Equivalency of degree requested after 4 years on the job

Sounds complicated and beyond my knowledge to fully comprehend and answer. But a couple of things come to mind. First of all the claim; "My university has a H+/- status on Anabin because of it's status of a private university which doesn't exist in Germany", doesn't make sense because there are of course both public and private universities in Germany. The thing is that all German public ones will be accredited while private one's not necessarily so. An ANABIN rating of an academic institution of H+ means they are recognized as equivalent to a German one. An H- means they are not. A H+/- means that it depends on the specific degree awarded by the institution; not all are recognized. That a foreign university is public or private is rather irrelevent.

But to have gotten a blue card and/or accepted to a PhD program, this would have had to have been determined already. Neither could have been approved without someone judging the degree(s) to be academically acceptable. Either it has already been done - or your whole situation is in question. Who decided to grant the blue card and on which basis? Who approved the PhD candidacy and didn't they have to have a ANABIN determination on the specific degrees at that point?

Your profile shows that you are Russian. I think if everything was done properly getting the blue card or PhD acceptance then one will not have a problem because of nationality. If something is however in question if it was done correctly, they might use extra scrutiny with the present political situation. And present communication with Russian governmental or academic officials for any verification of degrees issue might be complicated.

I am including a link where one can find explanation of the ANABIN system (German only).

https://anabin.kmk.org/no_cache/filter/ … ionen.html

In my personal opinion, it is fully justified (given the political situation) that the authorities currently do more checks and are stricter with people of Russian origin. If that creates problems for you personally, thank your politicians for it!

That said, I agree with Tom above, that you will probably be able to solve this, as your degree was obviously already accepted for the Blue Card. But the formalities take time - a friend of ours (from Asia) needed more than 4 months to get her degree accepted.

It is true that, without a permission to work, you cannot get unemployment benefits - as availability to the labour market is a precondition. If you have worked and paid taxes before, you are probably eligible for HartzIV (social security payments) in principle, but I am not sure if that is available on a Fiktionsbescheinigung - you may need a proper residence permit for it (Ask at your local Jobcenter!).

In my personal opinion, it is fully justified (given the political situation) that the authorities currently do more checks and are stricter with people of Russian origin. If that creates problems for you personally, thank your politicians for it!
That said, I agree with Tom above, that you will probably be able to solve this, as your degree was obviously already accepted for the Blue Card. But the formalities take time - a friend of ours (from Asia) needed more than 4 months to get her degree accepted.
It is true that, without a permission to work, you cannot get unemployment benefits - as availability to the labour market is a precondition. If you have worked and paid taxes before, you are probably eligible for HartzIV (social security payments) in principle, but I am not sure if that is available on a Fiktionsbescheinigung - you may need a proper residence permit for it (Ask at your local Jobcenter!).
-@beppi

Please read §5 AufenthG

@ekzh

1. I don't have the time to look up the administrative laws to determine whether the officials are allowed to ask for additional documents after 4 years. It should be regulated somewhere in the Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz (VwVfG).

2. You can have your degree officially evaluated by the ZAB within 2 weeks if you include a copy of your employment contract.

https://www.kmk.org/zab/zeugnisbewertung/blue-card.html

3. Applying for welfare benefits can lead to a rejection of your application and an order to leave Germany.

Please read §5 AufenthG
-@Sunshine03

Why? I don't have time and  motivation for such a boring task.

Hello all,

Thank you for all the information that you have shared.

Here is the link to  §5 AufenthG mentioned by Sunshine03 : https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aufe … 4/__5.html

I understand that we all want to help and share any information that we know, but let's kindly do it in a polite way.

Our forums should be a safe and friendly space for all members

Thanks,

Yoginee

Expat.com team

Hello all,
Thank you for all the information that you have shared.

Here is the link to §5 AufenthG mentioned by Sunshine03 : https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aufe … 4/__5.html

I understand that we all want to help and share any information that we know, but let's kindly do it in a polite way.

Our forums should be a safe and friendly space for all members

Thanks,

Yoginee
Expat.com team
-@Yoginee

***Moderated***

Having sufficient funds is a requirement for most permits in Germany (see §5 AufenthG) and filing an application for welfare is an explicit declaration of insufficient funds.

Considering that the local authorities seem to be taking an excessively harsh approach in evaluating the original poster's application, I find it very irresponsible for an expert to recommend filing a welfare application without even considering or caring about the consequences.

@Sunshine03 An explanation like the above would have been much better than just referring to some law. Now it is clear and, of course, you are right.