Is there an age limit for nurses in Germany?

There is no age limit for nurses in Germany. The nursing law sets no maximum age for:

• the licence to work as a nurse
• recognition of a foreign qualification (the official check of whether your training matches the German one)
• the nursing Ausbildung (vocational training)

Age does matter in a few other places. There is one visa rule for people aged 45 and over. Age also gives points for the Chancenkarte (opportunity card). And it matters for the visa to search for a training place.

Here are those rules. The exact legal rules are listed under Sources, so you can check them yourself.

The licence to work as a Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann (registered nurse) is set out in the Nursing Professions Act (Pflegeberufegesetz). It has four conditions:

1. You finished the required training and passed the state exam. For foreign nurses, the recognition of their foreign training takes the place of this.
2. Your past conduct does not make you unreliable for the job.
3. You are not unfit for the job for health reasons.
4. You have the German skills the job needs.

Age is not one of them. The same is true for the Ausbildung. Here the law asks for a school certificate. It also asks for the same reliability, health and German conditions. One example of such a certificate is the mittlerer Schulabschluss (ten years of school). The law names no upper age.

"Not unfit for health reasons" means you can do the physical and mental work of a nurse. Make it in Germany says you need a certificate that you are physically and mentally fit. It can come from your home country or from a doctor in Germany. Your age is not the test. A 50-year-old in good health meets the condition. A 30-year-old with a condition that makes the work unsafe may not.

Fitness for the job counts, not your age.

This is the closest thing to an age limit. It is in the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz), the main German law on visas and residence (see Sources):

• Are you 45 or older and getting your first residence permit (permission to live in Germany) as a skilled worker? Then a minimum salary applies. This covers the skilled-worker visa.
• Your salary must be at least 55% of a yearly limit set by the German pension insurance. This limit is the highest income on which pension contributions are paid.
• For 2026, Make it in Germany gives this as at least EUR 55,770 gross (before tax) per year.
• If your salary is lower, you can instead prove adequate pension provision. That means enough money for your old age.

The law also allows exceptions when there is a public interest. One example is a labour market interest, which means Germany needs workers in that field. The law names two cases: the salary is only slightly too low, or the person is only slightly over 45.

In practice, compare the gross yearly pay in your contract with the limit for the year you apply. Whether a nursing contract reaches it depends on:

• the pay scale (the employer's fixed salary table)
• the state
• the employer
• your experience

If it does not reach the limit, ask the German embassy or consulate what pension proof it accepts. The law does not give a fixed amount. German missions (embassies and consulates) ask applicants aged 45 and over to sign a declaration about this rule.

The rule is written for first skilled-worker permits. Two other visas have no age rule in their text:

• the recognition partnership visa (you work while your qualification is checked)
• the visa for adaptation courses (training to close gaps)

You may start on one of those routes and switch to a skilled-worker permit later. Then ask your Ausländerbehörde (local immigration office) whether the 45+ check applies at that point.

The Chancenkarte is a visa to come to Germany and look for a job. It started on 1 June 2024. If your qualification is not yet fully recognised, you need at least six points. Age gives points like this:

• 35 or younger: Points for age: 2
• Over 35, up to 40: Points for age: 1
• Over 40: Points for age: 0

You can still apply when you are older than 40. You then need the six points from other criteria. Examples:

• partial recognition of your qualification: 4 points
• work experience: 2 or 3 points
• German, measured on the European scale of language levels: B2 (upper-intermediate) gives 3 points, B1 (intermediate) gives 2 points and A2 (basic German) gives 1 point

If your foreign qualification is already fully recognised, you count as a skilled worker. Then the points system does not apply.

The law sets no upper age for the nursing Ausbildung. The visa for vocational training also has no age limit. For a qualified training (state-recognised training of at least two years), you need German at level B1. There are two exceptions:

• the school has already tested your German, or
• you will learn German in a preparation course.

There is one age rule here. The visa to come to Germany and search for a training place is only for people under 35. It also needs German at level B1. If you are 35 or older, you cannot use this search visa. You can still apply from abroad for a training place. Then you apply for the training visa.

Schools and employers choose their trainees themselves. Apply the same way at any age. Send complete documents and show the German level the school asks for.

Nursing assistant (Pflegehelfer, a helper role below the registered nurse) titles are set by each state for now. There is no federal age rule for them. The Pflegefachassistenzgesetz (law creating one nationwide nursing assistant training) is enacted; the new federal Pflegefachassistenz training starts on 1 January 2027. State nursing-assistant programmes keep running during a transition: training started under state rules by 31 December 2026 can still be finished by 31 December 2029. Where a state allows it, state programmes may even start as late as 31 December 2027, and those must finish by 31 December 2030. The federal government names a school certificate as the condition to start, not an age.

The General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG) protects workers against age discrimination. Job applicants are covered too. But the law also allows different treatment by age in some cases. The reason must be objective and appropriate, and it must serve a legitimate aim. So employers may not reject you because of age without a lawful reason. If you think this happened, act quickly. You must make a claim in writing within two months of the rejection.

Plan enough time for German, whatever your age.

The German rule is the same for everyone: B2 for the licence. The Goethe-Institut says it takes about 600 lessons of 45 minutes on average to get from zero to B2. Plan this time into your move. Our post on the German B2 exam explains the exam.

To see which of these rules apply to you, you can build a free personalised roadmap at get2germany.com/en/my-roadmap. More for nurses is on our nurses page.