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What does an international trainee cost an employer? The cost items
By Birgit M. Schwinn · Last checked: · 5 min
Whether international training pays off for your organisation depends less on a single number than on which costs stay with you in the end. Here are the typical items, with sources. Let us discuss the terms of Welwitschia Care in a personal conversation.
1. Training allowance
The allowance is required by law. In the public sector, the TVAöD-Pflege applies, with fixed rates per training year, both for the three-year nursing training (Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann) and for state-regulated care assistant and care helper trainings (§ 1(1)(c) TVAöD). There is no collective pay table yet for the new Pflegefachassistenz from 2027; until then Brandenburg uses the TVAöD-Pflege as the benchmark. The current amounts are in the pay table, see sources.
2. Refinancing through the state funds
Nursing training (Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann) is funded through the states' compensation funds (§§ 26 ff. PflBG), including the training allowance in the shares set there. From 2027, the Pflegefachassistenz follows a similar procedure (§ 24 PflFAssG). How much is refunded in each case depends on the budget rules of the state. Check with your state office before you calculate.
3. Visa and procedure
- Visa fee at the German Embassy in Windhoek (information sheet, February 2025).
- Fee for the fast-track procedure for skilled workers at the immigration office.
- Your own time for the training contract and for coordinating with the immigration office and the nursing school.
4. Language
Trainees reach the German level for the visa and the training before they arrive. During the training, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) funds job-related German courses for trainees, including a care track, and pays course fees and materials. At Welwitschia Care, preparation to B2 is part of the programme. Trainees do not pay for it; it is part of the employer's fee.
5. Housing and arrival
There are no official benchmarks for housing, first equipment and integration support; they depend heavily on the location. Two points belong in every calculation: benefits in kind such as provided housing can count for up to 75 percent of the gross allowance, and the seal's working draft expects job offers to state how housing is arranged.
6. Support and retention
A dropout is the most expensive item, because it wipes out everything invested before. That is why support during training belongs in the calculation: mentoring, language support and named contacts. This is where the Welwitschia Care model works: employers pay for demonstrable progress. See how it looks on the page services and process for hospitals and care homes.
An earlier Federal Ministry of Health grant for recruitment from third countries ended at the end of 2023.
This article is not legal advice. Rules and amounts change; check the current position with the bodies named.