First Steps of trying to work as a Nurse in Germany

I'm here again, Monday afternoon, sitting in the old writing room of my grandfather.
I should be doing my german vocabulary right now, start searching up the meanings of the new words 'I encountered in class today. I actually have quite a few lists here with me, because I did'nt do the lists from last week as well.

I'm now in B2 and today was the start of the B2.2. It will go on for another 5 weeks.

Anyway, I would like to write about the Landesgesundheitsamt, or at least my experiences with this 'Amt'.
In order to be recognized as a Registered Nurse here in Deutschland, one must:


-have his Original Highschool and College (Nursing) Diploma
-Transcript of Records (complete with all Notes and Marks from College)
-Certification of Passing National Licensure Examination (in Nursing) in the Land of Origin (in my case, Philippines)
-Certification of License with License Number ( a must)
-License Card (optional if you have the certification)
-Deutsch translations of all documents (recommended)
-Certification of Jobs already taken related to the profession (optional if you do not have a working experience yet)
-Anmeldung / Registration as a City Member from the local Rathaus(City Hall) in a German Statt (City)
- Polizei Führungszeugnisse (Police Clearance) both from Germany and Native Country
-Health Insurance documents (from a doctor saying you are insured)
-B2 Niveau German competence document
-and a self-written letter explaining condition of police records

(again, I recommend having all your documents translated whilst in the Philippines because it costs a lot of time and money to have it done here in Germany)

This proved to be a very long and complicated task. I thought it would have been easy, but no, a lot of steps and phone calls had to and still have to be made.

The Person from the Amt only told us about the first few requirements stated above before and informed us only last week about all the Police records also needed.
And those documents must not be older than 3 months.

That'S where the problem lies now. I'm almost half a year here in Deutschland and how am I supposed to produce copies of the police records from my city, thousands of miles away, in the nearest possible time?

The person shoud've at least told us sooner so that we could have applied for it months ago together with the License Certification which she also needed, which Ialso did'nt have yet at that time.
I have done some research, and it turns out I have to go the the nearest consulate, get a form, ask for assistance with the thumbprinting and all, send this form to the Philippines, ask someone from the family in the Philippines to give this to the police or NBI office, wait months for it to be processed, retrieve it, have it translated in Manila, send it back here in our place in Germany, and finally send it back again to this Amt/office.
All these things to be done and by the time the document is here, it has to be not older than 3 months.
Oh well.
and to top it all off, the person handling me in this Office has gone on Urlaub (vacation) since yesterday until later April.

Bureaucracy maybe, but it doesnt only happen here. It is the same in all countries. However, one can just laugh at it instead and not be so stressed and worked up on it.

And anyway, once you want to have something, you'be got to really work hard for it right? :)

I am. I am not letting myself be stressed. Anyway, I still have to finish my B2 course before I can work.

So to the people/nurses/ professionals out there, seeking ways on how to practice their profession here in Deutschland, my advice is: Do not give up, even if all the Amts say no.

I know one woman from my German Class, she's a nurse from Argentina, she passed her exams, has already worked for 2 years in Argentina, and when she came here, one Amt of the same type, assessed her documents and experiences and told her that they are not enough. They advised her to take up another 3 years of Ausbildung and finsih C1 with a TestDaf test, before they can permit her to work as a nurse here.

I'M sure nurses here from foreign countries have had lighter experiences than this. Maybe this is'nt how it works in all Offices. So again my advice: do not give up, keep on asking questions, yes, even in offices where you think you would never get a right answer from.

If you are just pushy enough, things will manage to somehow push through for sure.

For me and my things here: I think I'll wait a little bit more.
This Friday, I'm calling the Krankenhaus (hospital) again, and see if I can get a small job, not as a nurse, but maybe as an assistant, and hopefully have an interview schedule next week.

Everything looks scary, especially for me, since I just graduated last April and passed my exams last August and went here in germany last September, meaning I never had any real working experience yet as a nurse except from my eductaion. Sometimes I feel like I forgot everything that I have learned and sometimes this thought comes in that maybe I will not meet the expectations of my employers, but I still have to take a step forward, amidst all these fears and troubles.

I will keep on posting on new developments or improvements . If anyone has questions , you are most welcome to send me a message, or einfach just leave a comment and I'll do my best to try and answer and be of some help.
Till next post! Eine schöne Woche to everyone.


(from http://www.google.de/imgres?um=1&hl=de&sa=N&biw=1140&bih=562&tbm=isch&tbnid=7wXPD4V0-qhe1M:&imgrefurl=http://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/blogs/326/us-bureaucracy&docid=m86VnKjzVI7zLM&imgurl=http://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/system/files/user326/bureaucracy.gif&w=511&h=367&ei=ICZvT9qNGOHg4QSC3si_Ag&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=331&vpy=136&dur=2610&hovh=190&hovw=265&tx=162&ty=96&sig=102075461633905485822&page=1&tbnh=108&tbnw=144&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0)