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In 2022, as in previous years, the medical regulated professions will predominate in the recognition procedures for foreign professional qualifications in Germany. For the regulated professions, the rate of positive recognition ranges between 35 and 65 percent, except of the profession of the profession of geriatric nurse, which has a low success rate of 19 percent. The highest rate of decisions of full equivalence for the non-regulated professions was issued for cook, at 81 percent. This is immediately followed by the professions of restaurant specialist, industrial electricians, specialist for metal technology, and electrical systems technician with over 60 percent.

The rate of full equivalencies varies by profession. For the regulated professions, the rate of full recognition ranges from 25 to 65 percent, with the exception of veterinarian which has a success rate of 80 percent. Furthermore, the highest rate of full equivalence was issued for the non-regulated occupation of cook, at 83 percent. This is immediately followed by the occupations of electrical systems technician, technician for metal technology and hairdresser with over 60 percent.

In 2024, as in previous years, regulated medical professions dominate the recognition procedures for foreign professional qualifications in Germany. The success rate for positive recognition (full equivalence) in regulated professions ranges between 25 and 74 per cent, with minor deviations. The highest proportion of notices on full equivalence were issued for metal technology specialists (non-regulated profession) and industrial electronics technicians (non-regulated profession), each with 76 per cent. Among the regulated professions, it is geriatric nurses with 74 per cent.

The rate of full equivalencies varies by profession. The success rate of positive recognition for the regulated professions is between 35 and 70 percent, except for the profession of general care and pediatric nurse, which has a low success rate of 24 percent. Furthermore, the proportion of decisions of full equivalence for the non-regulated occupation of cook is the highest at 86 percent. This is immediately followed by the occupations of elec-trician, industrial electrician, and metal technology specialist with over 70 percent.

For the regulated professions, the rate of full recognition ranges from 35 to 75 percent, except for veterinarian and nursing professional which has a success rate of 90 percent and 86 percent, respectively. Furthermore, the highest rate of full equivalence was issued for the non-regulated occupation of cook, at 82 percent. This is immediately followed by the occupations of electrical systems technician, specialist for metal technology and industrial electrician with over 70 percent.

Most applications in 2023 come from Turkey, followed by the Philippines and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria has the highest positive recognition rate in 2023 with 96 percent, followed by Latvia with 94 percent, as well as the Netherlands, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which also have positive recognition rates of over 90 percent.

The success rate of recognition procedures in Germany differs depending on the region where the foreign professional qualification was obtained. In particular, the share of cases where full equivalence was established ranges from 84% of qualifications obtained in the EU member states to 60% of qualifications obtained in candidate states for EU membership.

The BQ-Portal had the opportunity to present the results of the study “Recognition of Foreign Professional Qualifications Company Perspective” in Brussels twice in a row. First, the IW office in Brussels invited participants to the European Economic and Social Committee to discuss the results with representatives of the EU Commission and other European stakeholders. In addition, Members of the European Parliament, Nela Riehl and Brigitte van den Berg, invited participants for an exchange on the question: How can the transferability of qualifications within Europe be improved?