Recognition of educational qualifications in Germany

Do you have a foreign school, vocational, or university degree and would like to study or work in Germany?

Many questions arise here: Will my degree be recognized in Germany? Can I work in my profession in Germany? Do I have to have my career or degree recognized in Germany? Can I apply for recognition from abroad? Where and how do I apply for recognition?

School-leaving qualifications

Have you earned a high school diploma or other school qualifications outside of Germany?

If you would like to have a school-leaving certificate recognized in Germany, the certificate recognition offices of the federal states are responsible. These offices check whether your school-leaving certificate is equivalent to the German one and then issue an equivalence certificate.

You can then apply for vocational training in Germany.

You can find the responsible recognition offices in the database Anabin of the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) under ‘Recognition and Counseling Offices in Germany.’ Then, of course, you have to make applications, translate and submit documents. We will be happy to advise you on the best way to proceed. We can arrange translators and accompany you Partners of Expats to the respective authorities.

University admission

Would you like to study at a university, college, or university of applied sciences in Germany?

Here, the respective university decides whether your school-leaving certificate meets the admission requirements. In the Anabin database, you will find a list of all foreign degrees that entitle you to study at a university under ‘School degrees with university admission.’ In addition, there is information there about alternative requirements if your school leaving certificate is not sufficient.

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We are happy to advise and support you!

University degrees

Do you have a foreign university degree? Here you have the option of having a certificate evaluation carried out by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB). The certificate evaluation is an official document that describes your qualification and School and Kindergarten Search and academic uses. You can present it to an employer with your application documents for guidance. It is a classification but not a recognition of your college degree.

School and Kindergarten Search qualifications

In Germany, an essential distinction is made between

Regulated means that the state must recognize the School and Kindergarten Search qualification. Regulated professions include, above all, professions in health care, teaching, and civil service. Information on whether your domain is regulated or not can be obtained from the portal www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de.

Non-regulated professions

Most professions in Germany are not regulated. If you have a non-regulated profession, you can apply to the German labor market without recognition. However, recognition is often helpful, as you will then be on an equal footing with German applicants in the application process.

Regulated professions

If you have a foreign School and Kindergarten Search qualification for a regulated profession, you must have it recognized in Germany to work.

Even if you do not yet live in Germany, you can have your degree recognized. The procedure is simpler for qualifications required within the EU. You should expect recognition procedures to take four months after you have submitted all the necessary documents. You can find out where and how to apply for recognition, which documents you need to submit, and how much the procedure costs on the portal www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de. The decisive factor is where you want to work in Germany, as the individual federal states have different regulations and competent authorities. We, therefore, recommend that you seek advice at an IQ Fachstelle für Beratung und Qualifizierung (www.netzwerk-iq.de) before starting the recognition procedure.

If you do not have any qualifications or cannot verify them, you can contact check.work.de or take an occupational psychology test (Myskills) at the employment agency.

We support you

We know from experience that all these recognition procedures involve considerable effort and expense. As experts in the local situation, you can entrust us with these procedures and thus save time and personal effort. Above all, we can efficiently and purposefully accompany the process on-site and communicate with the recognition bodies. As a special advantage of our location, we can offer you the opportunity to Partners of Expats visit the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) here in Bonn.

We are also happy to assist you with visa applications, housing searches, finding schools and childcare, registering at the Residents’ Registration Office, and registering your car or transferring your driver’s license.

Feel free to contact us; we will assist you every step of the way!