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United Nations honors the BQ-Portal – the information portal for foreign professional qualifications, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, with the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) on June 26th, 2024.

On 5 June 2025, the German Economic Institute (IW) will present the results of its new study on the recognition of professional qualifications at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels. The event will bring together stakeholders to discuss the role of professional recognition in addressing skills shortages.

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 most OECD European countries and in the United States, labour migration in 2022 was at a 15 year record level. Year-on-year increases in the primary destination countries were striking: the number of new permanent-type labour migrants increased by 59% in Germany.

Germany is faced with the immense challenge of integrating thousands of refugees. The most successful path to integration is through the workplace. Refugees bring with them motivation, energy and commitment. Many of them are qualified professionals. Moreover, while fleeing from their home country, they gained a wide range of experiences useful for German employers. Refugees in Germany are eager to find a job and contribute actively to the society they live in. For refugees, employment is a new start in a new country and an opportunity to find home in Germany. For companies, employing refugees is an opportunity to fill open positions and invest in the future. Due to the demographic change and ageing society, many companies find it difficult to recruit the qualified professionals they need. The fact that the majority of refugees who come to us are under 35 years old enables companies to find and bind the employees they need.