A steel fabricator or machine builder does not need 'welders'; it needs a shop that works — plate preparation, fabrication, welding, machining, assembly, site erection, in ratio and in sequence. The Philippines supplies every line of that manning table, and German law admits most of them on the experience route. This guide is the workforce plan.
We build the shortlist to your ratio — typically more fabricators and welders than machinists, one experienced fitter per four assembly hands, one foreman per eight to twelve — and mobilise in waves so the shop absorbs each group.
Philippine and Gulf welding certificates do not transfer; what transfers is the skill. Formal coding to EN ISO 9606-1 is completed in Germany on arrival on the parameters we pre-tested in Manila, and your welding coordinator's EN 1090 or EN ISO 3834 system governs who welds what. Construction mechanics and machinists bring two- or three-year technical diplomas plus TESDA certificates; the diploma — not the certificate — is what the experience route looks at.
Four German routes matter for Filipino candidates. The experience route (§ 6 BeschV) for workers with a state-recognised qualification of at least two years' training plus two years' experience, at a salary of at least €45,630 a year in 2026 — or at tariff pay in a tariff-bound company, where the threshold does not apply. The recognition partnership (§ 16d AufenthG) for the same profiles with German A2, with recognition completed after arrival. The vocational-training visa (§ 16a) for younger candidates with German B1 who start a German Ausbildung. And the skilled-worker visa (§ 18a/18b) once a qualification has been recognised as equivalent.
Two ways to pass the salary test of the experience route in 2026: a gross annual salary of at least €45,630 (45 % of the pension contribution ceiling of €101,400 — €43,470 in 2025), or, for an employer bound by a collective agreement, employment at the collective-agreement conditions for the role with no minimum figure at all. Applying a tariff 'by orientation' without being bound by it does not count; the threshold then applies. Applicants aged 45 and over need €55,770 (55 %) or proof of adequate pension provision.
Most German steel-construction and machine-building companies of any size are tariff-bound, which removes the salary figure from the equation and makes the experience route the natural door for diploma-trained fabricators, welders, machinists and fitters. Operators who hold an NC II but no two-year diploma have no experience-route path; for them the choice is the vocational-training visa with B1 German or a different sourcing plan.
German is the constraint that decides timelines: A2 for the recognition partnership, B1 for the training visa and the drivers' qualification route, B2 for a nursing licence (accepted proof and any Fachsprachprüfung vary by Land), no statutory requirement on the experience route — but no German employer runs a workshop in English for long. We build the language step into every programme in Manila, with Goethe-Institut Manila and partner schools; A2 to B1 typically takes six to nine months of preparation alongside sourcing and documentation.
Shop roles start at A2 with a bilingual lead; site-erection crews need A2 before the first lift. We enrol selected candidates in German in Manila the week after selection, run the documentation in parallel and plan arrival by wave so your trainers are not overwhelmed.
Recruitment in the Philippines runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024). Your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office in Berlin — recruitment agreement, job order, master employment contract, commercial-register extract — and the verified file is registered with the Department of Migrant Workers. Every selected worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate.
Everything here is subject to applicable German recognition, immigration, licensing and labour-law requirements.
Yes — one accreditation at MWO Berlin, one or several job orders by occupation, mobilised in waves against your production plan.
Fabricators, welders, machinists and fitters with a two- or three-year technical diploma and two years' experience; machine operators with an NC II only do not — see the operators guide.
No, but it helps: a tariff-bound company employs at tariff with no salary threshold; a non-tariff-bound company must pay at least €45,630 a year (€55,770 from age 45).
Selection in four to six weeks; German A2 preparation six to nine months in parallel with documentation and visas; the fast-track procedure (§ 81a) shortens the German side once the language is there. Plan nine to twelve months to the first wave, shorter where candidates already hold A2.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.