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The BQ Portal was recognised as the best and most innovative performer in public administrations across Europe. On the 18th of November at the Provincial Government House in Maastricht, the BQ Portal was awarded the European Public Sector Award trophy in the European/national/regional category by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA). Some 266 projects from 36 European countries and the European institutions participated in competition. However, only three projects won the European Public Sector Award.
The success rate differs depending on the region where the foreign professional qualification was obtained. The success rate for EU member states is the highest.
The majority of applications for recognition are filed by foreign doctors wishing to have their license recognised to practise medicine. The range of countries of origin is enormous. Syria, a non-European country, ranked first with 633 applications processed. Romania ranked second, followed by Austria. About 250 applications processed were filed by those trained each in Egypt, Russia and Ukraine.
Applicants from Belgium, Hungary, Libya, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Italy and Romania have the highest chances of positive ruling since their success rate is over 85%. The highest recognition rate has Austria with about 92%. Those from Greece received a positive ruling in over 80% of the cases.
The new Employment Ordinance has been in force since 1 July. The list of occupations in which people with vocational training qualifications from non-EU countries can access the German labour market is now also in place. Following the "EU Blue Card" for the highly skilled, the improved recognition of foreign vocational qualifications and the relaxations in the rules for students from non-EU countries who wish to stay on to work in Germany, this is a further important step towards making it easier for workers from outside the EU to enter the German labour market and towards covering the skills gap in the German economy via migration.
The majority of recognition notifications is granted to applicants from Romania. The majority of the recognition notifications are issued for regulated professions, especially general care nurses and doctors. There are much fewer notifications issued for the non-regulated professions such as office clerks and electrical systems technicians.
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.
In terms of individual professions, the recognition rate in Germany diverges widely. Over 90% of applicants who wish to acquire a license to practice as ergotherapists receive full equivalence. In most professions, the share of those granted full equivalence varies from 40% to 80%.
The share of applicants granted full equivalence in Germany varies widely among the individual professions and among the professional groups. The proportion of applicants who received full equivalence is especially high in the sales and food production sector.
In this section, you can get an overview of the qualifications of refugees in Germany. Our compact country overviews provide you with information on education and vocational training in the main countries of origin and contact points for all aspects of integration of refugees in companies.