Legal procedure

This guide should make it easier for you to employ a migrant for a care service job. The project team has developed this step-by-step guide as a catalog of questions that you may ask when employing a migrant care worker, specially focusing non-EU citizens, who are legal or illegally staying in Germany, with or without officially recognized certificates in the care sector.

It depends on the specific situation of the migrant, which procedure and which documentation you have to apply for, obtain or hand in. Please find more specific details on the documentations and the relevant authority in the German version of this guide.

This guide was developed in 2020. Laws and procedures may undergo changes in the future so it is important to review some steps of the guide and verify the procedures with the responsible authority.

1. Does the migrant belong to an EU country?

2. The migrant you wish to employ is not an EU citizen. Does the person have a residence permit?

The person needs to obtain a work and a residence permit to be allowed to work legally in Germany.

3. What type of documents does the person need to be allowed to legally work in the care sector?

To work as a skilled or qualified worker in the social and healthcare sector, it will be mandatory to have an official qualification that certifies professional skills. If the migrant person has no officially certified qualifications, s/he must apply for the recognition of her/his certificates and her/his professional experiences.

4. How to apply for the validation of a foreign professional certificate?

4.1 Visit www.recognition-in-germany.de and use the recognition finder to identify your profession and to know exactly where and how you can apply for recognition.

4.2 Use one of the counselling centers provided by the Network “Integration through Qualification (IQ)” for personal counselling. You will find them nearby across Germany:
https://www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/en/counselling-search.php

 Bring these documents with you to the counselling:

• • Curriculum vitae
  • Certificates with a summary of subjects and grades
  • Proof of employment, if available (e.g. employment references or time book)
  • Identification (e.g. personal identification, identification card) or residence permit.
  • If you have already applied for a recognition procedure: Letters and notices from the competent authority.

 Do you already have documents translated into German? If so, bring these with you to the counselling.

(Source: www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de)

4.3 Apply for recognition at the competent authority of the federal state where you live and (want to) work.

The following documents are always necessary:

• • Application form or application without a specified form
  • Proof of identity
  • Evidence of your professional qualification
  • Evidence of the content and duration of your professional qualification
  • In many cases, you may be required to submit the documents. Find out which documents you need to submit in the Recognition finder or ask your counsellor.

Do you no longer have all the documents relating to your professional qualification? If so, you may be able to provide evidence of your professional competencies in a skills analysis. The skills analysis is available for dual training occupations, master craftsperson occupations and advanced training occupations. A skills analysis may be a:

• • Work sample
  • Professional discussion
  • Trial work in a company

There are also other procedures in the regulated sector (all nursing professions). For example, you can complete an adaptation period or take a test.

(Source: www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de)

4.4 If you do not receive recognition, there are several options:

• • You can achieve recognition by participating successfully in training. Please seek advice regarding this. Many training courses are free of charge. There are the following types of training:
  • For regulated professionsyou can complete a compensation measure. The compensation measure must compensate for the substantial differences identified in the notice. Following successful participation, you submit the certificate to the competent authority You then receive the positive notice. Normally you do not need to submit a new application for recognition.
  • For non-regulated professionsyou can complete refresher training. Following successful participation, you receive a certificate. You are then able to submit a follow-up application for recognition. You submit this with the certificate and your other documents to the competent authority.

(Source: www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de)

5. How and where to legalize the certified documents (titles, diploma etc.)?

In countries that have signed the Hague Convention, the legalization of documents begins with the recognition of their signatures by the academic authority of the country that issued them, and concludes with the Apostille of The Hague issued by the competent authorities of the country, that is, by a simplified method of legalizing documents in order to verify their authenticity. The academic documents issued in the rest of the countries have to be legalized through diplomatic channels in the following organizations and in the order indicated:

Legalization by the Ministry of Education of the country of origin

Legalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country where the documents were issued

Legalization by diplomatic or consular representation of Spain in the issuing country.

6. What is the deadline to resolve and notify the validation of the certificates?

The deadline to resolve and notify the resolution of the certificate or the title three months from the reception of the same.