Compare work permit routes by country
Every corridor Permitra publishes a guide for, side by side. Sorted by the shortest indicative processing window first.
Processing times are indicative, not guaranteed.They describe how long a complete file has typically taken in each jurisdiction and are subject to consulate capacity and to changes in national rules. The decision, and its timing, rest with the relevant government authority. A dash means the value is not established from a published source — it is not a “no”.
| Destination | Permit type | Typical processing | Validity | Employer-specific | Family reunification | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moldovafrom Pakistan | Long-stay visa type D (employment) + right of temporary stay | 45–60 days | — | Yes | — | Moldova guide |
| Serbiafrom Nepal | Unified Permit (Jedinstvena dozvola) | 45–90 days | — | Yes | — | Serbia guide |
| Germanyfrom Pakistan | EU Blue Card / national work visa | 60–120 days | — | — | — | Germany guide |
| Serbiafrom Ghana | Unified Permit (Jedinstvena dozvola) | 60 days | — | Yes | — | Serbia guide |
| Germanyfrom Nigeria | EU Blue Card | 90–120 days | — | — | — | Germany guide |
| Polandfrom Ghana | EU Single Permit | 90 days | — | Yes | — | Poland guide |
| Polandfrom Nepal | EU Single Permit | 90 days | — | — | — | Poland guide |
| Polandfrom Bangladesh | EU Single Permit | 90–180 days | — | Yes | — | Poland guide |
| Czech Republicfrom India | Employee Card | 120–180 days | — | Yes | — | Czech Republic guide |
| Romaniafrom Nepal | Long-stay employment visa (D/AM) + residence permit | 120 days | Up to 1 year | Yes | — | Romania guide |
| Romaniafrom Bangladesh | Long-stay employment visa (D/AM) + residence permit | 120 days | Up to 1 year | Yes | — | Romania guide |
| Czech Republicfrom Pakistan | Employee Card | 150 days | — | Yes | — | Czech Republic guide |
| Belarusfrom Belarus | Belarus work visa + temporary residence permit | — | — | — | — | Belarus guide |
| Belarusfrom Pakistan | Special Work Permit (Спецразрешение) | — | 1 year, renewable once (2 years for highly qualified workers) | Yes | — | Belarus guide |
| Germany | Opportunity Card (ChancenKarte, Section 20a) | — | Up to 12 months | No | — | Germany guide |
How large is each corridor?
Volume is a useful proxy for how established a route is: a country issuing hundreds of thousands of employment permits a year has processing capacity that a country issuing a few thousand does not. These are the official published counts, not Permitra’s own figures.
| Destination | First permits, all reasons | Issued for employment |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | 467,314 | 318,186 |
| Portugal | 310,639 | 240,523 |
| Germany | 605,292 | 108,091 |
| Romania | 74,664 | 60,840 |
| Czech Republic | 47,526 | 17,770 |
| Slovakia | 23,686 | 13,263 |
| Bulgaria | 23,577 | 12,596 |
| Latvia | 9,073 | 4,151 |
Source: Eurostat, First permits by reason, length of validity and citizenship (migr_resfirst), 2025 reference year, data extracted 19 August 2026. Serbia, Moldova and Belarus are not EU member states and do not report to this dataset, so they carry no row here. Permitra is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Eurostat or the European Commission.
Where these numbers come from
Each row is taken from the corridor guide it links to, and each guide cites the national ministry or migration authority for the destination country. Permitra coordinates the document workflow; it does not set processing times and does not decide applications.
Missing a country? See which coordination tracks are available.