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Our country profiles on selected countries with information on the economy and society, on the most important features of the vocational training systems and on current immigration to and integration in Germany are now also available in English!
For 10 years, the official website "Make it in Germany" has accompanied many stories in the field of skilled immigration. On the anniversary page, qualified professionals share their personal experiences, voices from the partner network reflect on political developments and employers provide insights into successful recruitment abroad. Moreover, the timeline shows how the project has developed in the last 10 years.
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.
The Federal Statistic Office reports that almost 12,000 foreign professional qualifications were recognized in 2013. This contributes considerably to securing an adequate supply of skilled workers.
In this section you will find answers to frequently asked questions about professional recognition. The section is focused on the perspective of companies accompanying the recognition process.
The new Skilled Immigration Act (FEG) makes it easier for skilled workers with vocational training and individuals with practical knowledge to immigrate to Germany. The first amendments of the Skilled Immigration Act came into force on November 18, 2023.
The Company Award “We for Recognition” will be launched for the first time this year. The award ceremony will take place in Berlin on June 21, 2017 in the context of the conference “5 years with the Recognition Act – once learned, never forgotten”. Federal minister for Education and Research, Johanna Wanka, as well as Presidents of the German Federation of Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), Eric Schwitzer and Hans Peter Wollenseifer will be present at the conference.
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.
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.