
A contract for work with a subcontractor is only permissible as long as the subcontractor delivers the work with its own people and under its own direction, as our article on posting and client liability shows. Workers from EU states can be hired directly without BA approval. Candidates from third countries are hired by you.
Two routes into employment work without a recognition procedure
A recognition procedure examines whether a qualification obtained abroad is equivalent to a German one. What is examined is always the qualification, never the person who holds it. The procedure needs translated documents and time. In regulated professions such as medicine, nobody may work without recognition. Bricklaying is not one of them. If one of the two following routes applies, a candidate can therefore start with you without a decision on the equivalence of his qualification.
When we place a candidate, the employment contract is concluded directly between the candidate and your business. We accompany the documents and the official procedures until arrival. Because we never become the employer ourselves, neither of the two bans applies.
The Western Balkans regulation. Under Section 26 (2) of the Beschäftigungsverordnung (Employment Ordinance, BeschV), the BA can grant nationals of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia approval for employment, even without a recognised qualification. There is no legal entitlement to it. What is required is an employment contract or a binding job offer on terms equivalent to those of comparable employees in Germany.
According to the BA, anyone who received benefits under the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz (Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act) in the two years before the application is excluded. Because the regulation requires neither a qualification nor years in the trade, it is open to experienced bricklayers and to construction helpers alike. More on the six countries is in our article on the Western Balkans regulation.
Professional experience under Section 6 BeschV. This route is open to candidates from all third countries, for example from Tunisia or other North African countries. It requires a vocational qualification with at least two years of training that is state-recognised in the country where it was obtained, plus at least two years of relevant experience at skilled-worker level within the last five years. Experience as a helper is not enough. Recognition of the qualification in Germany is not needed on this route.
A salary threshold applies on this route. According to the BA, the annual salary in 2026 must be at least 45,630 euros gross; for candidates aged 45 and over the BA gives 55,770 euros. Under the Western Balkans regulation, by contrast, the BA requires comparable working conditions and a wage that covers the cost of living.
If the employer is bound by a collective agreement and employs the person on the collectively agreed terms that apply in the business, this threshold does not apply. Whether that is true for your business is something we ask in the requirements analysis. A binding answer comes from your employers’ association or your legal adviser.
Which route fits is decided candidate by candidate.
- Bricklayer or construction helper from one of the six Western Balkan countries → Western Balkans regulation, without qualification and without recognition
- Bricklayer from another third country with a state-recognised qualification and two years of skilled-worker experience → Section 6 BeschV
- Bricklayer with a qualification but without that experience → recognition of the qualification as a third route
- Construction helper without a qualification from outside the Western Balkans → none of these routes
The authorities and the quota set the timetable
Our process is planned for around four months, counted from the complete requirements analysis and the signed placement contract. The requirements analysis is a questionnaire in which you describe the position and the working conditions. For the work permit we plan six to eight weeks, for the visa procedure about four more. Before that come the search, the presentation of candidates and the collection of documents. All seven steps are on our page about the procedure.
Under the Western Balkans regulation there is one factor nobody can speed up. According to the BA, it can grant up to 50,000 approvals per calendar year, divided by month and nationality. Once a country’s monthly quota is used up, the application waits. How much that varies is published by the BA on its page about the Western Balkans regulation.
As of 7 September 2026, the BA was processing applications from four of the six countries without delay. For Albania it had reached applications received up to 8 May 2026, for Kosovo only those received up to 3 February 2026. For Kosovo, the processing status was therefore around seven months behind.
On top of that come waiting times for an appointment at the German mission abroad. The four months are a planning figure. For candidates from Albania or Kosovo we plan with you for more time from the start. We tell you this before the contract, so that you can plan your sites around it.
If you need bricklayers in spring, it is therefore worth settling your requirements in autumn. If the backlog for Kosovo continues, an application filed there in autumn will no longer be enough for spring. If a gang is missing in spring, the trades that can only start after the shell is built are delayed too. How long construction vacancies stay open anyway is shown in our analysis of vacancy periods in construction.
Hiring bricklayers permanently means planning beyond the season
Permanent employment means wages all year round, even when frost shuts down the site. The construction sector has its own instrument for that period. According to the BA, manual employees of construction businesses within the meaning of the Baubetriebe-Verordnung receive seasonal short-time allowance (Saison-Kurzarbeitergeld) during the bad-weather period from December to March if work is lost temporarily and unavoidably, for example because of the weather.
According to the BA, it replaces 60 percent of the lost net wage, or 67 percent with at least one child. The business pays it out first and claims reimbursement monthly from the employment agency. A bricklayer from Serbia is treated exactly like any other manual employee. Winter can therefore be planned for.
Whether the effort pays off depends on your order book. A business with orders for the coming years that looks for bricklayers again every season builds a well-practised gang with every permanent hire. Someone employed permanently knows your sites and your site foreman after the first season.
For the first conversation, your staffing plan is enough
All you need to know is how many bricklayers and construction helpers you need from which month. Nothing more is required. Accommodation and German language skills are discussed later, when candidates are selected; there is guidance in our articles on housing for international employees and on the language barrier. In the 15 minutes we clarify which route fits your requirements and which timetable you should expect for candidates from each country of origin. What the placement costs, we tell you in this first conversation, before you sign anything.
Free initial consultation — we will call you back, when suits you?
Information for orientation only, not legal advice.
Sources
- Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, Section 1b. Gesetze im Internet. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/a_g/__1b.html (retrieved 04.10.2026)
- Baubetriebe-Verordnung, Section 1. Gesetze im Internet. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/baubetrv_1980/__1.html (retrieved 04.10.2026)
- Aufenthaltsgesetz, Section 40. Gesetze im Internet. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aufenthg_2004/__40.html (retrieved 04.10.2026)
- Federal Employment Agency: Westbalkanregelung. As of 07.09.2026. https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/unternehmen/fachkraefte-ausland/westbalkanregelung (retrieved 04.10.2026)
- Federal Employment Agency, ZAV: Arbeitsmarktzugang für Berufserfahrene. Newsletter 04/2026. https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/vor-ort/zav/working-and-living-in-germany/newsletter-iss/04-2026/berufserfahrene (retrieved 04.10.2026)
- Federal Employment Agency: Saison-Kurzarbeitergeld. 2026. https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/unternehmen/finanziell/kurzarbeitergeldformen/saison-kurzarbeitergeld (retrieved 04.10.2026)
