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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.
The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has evaluated the recognition of foreign professional qualifications in 2020. Overall, 5% more foreign vocational qualifications were recognised as fully or partially equivalent in 2020 than in the previous year.
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.
More than 65 percent of the recognition procedures for foreign professional qualifications obtained in EU member states end with a full equivalence. The positive recognition rate for Austria and the Czech Republic is the highest as it reaches 93 percent. It is followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Lithuania, and Latvia.
New Destatis figures show that last year, more foreign vocational qualifications were recognised than in previous years,. Especially against the backdrop of demographic change and the corona crisis, Germany is dependent on skilled workers from abroad.
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.
The first day of the European Validation Festival - Unlocking talents in Europe, on 14 June in Brussels, featured a marketplace with 40 stands where organisations had the opportunity to present their initiatives and practices on validation of informal and non-formal learning. The experts from all around Europe shared practices and exchanged ideas and knowledge about how the work experience of job applicants who move from one country to another can be recorded faster and more transparently. The participants agreed that there is a lot to learn from each other. After all, there are many initiatives and best practice projects in Europe dedicated to this topic.
On this page, companies can find information about the Skilled Workers Immigration Act (FEG), the recognition potentials of vocational diplomas from selected focus countries, practical examples of successful recruitment from abroad as well as contact points for companies.
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 Service Center for Professional Recognition (ZSBA) started work on 1 February 2020. The ZSBA complements and strengthens existing structures for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications in Germany with a range of advisory services and personal support during the recognition procedure. This is primarily intended to help skilled workers who are still abroad and are at the beginning of their job search in Germany.