LAGeSo (Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales Berlin)

LAGeSo is a Berlin state agency with a wide remit, from disability services to care home supervision. For health professionals, the relevant part is department IV A, the Landesprüfungsamt für Gesundheitsberufe (state examination office for health professions), which includes the unit for recognising foreign qualifications. It is based at Turmstraße 21, 10559 Berlin.

If you want to work in Berlin, for example at Charité, this is the authority that decides whether you can use your professional title. It plays the role that a Landesprüfungsamt or similar office plays in other states.

• Doctors, dentists, pharmacists and psychotherapists trained outside the EU apply for the Approbation or a Berufserlaubnis.
• Nurses, midwives, physiotherapists and other health professionals trained outside the EU apply for the permit to use the professional title (Erlaubnis zum Führen der Berufsbezeichnung), which LAGeSo says allows permanent, independent practice anywhere in Germany. For nurses that title is Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann.

1. Download the application form and document checklist from LAGeSo's page for qualifications from outside the EU. Missing documents can be sent later.
2. Send everything by post or drop it in the letterbox at Turmstraße 21, Haus A. LAGeSo says you do not need to attend in person.
3. Prove German at B2 (C2 for speech therapists) with a certificate from the Goethe-Institut, telc, TestDaF or an ECL-certified school, no older than three years. LAGeSo checks certificates for authenticity and does not accept telc certificates from Serbian language schools.
4. If your training differs substantially and experience does not cover the gap, you take a Kenntnisprüfung or an adaptation course.

Fees follow Berlin's health fee schedule, published on the same page. If you still live abroad, LAGeSo recommends the free advice of the Central Service Centre for Professional Recognition (ZSBA) at [email protected].

For doctors, LAGeSo's medicine page names the Federal Medical Code (BÄO) and the Licensing Regulations for Doctors (ÄApprO) as the legal basis, and says anyone who wants to practise medicine in Germany needs an Approbation. The same office runs Berlin's state medical exams and offers online application for the Approbation. Doctors trained outside the EU usually also sit a Fachsprachprüfung and, where differences are found, a Kenntnisprüfung, while a Berufserlaubnis can bridge the wait. Our Kenntnisprüfung guide covers the exam.

The recognition unit takes calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 13:00 to 15:00, with separate numbers by surname, and answers email and letters. Personal appointments are only given by individual arrangement, requested by email with a reason. LAGeSo's health professions section also issues certificates of good standing and verifications.

• Out-of-date language certificates, older than three years.
• Turning up without an appointment. Use post, email or the letterbox.
• Long waits, so apply early and send a complete file.