Hiring a Japanese Chef in Munich: Fast Track Fee or Visa-Free Entry

Munich has the second largest Japanese community of any German city, and housing is a practical issue for any cook you bring there. Both affect how a Japanese restaurant in the city recruits. This guide covers the Munich specifics: the size of the community, which office runs the accelerated skilled worker procedure in the city and what it costs, and when a Japanese cook can skip it. The national legal routes are in our Germany guide.

1. Munich in numbers

• 5,039 Japanese nationals lived in Munich on 1 October 2025, up 1.8% on the year, according to Japan's foreign ministry. Munich ranks 37th among the world's cities in the ministry's list.
• Among German cities, only Düsseldorf (7,010) has more. Berlin has 4,165.
• Germany as a whole had 44,648 Japanese nationals. Japan's agriculture ministry found the number of Japanese restaurants in Germany rose by about 290 between 2023 and 2025.

A community of about 5,000 gives a Munich restaurant a real, if limited, local pool of Japanese speakers. Run one serious local search, in Japanese and German, before you start a file for a cook from Japan. Candidates who already live in Germany need no visa and may already hold a residence title that allows the job.

2. Munich's immigration office and the accelerated procedure

The accelerated skilled worker procedure (beschleunigtes Fachkräfteverfahren, §81a of the Residence Act) lets an employer in Germany start the process for a skilled worker abroad: the foreigners' authority coordinates qualification recognition and Federal Employment Agency (BA) approval, and the worker gets a faster visa appointment.

Bavaria has a central office for this, but for Munich employers it covers only some professions. According to the City of Munich:

• For most employers, the city's own Servicestelle für Zuwanderung und Einbürgerung (Service Centre for Immigration and Naturalisation) runs the procedure.
• The Bavarian central office, the Zentrale Stelle für die Einwanderung von Fachkräften (ZSEF) at the Government of Middle Franconia, is responsible only for nursing, health and state-regulated professions. Cooks are not in that group, so a Munich restaurant deals with the city.

What it costs

The non-refundable fee is the point to note. Only start the procedure once you are confident the candidate meets the conditions of the route you are using.

3. The visa free alternative

For Japanese nationals, the accelerated procedure is optional in a way it is not for most nationalities. Under §41 of the Residence Ordinance, Japanese nationals may enter Germany without a visa even for a stay that is not short, and obtain the residence title they need inside Germany. They must apply within 90 days of entry.

In practice, a Munich restaurant has two ways to proceed:

For a route that needs qualification recognition, such as §18a, the accelerated procedure is usually the safer choice. For a straightforward case, visa free entry saves time and money, provided the cook can support themselves until work is permitted.

4. Which route for a Japanese cook

• Specialty cook (§11(2) BeschV). Full-time work in a specialty restaurant, BA approval with a priority check, first approval up to one year and up to four years in total.
• Any employment for Japanese nationals (§26(1) BeschV). The BA can approve a Japanese national for any job, with a priority check.
• Skilled worker routes (§18a AufenthG, §6 BeschV). For recognised qualifications, or a state-recognised qualification of at least two years plus two years' recent experience.

The BA's criteria for specialty cooks, including the two cook limit per site and the training requirement, are in the Germany guide.

5. Pay and the cost of living

The statutory minimum wage is €13.90 an hour from 1 January 2026 and €14.60 from 1 January 2027. It applies equally in Munich, but it is not what the BA will look at. For sponsored routes it compares your offer with pay for comparable local work.

Housing is the practical issue for any cook you bring to Munich. We did not find an official Munich figure for cooks' pay or rents to quote here, so treat this as a planning point rather than a number: decide early whether you will help with housing, and put it in writing. Our guide to relocation packages for chefs covers the options.

6. A Munich hiring plan

1. Search locally first, in Japanese and German.
2. If hiring from Japan, choose the route (§11, §26, §18a or §6).
3. Decide between the accelerated procedure with the city's Servicestelle (€411, non-refundable) and visa free entry with an application in Munich within 90 days.
4. Prepare a contract with gross pay at or above the relevant collective agreement grade.
5. Arrange housing support before the cook arrives.

To reach Japanese cooks already in Germany, you can post a job on WashokuJob.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Confirm current procedures and fees with the City of Munich, the BA or a qualified adviser before acting.