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The Federal Statistical Office published the statistics on the Recognition Act for the reference year 2016 this autumn. In 2016, 19.800 applications for recognition of foreign professional qualifications were processed. Only in 3,4 percent of cases, no equivalence could be established between a credential obtained abroad and a corresponding German qualification.
The Federal Cabinet adopted today the report on the Recognition Act. Since the introduction of the Recognition Act four years ago, the number of applications has been growing significantly. In 2012-2014 some 44.000 applications for recognition of professional qualifications were submitted only in the field of federally regulated professions, 17.600 of which were filed in 2014. Those who submit an application for recognition of a qualification obtained abroad have good chances of receiving positive ruling.
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. 20,2 percent of applicants have to complete a formalized additional training in order to be able to work in their profession. Only in 3,4 percent of cases, no equivalence could be established between a credential obtained abroad and a corresponding German qualification.
WIESBADEN – In the whole of Germany, a total of 7,458 professional qualifications acquired in a foreign country were in 2012 recognised as being fully or partially equivalent to the relevant qualifications acquired in Germany.
The 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report by UNESCO congratulates Germany for its policies in recognizing migrants and refugees’ prior qualifications and skills. The recognition of foreign professional qualifications increases the probability of immigrant employment by 45 percentage points and the hourly wage by 40%. A million migrants a year visit the website ‘Recognition in Germany’, which offers advice on the recognition procedure in 9 languages. The information on foreign vocational training systems and professional qualifications in the BQ-Portal is accessed annually by over 180,000 website visitors, primarily assessment authorities, companies and experts.
Following the revised EU Professional Qualifications Directive of 2013, the federal government made the application procedures for the assessment of foreign professional qualifications even simpler.
The new app informs refugees about possibilities of recognition of foreign professional qualifications in Germany. The app "Recognition in Germany" is available in the five main languages spoken by refugees, Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Tigrinya and Pashto, as well as in English and in German. The app is compatible with Android, IOS and Windows. It offers an introduction into the subject "Professional Recognition" explains the recognition process in a simple language and provides links to the information and counselling services.
On 11 January 2013, policy makers and representatives from chambers of commerce, companies, public authorities and migrants’ associations came together for a conference entitled “Skilled workers – Transparency – Respect: tapping the domestic pool of skills” at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) in Berlin. The participants discussed new approaches to assessing and recognising foreign qualifications and exchanged their experiences.
Under the motto “Discover your talent”, the European Commission encourages stakeholders from all over Europe to organise events on a local, regional or national level.
As of January 18, 2016, the Recognition Act was revised: from now on, the citizens of the European Union or European Economic Area can submit their application and all relevant documents online. Furthermore, their applications will be processed by a single contact point. This application procedure will apply, at first, only to the regulated professions in the federal responsibility.