Because arriving takes courage: recognition of foreign qualifications

"My husband's degree was recognised, so he didn't have to start over." Fatima Aldibo

On December 18, 2022, our documentary "Because arriving takes courage" will be released. In the film, the protagonist Fatima Aldibo from Stralsund tells what steps she had to take and is still taking in order to practice her actual job as a teacher in Germany. Her Syrian university degree was not recognised, so she first completed training as an educator and is now studying social and childhood education at the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences alongside her work in a daycare center.

Professional success cannot be defined uniformly, it has many different facets. In addition to personal satisfaction, there is also: earned income, responsibility in the professional position, the level of security or precariousness or the opportunities for professional advancement within a company. When migrants come to Germany, especially if they have fled in a hurry and have not been able to think deeply about their new beginning, they often first have to deal with the formalities of the German training and labor market. A study by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) shows that when foreign professional qualifications are recognized for migrants, it very quickly leads to positive effects on the labor market - after one year, it is 17% more likely that they will be in a Employment relationship and after three years are already 25% more than people who have not applied for or have not had their professional qualifications recognized.[1] The 2019 data report from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training also states that educational qualifications are one of the biggest factors that influence people's income levels.

In Germany, migrants can have the professional qualifications they have acquired abroad checked for equivalence in comparison with German qualifications. In 2012, this will be regulated by the so-called Recognition Act, which gives people the right to this test, also in order to combat the serious shortage of skilled workers in Germany with simplified access. However, it only applies to professions for which the federal states are not responsible. The state laws regulate teaching professions, many social and medical professions, as well as the profession of educator and architect. Most applications are made in the so-called regulated professions - these are, for example, doctors, pharmacists, psychotherapists or midwives, but also teachers and lawyers. These professions may not be practiced in Germany without state recognition of the qualifications. Many female migrants in Germany are well qualified. Statistics show that almost 15 percent of women with a migration background have a university degree.[2] However, the figures also show that migrant women are less likely to be employed than non-migrant women. In Germany, the labor force participation of women with a migration background was 59 percent, while it reached 75 percent for women without a migration background.[3] In addition, they are often only marginally employed and do not correspond to their actual training and are paid less than women without a migration background. In addition, the employment rates of women from other EU countries are higher than those of women from third countries.[4]

However, the IAB notes that only 19 percent of migrants with formal professional qualifications (no distinction is made here between professional qualifications in regulated and non-regulated professions) who immigrated between 2004 and 2009 in the first two years after their arrival in Germany have applied for recognition, even though this recognition is so important. According to information from Education Report 2016 more than 95 percent of the applications are at least partially accepted.[5]The reasons for not submitting an application are various:

The results of the IAB study indicate that lower costs, simplified procedures and better information about the process and the chances of success could increase. In 2020, the Federal Government adopted the "National Action Plan for Integration", which should also continue to work nationwide on the recognition of foreign professional qualifications with four goals - these include a recognition grant, a central advice center, more networking among the relevant actors and more bundled service structures, especially in the healthcare to be expanded. It should also be about language support and advice, as well as expanding digital formats.[6]

The women with whom we have contact in our work report about the difficulties and hurdles to have degrees recognized - it is associated with costs, bureaucracy, disappointments and a lot of waiting time. In between, the time often has to be bridged with services from the job center and professional suggestions or further training formats are made that have very little to do with the actual training of the women. This leads to frustration and shame, especially for women who are used to making their own living and making decisions on their own. At the round table in Berlin, a Syrian gynecologist reported that she had waited forever for recognition and had still not received an approbation, only permission to practice her profession - even though she had completed her main studies in Ukraine. After several years of training, Fatima Aldibo is now studying at a German university and will therefore have triple training when she finishes it - and unlike her husband, she had to come back from Syria, earn money and raise children, spend years of commitment and motivation, to get back to their real job.

These unfair and stressful conditions can lead to apathy and hopelessness, which negatively affect the self-confidence, but also the financial independence and health of women and their families.  

The equal and simplified participation in the training and labor market, especially for population groups affected by multiple discrimination such as refugee women, is not a sideshow.

We, DaMigra eV, therefore demand a need- and qualification-oriented further education and mediation offer as well as integration and language courses from the responsible authorities. For us, this includes an improved range of language courses as company training, faster and more flexible recognition and transferability of foreign professional and academic qualifications, suitable adaptation qualifications to German professional qualifications and the expansion of childcare options.

This post was created as part of the campaign for our film "Because arriving takes courage". In the documentary, three women with a history of migration report on their way into the German labor market and the hurdles they have to contend with. The film will be released on this website on Migrant Day, 18.12.22/XNUMX/XNUMX.

[1] Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research of the Federal Employment Agency (09.02.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX): Recognition of foreign professional qualifications increases employment opportunities by 25 percentage points

[2] See table “D7 Population aged 25 to under 65 2011-2015 by migration status, sex, age groups and highest professional qualification”. http://
www.integrationsmonitoring-laender.de/tables

[3] Compare table “E1a Employed persons aged 15 to under 65 2011–2017 and employment rates by migration and gender”
based on data from the 2017 Microcensus. https://www.integrationsmonitoring-laender.de/kennen/e1a

[4] The Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration 2019, page 195.

[5] https://www.iab-forum.de/anerkennung-auslaendischer-abschluesse-buerokratieabbau-und-b
better-information-could-increase-the-application-rate/

[6] https://www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/de/pro/aktuelles-nap-i-kernvorhaben-anerkennung.php