How a loan works
A loan is straightforward: a bank or lender advances a fixed principal, adds interest, and sets a repayment schedule. The instalments are due on that schedule regardless of what happens next — whether the borrower's income rises, falls, or hasn't started yet. The lender is repaid the same amount whether the underlying venture succeeds or stalls.
For a skilled worker planning a move abroad, this creates two problems. First, all the risk sits with the borrower: if the recognition process drags on or the first job takes longer than expected, the instalments still come due. Second, most lenders won't extend credit to someone without a local income or credit history yet, which is exactly the position most workers are in before they migrate.
How an income share works
Cleero finances the roughly €12,000 a skilled worker needs to move — visa fees, language training, recognition of their qualification, and other relocation costs. There is no principal to repay and no interest charged. Instead, once the worker is earning in Europe, they repay a fixed 10% of their income for 10 years.
Nothing is owed before the worker starts earning. If a particular month brings a lower income — a slow month, part-time hours, a gap between jobs — the repayment for that month is lower too, because it is calculated as a share of what was actually earned, not a fixed sum.
Side by side
The two instruments differ on every axis that matters to a worker planning a move. Upfront cost: a loan asks nothing upfront either, but leaves the worker holding debt from day one; an income share also asks nothing upfront, and creates no debt. Repayment: a loan's instalment is fixed regardless of income; an income share's repayment is a share of whatever the worker actually earns.
Risk if migration is delayed: with a loan, the borrower bears the cost of any delay, because instalments are still due; with an income share, Cleero bears that cost, since nothing is repaid until income begins. Alignment: a lender is repaid the same amount whether the worker thrives or struggles, so their outcome is indifferent to it; Cleero earns a return only when the worker earns an income, so the two are aligned.
Why an income share fits migration
Migration creates value on a delay. A worker's qualification has to be recognised, which in Germany typically takes three to six months, and only then can the worker relocate and find a job before any income arrives. A financing instrument that demands fixed repayments from day one is a poor match for that timeline — it charges the worker before there's anything to charge against.
An income share is built for exactly this. It simply waits for the income to arrive, then takes its fixed share. Cleero describes itself as a financing layer, not a school: it funds the move and is repaid from the outcome, without taking on responsibility for the training itself. For a closer look at what income-share financing is and how it works, see our explainer on income-share financing for skilled migration.