No, the DKF is not a company. It is a project financed by the Federal Ministry of Health and sponsored by the Kuratorium Deutsche Altershilfe (KDA).
No, the DKF is not a recruitment agency or commercial provider of integration and consultation services. The DKF supports the development of content and structures through which the recruitment and placement of international nurses as well as their sustainable social, operational and specialist integration can be promoted.
Working group 4 (nurses from abroad) of the concerted Aktion Pflege campaign of the federal government has passed measures for the acquisition of nurses from abroad. The aim of the Competence Centre is to be involved in the development, support and implementation of measures for the acquisition of people with a nursing or healthcare training from abroad.
The DKF is not a recruitment agency for foreign nurses and cannot recommend any providers either. The DKF also does not offer language courses, nor integrations courses or qualification measures and alignment courses. Neither does the DKF offer comprehensive advice on the international recruitment of nurses.
With the “Welcome Culture & Integration Toolbox”, the DKF offers concrete support, and with the DKF-developed seal of quality, it identifies “good recruitment practice” which can help with orientation.
We can give concrete information about individual points and will refer you to other service provider structures.
Write us an email. We are always interested in experience reports and recommendations.
INGA Pflege is a concept for an operationally integrated professional alignment course for nurses with international vocational qualifications. This is followed by practical induction training at the workplace. The measure combines an intensive integration of subject and language learning with a high degree of guided practical experience. INGA Pflege brings nurses with international vocational qualifications to professional recognition in Germany and at the same time enables them to act on a specialist and communicative level in nursing. The abbreviation INGA stands for Integrierte Ausgleichsmaßnahme in German (“integrated compensation measure” in English). INGA Pflege is currently undergoing a pilot phase.
In this professional alignment course, the nurses undergoing recognition complete a two-week introductory module as well as a three-month basis and development module. This can be followed by an additional supplementary module if there is a need for further qualification. During the professional alignment course, the nurses undergoing recognition alternate between lessons and working in the facility. The language training is already integrated into the measure. INGA Pflege ends with a final interview about the content of the course.
Through the practical deployment at the new workplace, INGA Pflege enables the international nurse to get to know the team and work processes there at an early stage. The recognition process is accelerated in INGA Pflege through a high degree of practice instruction and the combined specialist and language learning during the tuition. The intensive language promotion during the entire professional alignment course ensures that the international nurses are prepared for their communicatively demanding everyday working life in nursing in the best possible way. Self-assurance in the ability to operate in everyday working situations is the centre of focus. To shorten the long preparation time for the language test in the country of origin, international nurses can already take part in this course with a B1 level of German.
INGA Pflege can be implemented in hospitals as well as outpatient and inpatient nursing facilities.
Responsibility for the planning of INGA Pflege lies with the recruiting facility. The DKF is available to employers in an advisory capacity to help with implementation planning and can offer support in setting up a partnership with a school of nursing and language teachers or a language school.
The DKF offers support in coordinating and accompany planning meetings, stakeholder management, consultations on the Welcome Culture & Integration Toolbox, through communication with the competent authorities and networking with the research and transfer centre for societal integration and migration (GIM) on methodological-didactic issues.
The DKF is happy to help in the search, however responsibility for acquisition always lies with the employers.
The individual cost calculation depends on the facility. Differences in the framework conditions of various facilities mean that the DKF cannot give reliable details about the specific costs. The DKF is happy to advise on the personnel and structural prerequisites for INGA Pflege, so that you can calculate the costs for your facility individually.
The funding possibilities for INGA Pflege depend on various framework conditions. The DKF is happy to offer advice here.
INGA Pflege is currently being implemented at three pilot facilities in the federal states of Brandenburg, Hamburg and Saxony.
Currently, INGA Pflege is available for nurses from the Philippines and the Ukraine. Plans to expand the project to further countries are currently underway.
Team teaching means that specialist-subject and language teachers work closely together and design the theoretical and practical lessons together. Responsibility for the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the lessons lies with both teachers.
In order to be able to work as a skilled worker in Germany, nurses who have not qualified for their profession in Germany must apply for a professional licence. The first step on the path towards professional recognition is the equivalence test. The competent authority in the federal state in which the international nurse wants to work checks on the basis of documents whether the international vocational qualification is equivalent to the German nursing training.
If the equivalence test of the competent authority shows that the training contents differ significantly, it issues a so-called deficit assessment, which lists the main differences between the training courses.
In the case of substantial disparities between the international vocational qualification and the German reference profession, nurses can achieve equivalence at a later date through compensation measures.
There are two possibilities. One option is the knowledge test that takes place in a practical and oral form. The second option for compensation measures is professional alignment courses, that finish with a final interview. They need to be coordinated with the recognition authority responsible. For the concept of INGA Pflege, the DKF obtains the necessary approval in advance. You can find further information about compensation measures in our Welcome Culture & Integration Toolbox.
