On September 14, The Federal Statistical Office published the statistics on the Recognition Act for the reference year 2016. Since the Act came into effect in 2012, 86,514 applications for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications were filed, the Federal Statistical Office reports. In 2016, 23,028 new applications were submitted. This is a 14 percent increase over the previous year. The share of those who received a positive ruling is very high. The made up 76,5 percent of all applicants in 2016. In 66,4 percent of cases (19,845 cases), full recognition was granted and in 10,1 percent the partial one. Only in 3,4 percent of cases, no equivalence could be established between a credential obtained abroad and a corresponding German qualification. Most applicants completed their training in Romania, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Syria. Applications for recognition of a Syrian vocational training almost tripled in a year (Syria, 2015: 636 new applications; 2016: 1728). Thus, Syria is on the 4th place among the most popular countries in the recognition process.