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Equivalence Determination of professions in the craft sector with professional qualifications from abroad

You can have your foreign professional qualification in the craft sector officially recognised.
For some craft professions, you must have your professional qualification recognised.
Recognition always improves your chances on the German job market.

Description

There are about 200 different professions in the craft sector in Germany.

For 41 professions in the skilled trades, you need a specific professional qualification. These are the "crafts subject to approval". Only with the necessary professional qualification are you allowed to work independently in these professions on a permanent basis. These 41 regulated professions are subject to further regulations.

All other professions in the craft sector are not regulated. This means that if you want to work independently in these professions on a permanent basis, you do not need a specific professional qualification.
You do not have to have your foreign professional qualification recognised. However, they have the right to a recognition procedure. The procedure is called "equivalence determination". An equivalence determination brings you advantages:

At the end of the procedure, you will receive a notification of equivalence. The notification is proof of your professional qualification.
The decision is an official and legally secure document. You and your employers can rely on the content.
The decision increases your chances on the job market. Employers can better assess your professional qualifications with the decision.

The competent bodies for determining equivalence in the craft sector are the regional chambers of crafts or the chambers of industry and commerce.
The responsible authorities will advise you before the application is submitted and identify the right profession in the craft sector for you.

Required documents

The competent authority will inform you which documents you need to submit. Important documents are in general:

Proof of identity (passport or identity card)
List in tabular form with your education and professional experience (curriculum vitae)
Evidence of formal qualifications
Certificate attesting to the nature and duration of the relevant professional practice
a declaration that you have not yet submitted an application for an equivalence assessment
possibly proof that you want to work in Germany

The competent authority will inform you which documents you must submit in the original or as certified copies.
You must submit your documents in German. The translations must be made by publicly appointed or authorised translators.

Forms

Forms: Forms can be obtained from the competent authority.
Online procedure possible: via the Point of Single Contact
Written form requirement: possibly
Personal appearance required: no

Online procedure for the Point of Single Contact
Note: Online procedures are generally only possible for professional qualifications from the EU, EEA and Switzerland in the 41 regulated craft trades.

Prerequisites

They have formal training in crafts from abroad.
You would like to work in Germany in the profession in question.

Basis for legal action

Procedure

You submit a written "application for equivalence assessment" with the necessary documents to the competent body.
For professional qualifications from EU/EEA/Switzerland: You can submit the application and the documents directly to the competent body or to the Point of Single Contact. You can also submit the application electronically via the Point of Single Contact.
The competent authority will then compare your professional qualification from abroad with the German professional qualification and check the equivalence. If your professional qualification is equivalent, it will be recognised. You will receive the notification of equivalence (recognition notice) by post.
If your professional qualification is not equivalent, it will not be recognised. You will receive a notification of the differences between your foreign professional qualifications. With this notification, you can further qualify yourself and later submit a new application for equivalence determination.
You can take legal action against the decision of the competent authority. The decision will then be reviewed. We recommend that you first talk to the competent authority before taking legal action against the decision.

Deadlines

None.
Sometimes documents are still missing in the procedure. The competent authority will then inform you by when you must submit the documents later.

Processing time

The responsible office will confirm that your documents have arrived after a maximum of one month. The competent authority will inform you if documents are missing.

If all necessary documents are available, the procedure takes a maximum of 3 months.
In individual cases, the procedure may be extended once.

Costs

The procedure costs money. The competent authority will inform you about the costs. The costs generally depend on the effort for processing.

In addition, additional costs may be incurred (e.g. for translations or certifications of your documents). These costs vary from person to person.

Notes (specifics)

Qualification analysis
You have completed formal training but cannot provide all the necessary documents? Then you may be allowed to undergo a qualification analysis. This means that you can prove your professional skills in practice. The competent authorities will inform you.
Procedure for ethnic German repatriates
As a Spätaussiedler, you can go through the recognition procedure either according to the laws mentioned here or according to the Federal Expellees Act. You can decide for yourself.

Area of validity

Hesse

Official approval

Officially approved by Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on 23.10.2018

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