International nurses can choose between a knowledge test and a professional alignment course. Since both formats do not exist in every region, this right to choose cannot always be exercised, and the international nurses have to complete the compensation measure that is offered locally. There is currently no overview of all existing formats offered throughout Germany.
Professional alignment courses are made up of theoretical and practical tuition as well as practical deployments, and finish with a subject-specific interview. INGA Pflege was designed as a professional alignment course.
With the professional alignment course INGA Pflege, the disparities with the German training that have been determined are balanced out in a targeted way. The content builds upon the skills that the international nurses have already acquired. During the programme, the international nurses get to know professional practice in German healthcare and nursing facilities. This practical deployment takes place under the direction of the recruiting facility. This means that their expertise and professional integration is made possible at an early stage. The nurses recruited get to know their new workplace and team during the alignment course. This ensures a sustainable recruitment process and good prospects of the nurses remaining in their jobs in Germany.
The seal of quality “Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany” is a seal of quality operated by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) and therefore of the Federal Republic of Germany. The seal of quality distinguishes the recruitment of nurses from third countries that complies with high ethical standards.
In concrete terms, this refers to the agreements and procedures relating to the acquisitions of nurses. By developing criteria for fair and appropriate recruitment and contractual practices, and by reviewing and making visible compliance with these criteria, Germany is following the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. Recruitment that meets high ethical standards includes, in particular, measures for operational and social integration, language promotion and support during induction training (cited according to the official justification – printed matter 19/30550, p. 101)
The legal basis for the seal of quality is the law on ensuring quality in the acquisition of nurses from abroad (article 15a of the Health Care Further Development Act of 11 July 2021 – BGBl I, p. 2753 et seq.) The law regulates the issuing of the seal of quality and determines requirements for the granting of the seal of quality. The owner of the seal of quality is the Federal Ministry of Heath (BMG). The Kuratorium Deutsche Altershilfe (KDA) is the issuer. The Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) has to approve the issuing of the seal of quality.
You can find the requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to receive the seal of quality in the document Requirements catalogue (last updated 01.10.2022) and Implementation conditions (last updated 01.10.2022). These versions are currently undergoing the legally prescribed adaption procedure, meaning that they may be subject to change.
Third countries – in the meaning of the law on ensuring quality in the acquisition of nurses from abroad – are countries that are not member states of the European Union or contract countries of the agreement on the European Economic Area.
The existence of the prerequisites are checked by appropriately trained, independent examiners.
No. Applying for the Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany seal of quality is voluntary.
All holders of the seal of quality are obliged to follow the requirements of the seal of quality during their activities. Recruitment agencies, in cooperation with their contracting employers, must ensure in a verifiable manner that employers comply with their obligations, which are determined by the seal of quality.
The seal of quality signalises that the recruitment practice of the recruitment agency or self-recruiting employer is fair, ethical and transparent. Since the seal of quality creates trust in the recruitment and integration process, providers who hold the seal of quality have an advantage.
Companies with the Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany seal of quality have to maintain ethical standards and fulfil a catalogue of criteria that takes into account aspects relevant to human and occupational health and safety. These standards include, among others, the Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights of the United Nations, the Labour Standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Welcome Culture & Integration Toolbox of the German Competence Centre for International Skilled Workers in the Health and Nursing Professions (DKF).
In this respect, working with companies that hold the seal of quality offers a guarantee for fair and ethical recruitment with a high degree of transparency compared to recruitment practices, some of which are neither transparent nor meet international standards.
You must send the application for the seal of quality Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany to the Kuratorium Deutsche Altershilfe (KDA) in writing. Please send your expression of interest in applying for a seal of quality to:
Yes, the seal of quality Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany is also granted independently of collaboration with DeFa. A partnership with DeFa is a prerequisite for participation in the funding programme.
No, you can only apply for the seal of quality for nurses who have already trained and qualified abroad. This corresponds to the law on ensuring quality in the acquisition of nurses from abroad and the rules of the residence law.
There are costs involved in the seal of quality. The testing and uses costs are laid down in the adaption procedure.
Companies that have their headquarters outside the EU or the EEA are only entitled to apply for the seal of quality if they have a branch office in the EU or EEA. The branch office must be an independent branch that is able to participate autonomously in legal matters, whilst remaining part of the company (the company headquarters).
The following can apply for the seal of quality:
- Recruitment agencies, who recruit nurses from third countries, as well as
- nursing or health facilities who recruit nurses from third countries by themselves (without the help of a recruitment agency).
You can find information and the application for the RAL seal of quality “Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany” here
You can find information and the application for the RAL seal of quality “Fair Recruitment Healthcare Germany” here
Follow us: