What relocating to Germany actually costs
Moving to Germany as a skilled worker is not free, even before the first day on the job. There is a visa application, months of language courses to reach the level a trade requires, and formal recognition (Anerkennung) of the qualification with the relevant German authority. On top of that come flights, visa-related travel to an embassy or testing centre, and the cost of settling into a new city — deposit, first weeks of rent, basic furnishing — before any income arrives.
Altogether, these costs run to roughly €12,000 — and nearly all of it falls due before the worker earns a single pay cheque in Europe. For most skilled workers, that upfront bill, not a shortage of jobs, is the real barrier to making the move.
How Cleero finances the move
Cleero pays the roughly €12,000 directly, working through vetted partners who deliver the language training, the recognition process, and the practical logistics of the move. Nothing is invoiced to the worker and nothing is paid upfront — Cleero covers the cost with the partner on the worker's behalf, so the visa, language course and Anerkennung process can start immediately rather than waiting on savings.
Repayment begins only once the worker is employed in Europe, and it is simple: a fixed 10% of income for 10 years. There is no repayment before that first pay cheque arrives, no interest calculation and no separate invoice to track — a single, predictable number tied to a single outcome, the job itself.
Why there is no debt
A loan charges interest and demands a fixed instalment every month, regardless of how the move is going. An income share carries no interest and no fixed instalment at all — repayment is a percentage of whatever the worker actually earns, so it rises and falls with their income instead of sitting on top of it like a debt.
That matters most in the months that don't go to plan. Recognition of a foreign qualification typically takes three to six months, and until it is complete there may be little or no income to repay from — the income share simply waits. A low-income month is never a missed payment or a default; it is just a lower repayment, because there is nothing else to collect.
Who this is for
This is built for skilled workers with a recognised trade who want to work in Germany — the current beachhead is electricians and HVAC technicians, trades where the shortage is sharpest and the path to recognition is clearest. If the qualification exists and the demand in Germany is real, the financing question should not be what stops the move.
Cleero is a financing layer, not a school: it funds vetted partners who deliver the language training and recognition support, but it does not run them. That distinction matters, because it means the worker keeps working with specialists in each part of the process, while Cleero's job is simply to make sure the money is never the reason the move doesn't happen.