Have the equivalence of certificates of ethnic German repatriates recognised in accordance with the BVFG

Are you a late repatriate and would like to have your vocational qualification recognised? Find out more here.  

As a late repatriate, you are entitled to a recognition procedure for your educational qualifications. It will be checked whether your degree is comparable to a German degree.
You can have school, university and vocational qualifications recognised.
You can have your vocational qualification compared with any profession that exists or no longer exists in Germany.
Your work experience is usually not taken into account.

• Proof of recognition as a late repatriate
• Proof of your degree (school, university or vocational qualification)

All you need to do is submit an informal application.

• You are a late repatriate
• You obtained your degree in a resettlement area

In order to have your degree obtained abroad verified, you must submit an application. Please send this to the responsible office. Which office is responsible for you depends on the following factors:

• your foreign degree,
• your place of residence or work.

The competent authority compares your degree obtained abroad with the German reference degree. If no significant differences are found in this comparison, you will be certified as fully equivalent.

If there is partial equivalence, the competent authority in the regulated professions will give you specific measures that you can take to compensate for the differences.

"Regulated" means that you need recognition of your professional qualifications in order to practice the profession or to use the professional title.

In the professions for which you do not necessarily need recognition (non-regulated), you will receive a notification in which the differences identified are described in detail. This allows you to apply directly to employers or choose an individually tailored training course.

The recognition procedure ends with either a positive or a negative decision.

Partial recognition is not envisaged.

None.

Fees apply. However, these depend on the scope of your recognition procedure.

If you have lost certificates of competency for your profession, they can be reissued.

You can also go through the equivalence procedure according to the Federal Qualification Assessment Act (BQFG). This is possible for 600 professions that are regulated by federal law. You can find out exactly which professions this applies to on the federal government's website (BQ portal).