Professional recognition
With recognition, a foreign professional qualification is made legally equivalent to a German professional qualification. Recognition is necessary for certain occupations and professions, for others it is an advantage.
With recognition, a foreign professional qualification is made legally equivalent to a German professional qualification. Recognition is necessary for certain occupations and professions, for others it is an advantage.
Answers to the following questions are provided here:
A foreign is recognised in Germany if it is equivalent to a German . In further criteria for must also be met. Upon application, both are checked in the and information regarding the outcome is provided in a . With recognition applicants receive the same professional rights as persons with a German professional qualification. In Germany, professional is regulated by the and the sectoral laws under legislation relating to occupations and by the relevant federal state legislation.
is necessary for foreign if they want to work in Germany in a . The only exception to this is skilled workers from the who only occasionally practise their occupation or profession in Germany. The so-called is regulated in the on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications.
Recognition is not required for working in . In some cases, however, recognition may be necessary for entry from a third country. A or the assessment of the university degree can generally have advantages for the professional future in Germany.
Regulated professions are professions in which the activities are legally protected. In addition to a specific , additional requirements are often necessary for these professions for . This applies primarily to professions in the health, safety and social services sectors such as medical practitioner or teacher. Other forms of regulation are a protected such as engineer, certificates and certificates of competence for some independent activities and trades and businesses, and such as Master craftsperson or specialist.
Non-regulated professions are not legally protected. These include the in the dual system (approx. 330 in total) such as motor vehicle mechatronics technician and office manager, and many academic occupations such as chemist or mathematician. Whether or not a profession or occupation is regulated in Germany can be found out using the Profi-Filter.
German: Meisterin oder Meister
Also: Meisterqualifikation
Master craftsperson training is the name of German advanced vocational education and training.
Master craftspersons undertake advanced vocational training for specific tasks. They learn, for example, how to run a company. Master craftspersons exist in a range of different areas. For example:
Advanced training as a master craftsperson exists in a range of occupations. In most cases individuals require completed vocational education and training.
This advanced vocational training also exists for individuals without vocational education and training, but with professional experience. This advanced vocational training also exists for individuals with a university degree. Participation in advanced vocational training of this type depends on the regulations of the respective profession.
In the crafts and trades which require a licence only one individual with a master craftspersons qualification is permitted to run a company and train trainees.
German: Erwerbstätigkeit
Employment is work which is regulated by contract. Employed persons include:
German: Profi-Filter
The Profi-Filter is a specific tool on the website of www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de. The Profi-Filter provides particular search functions for these individuals:
This enables these individuals to search specifically for important information. For example:
Many people want use the website to find out about recognition of their professional qualification. For these individuals, the Recognition Finder is better suited for this purpose.
German: duale Berufsausbildung
Also: duales System
German: Ausbildungsberuf
An occupation for which training is provided via regulated vocational education and training. There are 2 types of training occupations
German: Fortbildungsabschluss
An advanced training qualification is a professional qualification. Individuals who have successfully completed advanced training receive the advanced training qualification.
Advanced training qualifications exist which are comparable in terms of level with higher education or university degrees. For example, to a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Advanced training includes:
German: Berufsbezeichnung
Also: Berufsbezeichnung führen
The professional title is the name of a profession. Some professional title may only be used with state authorisation for use of the professional title. These professions include for example:
German: Zeugnisbewertung
Auch: Statement of comparability
An statement of comparability for foreign higher education qualifications is a document from the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB). The document describes a higher-education qualification from abroad.
The recognition procedures are only for higher-education qualifications which lead to a regulated profession. For those higher-education qualifications which lead to a non-regulated profession there is the statement of comparability. An statement of comparability compares the foreign qualifications with the German qualification following a degree. The assessment of higher education certificates gives information about the vocational and academic opportunities provided by the qualification.
The statement of comparability is requested from the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB).
German: Drittstaat
A description of a country which does not belong to one of the following:
For entry to Germany, skilled workers from third countries need a visa.
German: Anerkennungsbescheid
Also: Gleichwertigkeitsbescheid, Bescheid über Gleichwertigkeit, Bescheid zur Gleichwertigkeitsfeststellung, Anerkennungsurkunde
A recognition notice is a document from the competent authority relating to an application for recognition. It contains the result of the recognition procedure. A recognition notice is legally binding.
In the case of full recognition, authorisation to practice a professional activity may be combined with the recognition notice, for example:
German: nicht reglementierte Berufe
There are no state regulations in terms of authorisation to practice for non-regulated professions. This means that individuals are permitted to work in these professions without authorisation to practice. These professions include for example all professions in dual vocational education and training. People with a foreign professional qualification can work in non-regulated professions without recognition.
German: EU-Berufsanerkennungsrichtlinie
Also: Berufsanerkennungsrichtlinie, Anerkennungsrichtlinie
The official name for the EU Recognition Directive is: Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications. The directive regulates the recognition of professional qualifications between countries of the European Union (EU) with respect to regulated professions.
The most important rules are:
The directive entered into force on 15 October 2005 and was reformed by Directive 2013/55/EU.
German: Dienstleistungsfreiheit
The freedom to provide services permits individuals who are independently providing services in a country of the European Union (EU) to also provide these in every other country of the EU. However, this only applies to independent activities. These are independent commercial, skilled craft or freelance activities which are offered to others. The freedom to provide services applies only to temporary and occasional activities. It is not a permanent option and does not apply to salaried employees. This is governed by the freedom of establishment.
The activity only needs to be reported beforehand in writing to the competent authority in Germany for regulated professions such as medical practitioner.
Those wishing to work independently in Germany must go through recognition of their professional qualification in Germany. This also applies to salaried individuals.
German: EU/EWR/Schweiz
EU/EEA/Switzerland is the abbreviation for: European Union/European Economic Area/Switzerland.
The member states of the European Union (EU) include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
The European Economic Area (EEA) includes: All EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway.
Switzerland has entered into a treaty with the European Union. This states that Switzerland participates in the European system of professional recognition.
German version: Fachkraft
The following persons are regarded as skilled workers under the Skilled Immigration Act:
German: Berufsqualifikationsfeststellungsgesetz (BQFG)
The Professional Qualifications Assessment Act is an important element of the Recognition Act. The Professional Qualifications Assessment Act exists in Germany at federal level and in the 16 federal states. It is always Article 1 of the Recognition Act for the Recognition of Professional qualifications. It regulates the recognition procedure.
German: Anerkennung
Also: Anerkennung der Berufsqualifikation, Gleichwertigkeitsfeststellung, Gleichwertigkeit
In this case recognition means that a foreign professional qualification is legally equivalent to a German professional qualification. This means that the foreign professional qualification is recognised in Germany. The equivalence is valid for a specific German reference occupation.
There are different types of recognition:
Full recognition
A foreign professional qualification is legally equivalent to the German reference occupation.
Partial recognition
A foreign professional qualification is only partially equivalent to the German reference occupation. The reason for this is that there are substantial differences between the foreign professional qualification and the German professional qualification.
In this case, there are two options in order to still achieve full recognition:
No recognition
A foreign professional qualification is not equivalent to the German reference occupation. The reason for this is that the differences between the foreign professional qualification and the German reference occupation are too great.
Recognition must be requested by means of an application for recognition. This then begins the recognition procedure.
German: Anerkennungsverfahren
Also: Gleichwertigkeitsfeststellungsverfahren, Gleichwertigkeitsfeststellung, Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung
The competent authority in Germany checks the professional qualification in the recognition procedure. The competent authority checks whether the foreign professional qualification is equivalent to the German reference occupation.
For the recognition procedure, the competent authority requires certificates and other documents relating to the content and duration of the professional qualification. Certificates and other documents relating to professional experience are also important.
German: Berufszulassung
Authorisation to practice a profession is permission from one of the official competent authorities to work in a profession. Or authorisation from an official competent authority permitting use of a specific designation of occupation.
Authorisation to practice must be applied for from the competent authority. The individual is only permitted to work in the profession if they have been granted the authorisation to practice.
An authorisation to practice a profession includes for example:
This applies to professions in the trades or crafts which require a license. Only then is the individual permitted to refer to themselves as a master craftsperson or to start to trade or establish a business themselves.
The competent authority provides information regarding professions within their area of jurisdiction involving authorisation to practice.
German: reglementierte Berufe
There are statutory provisions relating to regulated professions. These professions include for example:
Individuals in a regulated profession need recognition of their foreign professional qualification. They are then permitted to work in Germany in this profession. The Recognition Finder helps when searching for regulated professions.
German: Professional qualification
Professional qualifications are qualifications for which evidence of training is provided by means of evidence of formal qualifications or qualification certificates These lead to a clearly defined profession. Evidence of a professional qualification may also be provided by professional experience gained in Germany or abroad.
These are examples of professional qualifications:
The recognition procedure exists for professional qualifications from abroad. This checks the equivalence of the vocational qualification.
Recognition procedures for higher education qualifications exist only for higher education qualifications leading to a regulated profession. For example: Dentist
There is no recognition procedure for higher education qualifications which do not lead to a regulated profession. The statement of comparability exists for these higher education qualifications. This is the case, for example, for geologists.
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