Commercial modeling agencies in Germany

This catalogue lists 137 verified agencies in Germany, including Louisa Models, East West Models, Model Management and No Toys. Only agencies with a current licence or professional-association membership, or confirmed by at least two independent sources, are included.

No. The permit for private job placement was abolished in March 2002; since then a trade notification (Gewerbeanmeldung) to the local trade office is enough. There is no public register of model agencies. So you have to judge an agency yourself: by its live model board, by the compulsory Impressum section of its website with the company details, and by its entry in the company register at handelsregister.de, which is free to search.

In practice agencies take 20–30% of the fee from the model and add about 20% plus VAT for the client: that client commission is set in the booking terms of the association VELMA. The law also has a cap: the placement fee for placing a photo model, mannequin or advertising type into a job may not exceed 14% of the pay, or 18% for jobs of up to 7 days, VAT included. The cap is written for placement into employment, while models mostly work self-employed; we found no court ruling on whether it also covers self-employed bookings. So always have the commission written into your contract in figures.

Placement law forbids asking for or accepting advances: a fee is due only once a contract results from the placement, and no separate charge may be made for assessing your skills or advising you. Consumer advice centres say you should pay only after you have had a job. A known trap is the paid Sedcard or online profile: at a mass casting in a hotel you sign a contract for several hundred euros that is legally an advertisement you buy, and it renews itself every year.

There are no official statistics: the Federal Employment Agency says it has no reliable data on models' earnings. The salary portal gehalt.de wrote in 2024 that a usual day fee for a model in Germany is €400–1,200, with a fee for usage rights added on top. The agency commission (20–30%) comes off the fee, and a self-employed model pays tax and insurance personally.

Child labour is banned, but the supervisory authority can grant a permit for advertising events, film shoots and photo shoots. Children over 3 and up to 6 may work up to 2 hours a day between 8:00 and 17:00, and those over 6 up to 3 hours a day between 8:00 and 22:00. No permit is possible for children of 3 and under. Pupils up to 17 who are still in full-time compulsory schooling count as children. From 15, once compulsory schooling is finished, you may work up to 8 hours a day, and until 23:00 at photo and film shoots.

VELMA (Verband lizenzierter Modelagenturen e. V.) is the German association of model agencies, founded in 1992 and seated in Munich. The word "lizenziert" (licensed) in its name is historical: it dates from the time when agencies needed a state permit, and there is no licence today. Its last published member list (June 2025) had 11 agencies. The association is known for its booking terms and its list of usage-rights rates. Its website was offline in October 2026, so we show membership according to that last list.

You need no work or residence permit; a passport or ID card is enough. If you only fly in for jobs and live in Lithuania, you do not have to register in Germany. If you move, register your address within two weeks, arrange health insurance, file a trade notification and send the tax office its questionnaire within one month.

For a non-resident the client withholds 15% tax plus a 5.5% solidarity surcharge (15.825% in all), but for photo models only on the part of the fee paid for image rights. Under a 2009 Finance Ministry letter that part is taken to be 20% of a day fee up to €5,000 and 45% of the amount above €5,000. For example, on a €2,000 day fee the rights part is €400, the tax €60 and the surcharge €3.30. Germany and Lithuania have a double tax treaty (1997); to use it you need an exemption certificate from the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) in advance.

Usually self-employed. The Federal Fiscal Court ruled in 2007 that foreign photo models who come to Germany for a short time can work self-employed, and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce classes photo modelling as a trade. Status is decided case by case; the German pension insurer can issue a binding decision. Models are not on the artists' social insurance fund's list of occupations.

In Berlin and Hamburg. Our catalogue lists 32 agencies in Berlin, 30 in Hamburg, 11 in Munich, 10 in Düsseldorf, 9 in Cologne and 7 in Frankfurt. Hamburg, home of About You, Otto and bonprix, is called Germany's model capital by the public broadcaster NDR.