Posting Workers to Germany: A1 Certificates and Zoll Notification Rules for Romanian, Bulgarian and Serbian Employers in 2026

When an employer in Romania, Bulgaria or Serbia sends a worker to Germany for a project, an installation, a site build-out or a client engagement, that assignment is a posting, not a hire. It sits under a different legal framework than the one governing someone moving to Germany permanently, and it carries its own paperwork: an A1 certificate, a notification to German customs authorities before work starts, and compliance with German minimum pay rules for the duration of the assignment. Employers who treat a posting like a routine business trip, or confuse it with the permit process used for long-term hires, commonly miss one of these steps and expose themselves to inspection findings, back-pay claims or delays at the worksite.

This is distinct from the route used when an employer wants to employ someone in Germany on an ongoing basis, which typically runs through the Skilled Immigration Act or an EU Blue Card application. A posting is shorter in duration, the worker remains employed and socially insured in the sending country, and the obligations sit with customs and labour authorities rather than the immigration office.

What counts as a posting under German law

Germany implements the EU Posted Workers Directive through the Arbeitnehmer-Entsendegesetz, together with the Minimum Wage Act, the MiLoG, and, for certain sectors, the Temporary Employment Act, the AÜG. A posting means an employer established in Romania, Bulgaria or Serbia sends an employee to work in Germany for a limited period, while the employment relationship and social security affiliation remain with the sending employer. Romania and Bulgaria post workers under EU free movement of services rules; Serbia, as a non-EU state, posts under bilateral or third-country arrangements, and employers should confirm visa and entry requirements separately, since posting rules address labour conditions and notification, not entry permission. The practical test is whether the worker stays on home-country payroll and returns once the assignment ends; a permanent transfer or long-term local role falls outside the posting framework and should instead follow Germany's standard work and residence permit routes.

A1 certificates: the social security anchor of a posting

The A1 certificate, issued by the social security authority in the sending country, confirms that a posted worker remains covered by that country's social security system rather than Germany's, for the duration of the assignment. Within the EU, this follows Regulation (EC) 883/2004 on coordination of social security systems; for a posting from Romania or Bulgaria, the employer applies for the A1 before the assignment begins and the worker should be able to produce it on request.

German enforcement has tightened around A1 documentation in recent years, and the European Court of Justice has addressed cases of A1 certificates issued on an incorrect factual basis, underscoring that the certificate binds German authorities only where it accurately reflects the posting arrangement. Employers should treat the A1 as a document to prepare before travel, not paperwork to assemble after an inspection finds it missing. A narrower easement allowing the certificate to be obtained shortly after travel begins applies only to very short, short-notice business trips, not to a posted-worker assignment.

Notifying German customs: the Zoll obligation

Separately from the A1 certificate, employers posting workers into a defined list of sectors must notify the German customs authority, the Zoll, before the assignment starts, through the Zoll's online reporting system, the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn. Paper or fax submissions are no longer accepted.

Sectors subject to this notification duty include construction, building cleaning, security services, the meat industry, forestry, catering and hospitality, passenger transport, logistics and freight forwarding, and temporary agency work, among others. Filed before work begins, the notification must include:

• The posted worker's name, given names and date of birth
• The planned start date and expected duration
• The workplace address, or construction site location
• The German address where employment documents are kept for inspection
• A responsible contact person's name and German contact details
• The relevant sector designation

A single submission can cover a group of workers, but a separate notification is required for each distinct workplace. Some higher-earning employees are exempt from the MiLoG notification requirement specifically, though sector notification under the Posted Workers Act can still apply, so employers should check both tests rather than assume a high earner is exempt from all reporting.

Minimum pay: what the posted worker must actually receive

A posted worker in Germany is entitled to the working conditions German law sets as generally applicable, regardless of what the employment contract in the sending country provides. The general statutory minimum wage rises to 13.90 euros per hour from 1 January 2026, with a further increase to 14.60 euros from 1 January 2027. Where a sector has its own collectively agreed minimum pay declared generally binding under the Posted Workers Act, that sector rate takes precedence if higher than the general statutory minimum.

Construction and transport: the sectors with the sharpest scrutiny

Construction and scaffolding have their own binding minimum wage structure, including holiday pay fund arrangements employers must account for separately from ordinary wages. Transport and logistics postings carry a further documentation burden, since drivers crossing into Germany are subject to EU rules on tachograph records and rest periods on top of the posting notification itself, and enforcement bodies coordinate closely with customs on cabotage and posting checks for haulage operations. Temporary agency work, where an agency supplies staff to a German user company, is governed by AÜG wage floor rules rather than, or alongside, the general MiLoG rate.

Violations of notification or minimum pay obligations are administrative offences in Germany, and liability for unpaid wages can extend up the contracting chain to the German client, which is why principals increasingly ask posting employers to demonstrate A1 and Zoll compliance before work begins.

How this differs from a German work and residence permit

A posting under the Arbeitnehmer-Entsendegesetz framework is not a substitute for the immigration process used for a standard German hire. An employer bringing on a worker for an ongoing German role should instead assess eligibility under the Skilled Immigration Act or the EU Blue Card route, a different authority with a materially longer timeline. Employers unsure whether an assignment is a posting or a de facto permanent transfer should resolve that classification question first, since it determines which compliance track applies.

Nestlers Group supports employers in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia across the posting compliance cycle into Germany, including A1 certificate applications, ITM notification for the secondment on the sending-country side, Zoll notification preparation for the German leg of the assignment, and tax assessment of posting contracts to confirm social security and payroll treatment before the worker departs. Where an assignment requires a different route, our immigration route assessment and work visa assistance teams determine whether the posting framework or a standard German permit applies, and our Consultancy tiers and Global Mobility management service support employers running multiple simultaneous postings, with relocation services available for the practical logistics of shorter-term assignments.

Sources: German Customs Authority, Zoll, FAQs for employers about posting of workers and Minimum conditions of employment guidance (zoll.de, accessed 2026); Fragomen, A1 Certificate of Social Security Coverage guidance on short-term business travel to Germany; Fragomen, A1 Certificate Fraud: Key Takeaways from the 2025 ECJ Decision; European Commission, proposal for a single digital declaration portal for posted workers, 14 November 2024; Handwerksblatt, reporting on the German Federal Cabinet's approval of the 13.90 euro statutory minimum wage effective 1 January 2026; Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems.