Applying for a residence permit to undertake a skills development programme

If you wish to work in Germany but your professional qualifications have not yet been fully recognised, you may, under certain conditions, be granted a residence permit to undertake a qualification programme.

To this end, a so-called recognition procedure must have been carried out, in which it was determined that further training is required to bridge significant differences between the foreign qualification and German training standards for the

• Recognition of your vocational qualification (assessment of equivalence with a domestic vocational qualification) or
• Granting of a licence to practise (access to the profession).

The training measures include theoretical and practical adaptation and compensation measures, such as:

• Work placements
• theoretical courses
• Hybrids of the two
• Exam preparation courses
• Language courses
• Taking an exam

The residence permit issued for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications is temporary. It is granted for up to 24 months and may be extended for a maximum period of 3 years.

You must have the language skills required for the training programme, usually at A2 level. In some cases, a lower level of language proficiency may be sufficient, for example if further language learning forms part of the training programme.

If your training programme takes place predominantly within a company, the Federal Employment Agency must, as a rule, give its approval.

With your residence permit to practise foreign professional qualifications, you are permitted to undertake employment unrelated to the qualification programme for up to 20 hours per week.