Getting your degree or vocational qualification recognised

German law calls you a skilled worker (Fachkraft) if your foreign vocational qualification is equivalent to German qualified vocational training, or if your foreign degree is recognised or comparable to a German degree. The skilled-worker permits build on this definition.

For a regulated profession, recognition is mandatory. In a non-regulated profession you can work without it.

Start with the anabin database. A foreign degree can usually only be recognised if it comes from a state or state-recognised institution, which anabin marks H+. H+/- means further criteria apply to degrees from some countries.

For a visa or an EU Blue Card you must prove that your degree is comparable to a German one. If anabin lacks the information, the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) issues a Statement of Comparability (Zeugnisbewertung).

• Fee: €208.ZAB — Gebühren
• Processing time: 3 months for a regular application, 2 months in the accelerated skilled-worker procedure, 2 weeks for an EU Blue Card. It can take longer when many applications arrive.ZAB — FAQ
• You apply online on the ZAB website and sign in with a BundID account.ZAB — FAQ

For a regulated profession a Zeugnisbewertung is not enough: you also need recognition of your professional qualification.

A vocational qualification is recognised by the competent body (zuständige Stelle), which compares it with the matching German qualification.

The Anerkennungs-Finder shows the matching German occupation, whether it is regulated, whether you need recognition and whom to contact.

The BQ-Portal collects information on foreign vocational qualifications in the dual training and further-training occupations.

If the competent body finds that you need adaptation or compensation measures or further qualifications before your qualification counts as equivalent (or before you may work in a regulated profession), this earns 4 points for the Chancenkarte. The minimum is six points.

In a recognition partnership you come with a job offer and complete recognition while you work. The permit should be issued if all of these hold:

• Your vocational qualification is state-recognised in the country where you got it and took at least two years, or your degree is state-recognised there.
• You have a concrete job offer.
• You agree with the employer to start recognition with the competent body without delay, at the latest once you have entered Germany.
• The employer is suitable to train you or bring you up to the German standard.
• Your German fits the job and is at least A2.§ 2 Abs. 10 AufenthG
• The Federal Employment Agency has consented, or the job needs no consent.