LucaLM

Unusual case, need guidance

Hello. 41 y/o Turkish citizen here. I have a B.A. degree and years of work experience in white collar fields that I'm no longer interested in. Over the last few years, I've transitioned to blue collar work as a furniture designer/woodworker.

My vocational training consisted of one day of classroom courses and four days of apprenticing at a commercial workshop per week (In Turkey), similar to the Ausbildung system in Germany.

I completed my apprenticeship in 2024 and as of June 2025 I'm licensed as a master tradesperson and master trainer in my new field. This training also earned me another high school diploma. As far as I'm concerned, this should get me a chance to seek recognition and/or apply for a job seekers visa.

I'm just not sure whether to mention my previous degrees/certificates and/or work experience when applying for recognition or a visa as those seem irrelevant to my current field of work. Although I'm quite confident that I'll satisfy any reasonable employer with my efficiency and willingness to deliver the best results in the shop, I'm afraid this late-in-life transition might initially be a red flag for some employers.

Another thing I'm not sure about is whether I should go for a job seekers visa or recognition first.

I've exhausted the FAQs and generic help articles I could find online and need a more personalized guidance regarding the whole process (i.e. paperwork, potential pitfalls, processes regarding family members, etc.). The consulting agency in Turkey requires a certain level of German before applying for consultation. I'm bilingual (English and Turkish) but I can't speak German yet. I'd appreciate if you could show me the right direction.

Thanks,

Luca

4 Comments

Reply (4)

Yara__Community_Manager

Updated:

Hello @LucaLM

Thank you for reaching out.
The first step would be to see if you need a recognition and if your training is recognized in Germany. In general, if your training was longer then two years then it is more likely to be recognized in Germany.
It’s a great idea to see, if you need to get your degree recognized or not. We have more information here: https://handbookgermany.de/en/recognition
You can also seek counseling in Turkey
https://www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/en/counselling-search.php

Regarding your question whether a visa for recognition or a visa for job search is better, I would suggest looking into what each visa requires and what requirements you meet. In general, if you seek a job seeking visa you will have to proof a certain level of German required for the job. For the visa for recognition of your qualification at least A2 German is required.

Please have a look at the two different visa applications and their requirements
1) Visa for Job seeking: https://handbookgermany.de/en/visa-jobseekers

2) Visa for the recognition of professional qualifications: https://handbookgermany.de/en/visa-recognition-of-qualifications

Best wishes

Yara__Community_Manager

Maybe @Hannes_volunteer , has some more information for you.
Best wishes

Hannes_volunteer

Dear @LucaLM ,

thank you for your question! I would advise you to see the processes seperately:

- What do employers in the line of work that you are interested in look for/expect from en amployee?

Language

Design furniture makers who have their own brand or standard production in certain companies might be ready to take you in with only knowledge of English. Anyway, as soon as you have to be in touch with German customers, the need for a sufficient level of German might arise. In certain cities with a large German-Turkish community, you might be able to work in Turkish-speaking teams.

Recognition

Woodworker/carpenter/designer is not e regulated profession like e.g. nurse. A company can hire you without a recognition if they deem your competencies and knowledge sufficient for a qualified job. In creative professions, it is important to build a portfolio and send examples of your work, eg on a website or in a pdf document. IT skills like CAD and soft skills are also important to showcase and describe. Anyway, employers in Germany are quite certificate-focused, so that they might ask if what you learned is comparable. A good option is adding an overview of the degree's contents and letters of reference from former or current employers detailling your professional experience.

Also, the page BQ Portal offers information on international vocational education systems, here is the information for Turkey:

https://www.bq-portal.de/db/L%C3%A4nder-und-Berufsprofile/turkei

Your degree might be eligible for recognition if it is listed on this pdf. Possibly it could be better to apply for recognition with the first level of qualification (Ausbildung/Geselle) and not the "Meister", as this needs a lot of documentation of professional experience and 2 subsequent professional degrees.

The chamber of skilled crafts (Handwerkskammer) responsible for the recognition depends on the region where you are seeking for a job/ have a job offer. The chambers in Baden-Württemberg, for instance, are very active in questions of immigration.

The following institution offers detailled counselling on the recognition process: https://www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/de/pro/zsba.php

- How can I get a Jobseeker visa?

In case you have a B.A. degree that is recognised as equivalent to a German B.A., the application for a jobseeker/Chancenkarte visa is much more straighforward. The job that you find in the end needs to be a "qualified job", that means that for filling it, a qualified training or equivalent experience needs to be shown (this will be evaluated by the Employment Agency). Anyway, the job does not need to be linked to the content of the degree you based your visa upon.

You can check the equivalence on the database anabin: https://anabin.kmk.org/cms/public/startseite, unfortunately only in German, or send me the exact title of your BA in Turkish language and I can check for you).

I hope this helped somewhat, please feel free to send follow-up questions.

Best wishes and all the best from Berlin!

Hannes

PS Dear @Yara__Community_Manager thank you for connecting :)

Ida_volunteer

Hi @LucaLM ! First of all, I have to say, congratulations on embarking a new journey after already having a career. This is not an easy thing to do, and you made it. This is huge!

If I were you, I'd just start learning German now. I know it is easier said than done but if you reach B1 level that would open a lot of doors in front of you.

You said you are 'afraid this late-in-life transition might initially be a red flag for some employers'. That might be true in some other, more white-collar professions but I think in your situation it won't be an issue. Germany itself offers a lot of different ways in which people can switch careers so this won't be an unusual story.

I don't know exactly what your craft is, but in general crafts people charge a lot in Germany, as there are not too many of them. I trust that you can find something here. Turkish community here is always on the hunt of a decent craftsperson for custom builds so if you are in that kind of field, with some social media marketing you'd be having clients n no time.

I saw that there was an online webinar held earlier this month. Unfortunately it passed but you can keep an eye on this platform for similar upcoming events or can contact the organizers for a recording or other information maybe? https://eures.europa.eu/craftsmen-germany-2025-07-15_en

Best of luck!

A project by:

Funded by: