State recognition in the country of training

For some residence titles, like the visa for a recognition partnership, the visa for professionally experienced workers or the opportunity card “points system” option, it is required to provide evidence that the foreign qualification is recognised by the state in the country in which it was obtained. Depending on the type of qualification, the following options of providing evidence are available to you:

Digital Statement on a Foreign Vocational Qualification (DAB)

The Digital Statement on a Foreign Vocational Qualification (DAB) confirms that your professional qualification fulfils the following requirements:

• Your vocational training entails a full-time training period of at least two continuous years.
• You completed the vocational training successfully.
• Your professional qualification is recognised by the state in the country of training. 

The DAB is issued by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB).

Important: an application for the DAB procedure can only be submitted for non-academic professional qualifications, regardless of whether the profession is regulated (e.g. nurse) or not (hotel manageress). 

Detailed information on the procedure, the required documents and the costs can be found on the ZAB website.

Statement of Comparability for Foreign University Degrees or positive results in the anabin database

For foreign academic degrees, two options for providing evidence are available to you:

• Positive results in the anabin database: evidence that your degree is recognised by the state in your country of origin
• Statement of Comparability for Foreign University Degrees: an official evaluation of your degree by the ZAB

What can these types of evidence be used for?

• Evidence for the comparability with a German academic degree (e.g. for the EU Blue Card or a different occupation as skilled worker)
• Evidence of state recognition in the country of origin (e.g. for the opportunity card “points system” option