Integration of Self-Employed

If you apply for the integration of self-employed persons, your job center will check individually whether and to what extent you can receive funding. As a rule, loans are granted. Grants may not exceed the amount of 5,000 euros.

If you would like to receive support for the integration of the self-employed, you can apply for this at your local Jobcenter or online. It is advisable to arrange a consultation appointment with your contact person at the job center. This will allow you to clarify in advance whether funding is possible and which support services can be offered.
 

If funding for the integration of self-employed persons is possible:

• your contact person at the relevant job center will discuss the next steps with you,
• you will receive the relevant application documents,
• fill out the application documents and send them to the Jobcenter together with the necessary evidence and supporting documents, or
• use the option of submitting the application for integration of self-employed persons online. To do this, you must complete the online application and upload the necessary supporting documents.

After your job center has checked everything, you will receive a written notification. This will state whether you can take part in the self-employment integration measure, whether costs will be covered or whether you will be granted a grant or a loan (credit) or a combination of both.

Once you have received positive feedback, you can purchase or make use of material goods or consultancy services. You must then submit proof of what you have spent the funds on. This can be a proof of purchase or a receipt, for example. The eligible costs will be transferred to your account.

Important: Please note that you must apply for the integration of self-employed persons before the costs are incurred. The application is free of charge.

The relevant Jobcenter can support you with the procurement of material goods or with advisory services.

In detail, this means the following:

Support with the procurement of material goods:

• The responsible job center can support you in the procurement of necessary and appropriate material goods. Material goods include, for example, office equipment, tools, vehicles, work equipment, marketing measures or deposits for business premises
• Ongoing operating costs are not eligible for funding. These include, for example, personnel or rental costs, telecommunications costs or raw materials and supplies for production
• It must not be possible to procure the material goods in any other way. This means that all other possible alternatives must be exhausted. These can be, for example, federal and state programs, local business development and bank loans

Consulting services for the self-employed provided by third parties:

• If you are already self-employed as your main occupation and this is necessary to carry out the self-employed activity, advice and/or the provision of non-specialist knowledge and skills can also be funded. This includes, for example, general business management or tax basics
• The consultation can also include an analysis of the current situation, activities to maintain/stabilize and, if necessary, the reorientation of the self-employment practiced
• No professional knowledge is imparted
• Advice and/or training in non-specialist knowledge and skills is free of charge for you. It can be provided by third parties commissioned by the relevant job center, such as chambers of industry and commerce or chambers of crafts, private training providers, innovation, technology or start-up centers

Important: In order to receive funding, you must have a positive forecast: Your business model must be so well thought out that you can be successful in self-employment in the long term. This forecast ("expert opinion") must come from a so-called expert body. Expert bodies are, for example, chambers, trade associations or start-up initiatives. Your local job center will inform you about the regional offices.

By law, there is no maximum duration of support for the integration of the self-employed. However, your responsible job center will weigh up how sensible and economical the support is.

Your contact person at the relevant Jobcenter will inform you which documents are required. These may include the following documents, for example:

• Application for the granting of benefits
• Expert opinion on economic viability
• Business registration
• Description of the business start-up project, for example a business or financing plan and a forecast of revenue
• Offers, cost estimates and the like
• Certificate to exclude other sources of financing

Your responsible job center may request further documents