As of: February 22, 2024, 12:37 p.m
By: Peter Sieben
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More and more people from abroad want to have their professional qualifications recognized.
A good sign, says the Ministry of Education.
But there is a catch, critics note.
Berlin - In India or Ukraine you are a teacher, engineer or nurse - here you might be unemployed for the time being, at least as far as your training occupation is concerned.
Because: In many cases, professional qualifications acquired abroad must first be recognized in Germany.
The number of applications is increasing rapidly: in 2022, an annual high of around 49,500 new applications was reached, said Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) on Wednesday in Berlin.
“The shortage of skilled workers is one of the biggest challenges we face.
“It is all the more pleasing that professional recognition is in greater demand than ever before,” she said when presenting the current recognition report.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck recently named the shortage of skilled workers as one of the biggest problems facing the German economy in the coming years.
Shortage of skilled workers: Many applications in the healthcare sector and among engineers
Since April 1, 2012, there has been a legal right in Germany to have foreign professional qualifications checked, regardless of nationality and the origin of the qualifications.
Healthcare professions played the largest role in applications, according to the latest recognition report, but engineering professions also made up a large share.
One problem: the duration of the approval.
According to the report, the legal deadlines for processing applications are two and four months.
Not fast enough, says Adrian Willig, director of the Association of German Engineers (VDI): “I agree with Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger that the shortage of skilled workers is one of the biggest challenges of our time.
She rightly advocates for faster recognition of skills.” Only around 13 percent of applications from engineers are approved.
“In our opinion, that is far too little.
The processes take too long,” says Willig.
Not every professional qualification from abroad is recognized
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education says: In 2022, 76 percent of the procedures that affected professions under federal law were completed within the deadline specified in the report.
The processing time has even become shorter, although the number of applications has increased.
“Our goal must be to ensure that foreign skilled workers can work with us even more easily and quickly,” said Minister Stark-Watzinger.
The qualifications are not always recognized at the end of the process: According to the report, around 47 percent of the procedures for professions regulated by federal law ended in 2022 with confirmation of full equivalence.
In 41 percent, a condition was imposed to achieve equivalence.
Only partial equivalence was found for ten percent and no equivalence for two percent.
(pen, with dpa)