Applying for a residence permit for recognition of professional qualifications during employment

Are you planning to have your professional qualification acquired abroad or your foreign university degree recognized in Germany? Then you can qualify in Germany to acquire the theoretical and practical knowledge you lack. This qualification is also possible in the course of employment in Germany.

You can obtain a residence permit for the period of qualification in the context of employment if you undertake to submit an application for a determination of equivalence or the granting of a professional license. You must actively participate in the recognition procedure in Germany and present a concrete job offer or an employment contract.

The Federal Employment Agency must approve your employment. As part of the approval process, it checks, among other things, that the employment does not take place under less favorable working conditions than the employment of comparable domestic employees. It checks

• whether qualified employment is required in a non-regulated profession or
• whether a license to practice a profession is required in a regulated profession and non-qualified employment is to be exercised here.

The Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) must confirm that you have one of the following foreign professional qualifications:

• at least two years of training or
• University degree that is recognized in the respective country

The residence permit for the recognition of professional qualifications during employment is limited in time. It is issued for the duration of the approval of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), but for a maximum of one year.