To be eligible to work in the corresponding profession in Germany, you may need to get your academic or occupational credentials formally recognized if you received your training outside of Germany. Your occupation and country of origin will determine this.

Regulated Professions

In Germany, you can only work in regulated professions provided you meet specified requirements. This holds true for a variety of occupations in the medical field, legal counsel, public school teaching, and engineering. Additionally, there exist rules for some master craftspeople who own their own businesses.

Regardless of your place of origin, you will always need the certificate of official recognition of your foreign qualifications if you want to work in one of these regulated professions. For regulated professions, the choice regarding formal recognition is typically made as part of the process necessary to grant a license to practice the profession.

Non-Regulated Professions

In Germany, most professions are unregulated. These include jobs requiring credentials obtained through the dual system of vocational training as well as a large number of jobs requiring a university degree. You do not need to have your foreign credentials recognized in order to operate in Germany as a business economist, computer scientist, or baker, for example. For the issuing of a visa to inhabitants of third countries, the recognition of international professional qualifications or the equivalence of a university degree is typically a requirement (i.e. countries outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland).

In contrast to regulated professions or credentials obtained through the dual system of vocational training, there is no recognition process for higher education degrees that do not lead to a regulated profession, such as those received by biologists, physicists, or linguists. In order to be given a residence permit, individuals from a third country who possess such higher education credentials must demonstrate that their foreign academic credentials are accepted as equivalent in Germany. More details on this subject can be found in the anabin database offered by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB). On our website, under the heading "Foreign academic qualifications," is where you can find more specific information