About us

“Anerkennung in Deutschland” supports the implementation of statutory regulations governing recognition at national and federal state level on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The website went online when the federal government's Recognition Act entered into force on 1 April 2012. The Federal Institute for Vocational education and training (BIBB) is the publisher of the portal.

The portal targets three main user groups:

• Skilled workers: With our online offer in 11 different languages, this is the right place for skilled workers wanting to work in Germany in the occupation or profession in which they trained. The Recognition Finder allows them to find out whether they need official recognition for their foreign professional or Vocational qualification and which authority is responsible for their procedure. On the “Anerkennung in Deutschland” site they will also find all the important information about preparing for the Recognition procedure and making the application.
• Specialists in the area of recognition: Anybody providing advice or conducting research in the area of professional recognition can obtain specialist information from us to support their day-to-day work. The Profi area includes background information and support on statutory regulations as well as on recognition counselling and qualification guidance. The Profi-Filter database provides you with a quick overview of occupations, regulations and competent authorities. Specialists can also exchange views and share ideas with one another in the specialist forum.
• Employers: We provide those wishing to recruit individuals with foreign professional or vocational qualifications with a quick overview of the key steps involved. We also point out useful support offers.

Information on professional recognition in Germany is provided centrally at “Anerkennung in Deutschland” on the basis of a joint agreement between the federal government and the federal states. This includes information about the recognition procedures of the individual professions and the legal bases and also the contact details of the competent authorities. BIBB uses this information to support the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) and statistical offices in the federal states in compiling official recognition statistics.

“Anerkennung in Deutschland” is also the German assistance centre in accordance with Article 57b EU Directive on the Recognition of Professional qualifications 2005/36/EC. This means it provides both EU citizens and authorities with information regarding the recognition of foreign professional or vocational qualifications in Germany.

The topic of “Recognition of foreign Professional qualifications” at the Federal Institute for Vocational education and training (BIBB)

The “Recognition of professional qualifications” division brings together competencies relating to professional recognition at BIBB. Besides publishing the “Anerkennung in Deutschland” portal, the division also undertakes the following tasks:

• The monitoring of the implementation of the statutory recognition regulations is carried out on behalf of the BMBF by the recognition monitoring research assistants. The “Recognition of professional qualifications” division cooperates in this with the BIBB division “Qualifications, occupational integration and Employment.” An important outcome of this work is the recognition report. Recognition monitoring also releases numerous evaluations and scientific papers relating to recognition which are published by the BIBB.

• The BIBB is coordinating the project “NetQA – Skills analysis Networks” from 2019 until the end of 2022. NetQA supports competent authorities in developing an expertise and network structure to support Recognition procedures in the case of missing documentation. Besides national training and information programmes, the NetQA project partners provide regional exchange formats and guidance on the implementation of skills analyses for competent authorities. This work is focussed predominantly in the Trades and crafts sector and in the Chambers of Industry and Commerce area. The “Skills analyses special fund” allows those seeking recognition to receive financial assistance for a skills analysis if no other funding instruments are available.

• The division cooperates closely with many stakeholders in the area of professional recognition including counselling organisations, competent authorities and managers at national and federal state level.

• As part of its press and public relations work in Germany and abroad, the division provides information—including information on Facebook—about the options available for professional recognition and is also the contact partner for the media.

• The division responds to enquiries relating to recognition from interested parties, from stakeholders in policy-making and within society, from academia and from members of the public.

• The staff also provide training and advice both nationally and internationally for specialists in the area of professional recognition. Any questions on advice and training are very welcome: Training sessions for advisers

   

Contact and further information about Division 3.3:

“Recognition of foreign professional qualifications” by BIBB