Germany is pushing ahead with the next package of its Fachkräfteeinwanderungs-offensive. On 23 January the Health Committee of the Bundestag announced a public hearing for 28 January on the draft ‘Gesetz zur Beschleunigung der Anerkennung ausländischer Berufsqualifikationen in Heilberufen’.
If adopted, the bill would impose a 12-week statutory deadline on state medical councils to process equivalency applications submitted by non-EU doctors, nurses and dentists. It also introduces the concept of ‘Anerkennungspartnerschaften’, allowing hospitals that meet quality benchmarks to provisionally employ foreign professionals under supervision while paperwork is finalised – a model inspired by Canada’s express-entry bridging permits.
VisaHQ can help employers and medical professionals stay ahead of these coming changes: through its dedicated Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), the platform pre-screens documents, schedules consular appointments and monitors application status in real time, ensuring that hospitals and incoming clinicians can synchronise visa filings with the new 12-week recognition window.
![Bundestag schedules public hearing on fast-track recognition of foreign health-care credentials]()
For employers the proposal is more than red tape relief: waiting times for licence recognition frequently exceed nine months, delaying visa issuance under § 39 BeschV. The new clock-stop rules would let HR teams line up employment contracts, start residence-permit procedures earlier and reduce the costly reliance on temporary nursing agencies.
Trade bodies such as the German Hospital Federation (DKG) back the bill but warn that Länder authorities will need extra staff and IT upgrades or the deadline will prove toothless. The Federal Chamber of Physicians has signalled conditional support, provided that patient-safety standards remain intact through mandatory language tests and supervised practice assessments.
Stakeholders can submit written comments until noon on 26 January. The hearing will be live-streamed, giving relocation providers and global mobility managers a chance to gauge the political mood before scheduling new overseas recruitment drives.
If adopted, the bill would impose a 12-week statutory deadline on state medical councils to process equivalency applications submitted by non-EU doctors, nurses and dentists. It also introduces the concept of ‘Anerkennungspartnerschaften’, allowing hospitals that meet quality benchmarks to provisionally employ foreign professionals under supervision while paperwork is finalised – a model inspired by Canada’s express-entry bridging permits.
VisaHQ can help employers and medical professionals stay ahead of these coming changes: through its dedicated Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), the platform pre-screens documents, schedules consular appointments and monitors application status in real time, ensuring that hospitals and incoming clinicians can synchronise visa filings with the new 12-week recognition window.
For employers the proposal is more than red tape relief: waiting times for licence recognition frequently exceed nine months, delaying visa issuance under § 39 BeschV. The new clock-stop rules would let HR teams line up employment contracts, start residence-permit procedures earlier and reduce the costly reliance on temporary nursing agencies.
Trade bodies such as the German Hospital Federation (DKG) back the bill but warn that Länder authorities will need extra staff and IT upgrades or the deadline will prove toothless. The Federal Chamber of Physicians has signalled conditional support, provided that patient-safety standards remain intact through mandatory language tests and supervised practice assessments.
Stakeholders can submit written comments until noon on 26 January. The hearing will be live-streamed, giving relocation providers and global mobility managers a chance to gauge the political mood before scheduling new overseas recruitment drives.
