Since March 2024 an employer and a worker can agree to start the recognition procedure after arrival. The worker comes with A2 German and a two-year qualification, works in a skilled role from the first day, and the procedure — with any compensation measure — is completed in Germany.
The employer and the worker sign a recognition partnership: the worker holds a qualification that is state-recognised in the Philippines and required at least two years of training, and German at A2; the employer commits to apply for recognition after entry and to make compensation measures possible — an adaptation period, a knowledge test or a qualification course. The worker receives a residence permit, starts skilled work immediately, and the procedure runs in Germany with a three-year horizon.
For nurses it is the standard private-recruitment route: a BSN with PRC licence has good prospects of equivalence, the nurse works as a Pflegehilfskraft until the Land authority issues the licence, and reaches B2 and the Fachsprachprüfung in Germany.
In exchange the employer gets a worker months earlier than a full pre-entry recognition would allow. Everything here is subject to applicable German recognition, immigration, licensing and labour-law requirements.
It suits nurses, allied-health professionals and diploma-holding technicians whose employer wants the German title. It does not suit candidates with short-course certificates only — the two-year training test applies here as on the experience route — and it is slower than the experience route for tariff-bound employers who do not need the title.
The partnership permit is tied to the procedure; if equivalence cannot be established even after compensation measures, the residence purpose ends. We assess equivalence prospects with the recognition authority's public criteria before recruiting.
The partnership is with the employer that made the commitment; changes require the authority's involvement.
Three to twelve months depending on the Land, plus the time to B2 for the licence.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.