Welcome
Recognition of foreign professional qualifications
Fachkräfte Visa Gesundheitsberufe © GKSP/Canva.com
Are your qualifications not fully recognised? The recognition visa allows you to travel to Germany to take the necessary steps to obtain full recognition.
General Information
Did you apply for the recognition of your qualification but the competent recognition authority in Germany decided that your qualification cannot be fully recognised? In this case, you can attend qualification measures in Germany to acquire the theoretical and/or practical skills you lack. Examples of such qualification measures include in-company training courses, specialist training courses, preparatory courses and job-related German courses.
If your recognition measure does not involve any practical/ work experience but is only theoretical in nature (e.g. language courses, prepartory courses for examinations), please check here.
To find out more about the recognition process, please check here.
Submitting an application
Necessary documents
Apart from the application form, please bring the following documents to your appointment at the Embassy.
In some cases the Embassy might ask for additional documents.
Please complete the online application form (application forms are required for each applicant separately; all children require separate forms) and bring the printed and signed form including the barcodes to your appointment.
A valid passport signed by the holder, issued within the last 10 years and valid for at least one year is necessary. The passport needs to have at least 2 subsequent blank pages. Please bring 1 photocopy of the passport biodata page to your appointment.
1 fully biometric passport photo, 35 x 45 mm, no older than three months. Digitally altered passport photos cannot be accepted. Please ensure that your photo adheres to German biometric requirements and is taken in front of a white/bright background.
Bring your valid Qatar residence permit (QID) and 1 photocopy to your appointment.
Vocational training diploma and/or academic degree.
You must provide the original degree certificate when submitting your application at the Embassy. The original will be returned to you after your application has been decided.
formal deficit notification (Defizitbescheid) or notification of partial recognition (Teil-Anerkennungsbescheid), issued by the competent authority
Declaration of employment (Erkärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis) and Appendix A (Zusatzblatt A), to be completed and duly signed by the future employer
NOTE: you need to submit two declarations of employment: one for the period while you are still in the recognition process and a second one for when you have gained full recognition of your qualification. That is because usually during the recognition process you will only be employed as an “assistant” with a lower salary. Once you have achieve your full recognition, you can be employed as a fully qualified staff and your salary will increase.
Training plan that indicates who is responsible for your training and how the deficits identified in the notification are to be compensated
Exam certificate of minimum A2 level (for nursing/ medical professional minimum B2 level) issued by a recognised exam provider (i.e. Goethe-Institut e.V., telc GmbH, Austrian Language Diploma (ÖSD), TestDaF-Institut e.V., ECL Examination Center (examination provider, examination conducted by AFU GmbH)).
The certificate/ exam passing date must not be older than one year.
- Confirmation by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) that your previous training is approved by the state in which it was obtained
- Declaration regarding a contract of employment (Erkärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis) and Appendix A (Zusatzblatt A) for a concrete job offer, to be completed and duly signed by the future employer
- Written agreement between you and your future employer:
- that you commit to start the process of formal recognition of your training immediately after entering Germany, if not before
- that your future employer commits to making it possible for you to complete necessary qualification measures as stipulated in the course of the recognition process within three years of entering Germany
If the intended qualified employment requires a professional practice license (Berufsausübungserlaubnis), information by your employer that:
a. the employment falls under a collective agreement (“Tarifbindung”) and the working conditions will be in accordance to that OR
b. the employer is bound by church law and the working conditions will be in accordance with that OR
c. the employer is a care institution licensed in accordance with § 72 SGB XI AND
d. that the current employment will lead to the intended employment after the recognition process was completed
As this is information that can only be ascertained by your intended employer, please refer to them to the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) for detailed information
If your recognition procedure has already been initiated and the responsible authority for the recognition procedure has advised you that it is unable to complete the procedure without an analysis of your qualification (“Qualifikationsanalyse”) you have to submit with your application:
- Invitation to participate in an analysis of your qualification by the authority responsible for the recognition
- For your stay in Germany, you have to show proof of sufficient financial means to cover your living expenses. This currently means that you need at least 1.160,-- EUR before taxes per month.
Sufficient financial means can be shown by one of the following ways:
1. Through a work contract for the time until you have obtained full recognition of your qualification:
- Declaration regarding a contract of employment (Erkärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis) for a concrete job offer, to be completed and duly signed by the future employer
Please note: this option in general is not available to you if you intend to enter Germany to do the in-depth analysis of your qualification. In that case you are only allowed to work for no more than 20 hours / week, so you will have to show sufficient financial means by one of the other means.
2. Proof of self-financing:
- Confirmation of a blocked account in Germany with the sufficient amount (also in the case you are employed, but to not have a sufficient salary; the short fall can be made up through a block account)
3. Formal obligation letter by a sponsor who resides in Germany:
- 'Verpflichtungserklärung' in accordance with §§ 66 – 68 of the German Residence Act