The German economy wants to better harness the labor potential of migrants living in the country and potential foreign job seekers in Germany. Until now, the competent authorities had not developed a unified classification and categorization of foreign qualifications and educational diplomas. Potential employers had no reference points to understand what a job candidate with a foreign qualification can actually do. This hindered the labor adaptation of migrants and prevented the influx of skilled migrant labor into the German economy.
The new residents of Germany themselves were unfairly disqualified. Their past working life lost all relevance in Germany, making their integration in their new homeland difficult. It is a pity that politicians began to correct this unjustifiably difficult situation only at the behest of the industry suffering from a labor shortage, and not on their own initiative. But be that as it may, the situation is changing for the better.
The Federal Act on the Assessment of Professional Qualifications obliges the competent authorities to check and evaluate the professional foreign education and work experience of the applicant. For the sake of uniformity, about 60 federal laws and regulations governing the entry of various professions in Germany will be adjusted.
The state governments have announced the adaptation of state legislation in accordance with the federal law "On the Assessment of Professional Qualifications." Until 01.04.12, the authority was obliged to conduct such an assessment only for late resettlers. The law created the right to assessment "for everyone," abolishing discrimination. Residents of Germany, countries of the European Community (EU) and other third countries can submit documents for assessment, whereas previously this right was granted only to citizens of Germany or one of the EU states. The new law will largely abolish this restriction.
The content of the curriculum, academic performance, and acquired qualifications become decisive, not citizenship or origin. For example, a Turkish doctor can practice in Germany (obtain a license) if he proves qualifications equivalent to those of German doctors. Previously this was impossible, even if the Turkish citizen studied medicine at a German university.
A radical innovation is the obligation of the authority to check the foreign qualification of the applicant for 350 non-regulated professions. Non-regulated professions are those that do not require special permission to work. Representatives of regulated professions, for example: doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, nurses, naturopaths, master trainers in a trade must obtain a special state permit (for doctors this is a license) to practice their occupation. Without a state permit, the applicant is not entitled to work in Germany in a regulated specialty.
Now the assessment of foreign professional education and its equivalence to German qualifications will be carried out according to uniform criteria. This will make qualifications acquired abroad transparent and understandable, and will help applicants, employers, and competent authorities to realistically assess the professional suitability of a job candidate. No later than three months after receipt of the complete set of documents, the authority must make a decision on the application for comparability assessment. Until December 1, 2012, the authority is exempt from the three-month processing period.
The competent assessment authorities will remain various state institutions: professional chambers, state supervisory and licensing authorities. The proposal to create a single federal assessment authority did not find majority support. The new law calls on state authorities to cooperate to create uniform criteria and prevent local arbitrariness in the procedure for checking foreign diplomas.
The assessing authority will compare the content of the foreign professional education with reference German specialties. Employers and clients must be confident that the high level of German professional education is maintained. For residents of non-EU countries, it is especially important to create a single information center that can explain the education assessment procedure, name the competent bodies, help prepare a package of documents, and act as the main assistant for establishing first contacts.
Websites, helplines, and multilingual information materials will help with this. I can name some addresses today. These are Zentralstelle für das ausländische Bildungswesen (ZAB, www.anabin.de), www.netzwerk-iq.de, www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de. The number of such reference addresses will grow, and information will also be provided by regional counseling centers. The law obliges local employment agencies to advise foreign specialists who contact them. Within the structure of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, BAMF), a free hotline is available: +49 (0) 30-1815-1111, in German and English.
The law allows for the creation of unified federal assessment centers for certain specialties. These structures are still being formed, so interested parties can inquire online about current rules for assessing and recognizing foreign education.
Thomas Pué,
German lawyer.