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Your path to recognition as a nurse in Berlin.

You completed nursing training abroad and want to work in your profession in Berlin? Here you can see how recognition works – and how we help you.

Step by stepContact us

Our support is free of charge for you. You pay us nothing – neither for finding a job nor for our help with your documents.

Who we are looking for

Care workers with completed nursing training or a nursing degree from abroad who want to work in a Berlin care facility. For example:

  • You already work as a care assistant (Pflegehilfskraft), and your recognition never started or got stuck.
  • You came to Germany as a refugee and worked as a nurse in your country.
  • You came to Germany with the Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte), as an au pair, to study or to join your family.
  • You still live abroad and want to come to Berlin.

With a qualification from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, your training is usually recognised automatically. In Berlin this takes about 4 to 6 weeks in our experience. The steps below apply to qualifications from all other countries („third countries“, Drittstaaten).

Recognition in Berlin – step by step

In Berlin, the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LAGeSo) decides. From application to permit, it takes about 1 to 1.5 years in our experience – noticeably less with complete documents.

  1. Independent advice

    Get free advice from BBeFaP or IQ Netzwerk Berlin. There you clarify your case – for example, whether waiving the equivalence assessment (Verzicht) makes sense for you.

  2. Collect documents (wave 1)

    Application, proof that Berlin is responsible, CV, ID, certificates, diploma and training records. We help you put them together, translate and certify them.

  3. Apply at the LAGeSo

    By post or via the mailbox at Turmstraße 21, Haus A. There is no online application. The fee is 164 €.

  4. Confirmation of receipt

    By law after one month, in our experience after 2 to 3 months. The office will ask for missing documents.

  5. Decision (Bescheid)

    By law after 4 months, in our experience after 6 to 9 months. The result is either "equivalent", a deficit notice (Defizitbescheid) with a compensation measure, or – after a waiver – the compensation measure directly.

    Interchange: With a waiver, the decision sets the compensation measure directly – the full assessment is skipped.

  6. Compensation measure (Ausgleichsmaßnahme)

    You choose between a knowledge test (Kenntnisprüfung) and an adaptation course (Anpassungslehrgang). During this time you usually already work as a care assistant.

  7. Documents towards the end (wave 2)

    Police clearance certificates, Certificate of Good Standing, medical certificate and your B2 certificate.

  8. Permit

    You receive the permit to use the professional title "Pflegefachfrau" or "Pflegefachmann". With a qualification from a third country, you switch to a residence permit as a skilled worker (§ 18a AufenthG) at the State Office for Immigration (LEA).

With or without a waiver?

Normally the LAGeSo compares your training subject by subject and hour by hour with the German one (equivalence assessment, Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung). This needs many documents.

Since a change in the law, you can waive this assessment (§ 40 (3a) Nursing Professions Act, PflBG). Then you go directly to the compensation measure, need fewer documents and are often faster. The waiver is final and cannot be withdrawn.

Whether the waiver suits you depends on your training. Decide only after independent advice.

Your documents

Translations only by sworn or publicly appointed translators. Copies must be officially certified.

Wave 1 – for the application

  • LAGeSo application form
  • Proof that Berlin is responsible: registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung) or job offer
  • CV in German, signed
  • ID card or passport
  • Birth certificate, marriage certificate if applicable
  • Diploma, professional licence or registration in your home country if applicable
  • Training records with subjects, hours and practical placements (largely not needed with a waiver)
  • Proof of work experience: employer, duration, tasks, hours

Wave 2 – towards the end of the procedure

  • German police clearance certificate (Führungszeugnis, Belegart O), at most 3 months old
  • Police clearance certificate from your home country, at most 3 months old
  • Certificate of Good Standing, at most 3 months old
  • Medical certificate, at most 3 months old
  • German B2 certificate (Goethe, telc, TestDaF or ECL), at most 3 years old

We do not give legal advice. Questions about your individual case can be clarified free of charge at the advice centres below.

Free, independent advice

As of: October 2026

We are happy to help.

Write to us briefly about your training and where you live now. In German or English.

0123 456 78 90

or write to us: kontakt@musterpflege.example