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For 10 years, the official website "Make it in Germany" has accompanied many stories in the field of skilled immigration. On the anniversary page, qualified professionals share their personal experiences, voices from the partner network reflect on political developments and employers provide insights into successful recruitment abroad. Moreover, the timeline shows how the project has developed in the last 10 years.

The German companies benefit from increase in recognition of foreign professional qualifications. The Federal Statistical Office reports a 20% increase over the previous year. This is a particularly important signal in times of skills shortages.

United Nations honors the BQ-Portal – the information portal for foreign professional qualifications, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, with the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) on June 26th, 2024.

Twelve months after the BQ information portal for foreign professional qualifications first went online, the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Dr. Philipp Rösler, looked back on a successful year and stressed that additional support should be provided to companies wanting to have foreign qualifications recognised.

According to data published today by the Federal Statistical Office, more and more applications for professional recognition are being filed in. In 2017, some 25,000 new applications were submitted (a 9 percent increase over the previous year) and 21,800 qualifications were recognized (a 14 percent increase over the previous year). Since the Recognition Act came into effect in 2012, some 111,500 applications for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications were submitted, the Federal Statistical Office reports.

On 30 November, the German Government agreed its key points on the immigration of skilled workers from third countries. It thus paves the way for the most modern immigration law Germany has ever had. The key points provide for facilitating immigration firstly for skilled workers with recognised foreign vocational qualifications, secondly for skilled workers with proven professional experience, and thirdly by introducing an opportunity card for job-seeking.

The IQ Competence Centre for Counselling and Job Training of Migrants in cooperation with the IQ Competence Centre for Securing Skill Base supports the implementation of § 17a of the German Residence Act with a new guideline in English. This guide, which was originally published in German, aims to provide all relevant stakeholders with a practical, easy-to-understand summary of the main steps, players and requirements involved in the procedures around Section 17a of the German Residence Act.