Is your degree recognised in Germany? How to check with anabin

Do you check the university or the degree? Both — they are separate entries

anabin holds two things you need to look at separately: your institution and your degree. The institution carries a status code, and this is where most people stop too early.

• H+. A state or state-recognised institution, recognised in Germany.
• H−. Not recognised in Germany.
• H+/−. Recognition depends on additional criteria that have to be examined for a degree from this institution.

Why does an anabin search for an Indian degree come back empty?

Almost always because the search used the college's name. Under the University Grants Commission's rules an Indian college is an institution either founded by a university as a constituent unit or affiliated to it, and the degree is conferred by the university — anabin follows the awarding body, so that university is the name to type.

This catches autonomous colleges too. The certificate carries the college's name while the university awards the degree, so for most graduates the name that works in anabin is not the one on their college letterhead.

In Kerala that usually means one of the state universities — Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, the University of Kerala, the University of Calicut, Kannur University — or, for an engineering degree from an affiliated college, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. Search the full official name rather than the abbreviation everyone uses locally: "Mahatma Gandhi University", not "MG University"; "APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University", not "KTU". A database that has never heard of an abbreviation returns nothing, and an empty result reads exactly like a rejection to someone who does not know this.

Then do the second search. Your institution and your degree are separate entries, and an Indian graduate needs both: the university's status, and the degree designation as it is written on your certificate — Bachelor of Technology, Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science. For the EU Blue Card that second entry is the one an employer's lawyer will ask about, because it is what shows your qualification corresponds to a German degree.

If either search comes back empty or ambiguous, that is the signal to move to the paid route below rather than to argue with the database. What anabin does not answer, the ZAB answers individually.

Do you have to pay anything if your degree is already listed?

If your degree itself is listed in anabin, you can print the evaluation straight from the database at no cost. For many applications that is enough, and it costs nothing but the time to look it up.

Do this before you pay for anything. A surprising number of people apply and pay for a formal assessment that duplicates information already published for free.

When do you actually need the paid Statement of Comparability?

Two situations call for the ZAB's individual Statement of Comparability: your degree is not listed in anabin, or an employer or authority requires an official document rather than a database printout. The statement describes your foreign degree and sets out what it qualifies you for, professionally and academically.

The fee is 208 euros under the ZAB's published fee schedule, checked in August 2026, and a re-issue of a statement you already hold costs 104 euros. Secondary sites still quote 200 and 100 euros; those are the pre-2024 rates, superseded when the Berlin fee ordinance was amended in June 2024. The process runs in a specific order that catches people out: the ZAB emails you a fee notice with the amount, deadline and bank details, you transfer the money within three weeks, and assessment only begins once the correct amount has arrived. The maximum processing time of three months is counted from the point at which both the complete application and the payment are in.

What happens if you apply before you have graduated?

If you have not yet completed your studies, or if your qualification does not correspond to a German university degree, the ZAB will reject the application — and you still pay. This is the one genuinely costly error in an otherwise cheap process.

Check anabin first, finish your degree first, and only then apply.

Do you even need this to work here?

Usually not, in the sense of a permit. Most university-level professions in Germany are not regulated, so you generally do not need an evaluation in order to be allowed to work. Its purpose is different: it makes your qualification readable to German employers and authorities who cannot judge a foreign certificate on sight — and it is regularly needed when applying for the EU Blue Card.

Regulated professions such as nursing or medicine are a different matter entirely and follow their own recognition procedure. If you are in one of those, the qualification assessment is not optional.