Work In Germany as a Foreign-Educated Nurse

Steps To Work In Germany As A Nurse

In Germany, anyone wishing to work in nursing requires a licence. In order for your professional qualifications to be recognized, you often need to take an adaptation course to bring your language and professional skills in line with the requirements. Applications for the recognition of professional qualifications need to be submitted to the competent authority of the German Land in which you intend to work. 

Persons wishing to become nursing professionals can choose between three different vocational training programmes. They can train to become ‘nurses’, ‘geriatric nurses’, or ‘paediatric nurses’. All three of these vocational training programmes take three years to complete.

 The theoretical part of the training takes place at a vocational school or nursing school, whilst the practical part takes place at the workplace. Applicants need to have a school-leaving certificate obtained after 10 years of schooling; if they have completed vocational training in the field of nursing assistance or nursing support, a school-leaving certificate obtained after 9 years is enough. 

No matter whether they want to train as nurses, geriatric nurses or paediatric nurses, applicants need to bring a number of key skills to the job. They need to be diligent, emphatic, responsible, emotionally stable and in good physical shape in order to meet the wide range of tasks they will be faced with. Potential employers are hospitals and nursing homes, but also, depending on the type of training completed, outpatient care services, residential homes for the elderly, children’s hospitals and many more

If your application is granted, you are entitled to work across the whole country, irrespective of the Land in which your application has been granted. In order for your application to be successful, the following requirements need to be met

There are few key steps foreign-educated nurses will need to take in order to obtain a position as an RN in a Germany Hospital.

1. Meet the educational requirements
2. Take and pass an German language proficiency test (mandatory).
3. Obtain credential evaluation  
4. Find a nursing recruiting agency or German-based employer
5. Apply and obtain an RN immigrant visa/green card
6. RN visa interview and medical examination
7. Accept an RN position