Duration of training; application for shortening or extension

You can apply for an extension of your training period if you have problems during your training, have failed an examination or are training part-time.

For contact details of the responsible authoritiy and local valid information select under "Select location" a location.

There are three main reasons why you can extend your training period:

Extension in exceptional cases

There can be many personal or educational reasons for extending a training program.

In order to extend the training relationship, there must be important reasons that justify this. These can be, for example, longer illnesses, significant deficiencies in the training, maternity protection periods or parental leave.

Part-time training

The regular training period is also extended in the case of part-time vocational training. The agreement on part-time training is the subject of the contract and can be stipulated in the vocational training contract at the beginning of the training. However, it can also be agreed for a limited period of training. The following principle applies:

The reduction in daily or weekly training time may not exceed 50 percent of full-time training.
The duration of the training period is extended accordingly in proportion, up to a maximum of 1.5 times the regular training period.

Due to the required extension of the training period in part-time training, the end of the new contractual training period may not coincide perfectly with the central examination dates. At the trainee's request, an extension of the training period until the next possible examination can be requested.

You submit the application to the authority responsible for your vocational training. Depending on the profession, this may be the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Chamber of Agriculture or another chamber.

For the extension in exceptional cases:

prolonged illness, due to which a lot of content was missed at vocational school and/or company
Physical or mental disability
Pregnancy and / or parental leave
Very poor result in the intermediate examination, which does not allow completion within the regular training period to be expected

For an extension if the final examination is not passed:

Failure to pass the final examination
Consent of the company to the extension

For part-time training:

Agreement on part-time training with the training company

In the case of minors, the consent of their legal representatives is required in all cases.

Required document/s
- Amendment contract
- For part-time instead: Training contract
- In case of extension in exceptional cases: if applicable, evidence justifying the extension of the training period

You apply for an extension of the training period at the office responsible for you. The further procedure is slightly different depending on the reason for the extension:

For extensions in exceptional cases:

You submit the application to extend the duration of training.
Upon receipt, the circumstances will be examined and your training company will be consulted. In individual cases, the vocational school may also be asked for an opinion.
You and your training company will receive confirmation of the change.

For part-time training:

You can usually submit the application for the reduction due to part-time work together with the application for registration of your training relationship at the start of your training.
You will usually receive confirmation of the part-time training together with the confirmation of registration of the training relationship.

In the event of an extension due to failure to pass the examination:

You apply for an extension of the training period due to failing the examination immediately after receiving the notice of failure.
Your training company must agree to the extension.
You and your training company will receive confirmation of the change.

There are no additional costs for processing an extension application. The costs are calculated as part of the training fee/supervision fee.

You must submit an application for an extension or amendment before the end of the regular training period or immediately after receiving a notice of non-renewal.