Because India is facing a shortage of nursing staff overall, the WHO has recommended the European countries not to appoint nurses from there to avoid a further nursing shortage in the donor country. But this shortage doesn’t count for each individual state in India. Therefore, within the last two years, the Indo-German Centre for Healthcare Sustainability, the WE CARE employer’s association, the German Care Academy and the Medizin Park Rhein-Ruhr AG have been communicating with the WHO, the German Government and single Indian state ministries to find out, whether they are facing a shortage or not. For example, our organization has already received letters from some states with the assurance, that they are able to send a specific number of nurses to Germany easily.

The new immigration law of Germany has opened a door for interested candidates to get the so-called Job-seeking visa for six months (if they have passed a B2 language level). Therefore, a lot of Indian nurses are coming to Germany in this way.
But right now, they face a lot of problems, when coming to Germany: Because of the lack of language (especially colloquial language and dialects) and not having the German accreditation, those nurses are often able to work only as nursing assistants for years. Even if some of them are trying to get the German accreditation, 80% of them fail the recognition test, as the relevant authority told us. Therefore, they spend many years in Germany without support and direction and without making reasonable money.

On top of that, it is only a small percentage of people from India that is even able to travel to Germany: Normally, the chance to get a job placement abroad only exists for few people, either they are financially able to do so, or they have relatives that already live abroad. Financially underprivileged people stay in their status for generations and never get a chance to go abroad to earn better money. Therefore, our project partner focuses on the selection of the financially underprivileged community in India.

To manage all these problems, the following training program has been developed by the German Care Academy (GCA) for the year 2021.

1. Language courses in German (A1 to B2 level and also specific language for nursing care). These courses will take place in full time (eight hours); half of those should have taken place in presence and are therefore compulsory. The other half should have been conducted online (as self-training) and therefore voluntary.
   
   

   Because of the pandemic, currently only online courses are offered. The participants can participate in these language courses either in India or in Germany. In Germany, instead of more than one year (that the language course usually takes in India), they would only spend six months with an intensive language course. It is therefore more expensive, but these costs are worth regarding the fact, that they save nine months to one year of time and the probability that their language skills are better at the end, when they spend more time in Germany and have to speak German to manage everyday life.

2. After the language course, the candidates will be joining an intensive and voluntary integration/orientation course in Germany. Within the integration training they will be taught about their rights and laws in Germany. The candidates should also learn about the German system and their future everyday life within this time, which is why they are offered an explanation of official procedures and practical tips on stores, bus and train journeys, doctor visits and behavior in emergency situations. During this time, the candidates only have to pay their accommodation; there are no training fees.
   
   
3. After the integration training, they will be placed in our cooperating hospitals and old age homes to make practical experience. At the same time, they will get an accreditation course as a preparation for the final examination test to get the German nursing accreditation and to start working as accredited nurses in Germany. Depending on the Indian certificate and studied hours, some states in Germany also recognize the Indian certificate without accreditation training.
   
   

   The fees for the training are about 3,000 EUR and the exam fees are about 1,000 EUR. For candidates who are in our “holistic care” package, we will get sponsorships so that they don’t have to pay the fees on their own. Our candidates will get a nursing assistance salary during this time.

4. We are also offering further support in the candidates’ first two years in Germany. We therefore want to act as a contact partner, if the candidates have any problem regarding their job by creating a social network so that the candidates feel less homesick and can communicate with each other.

With these four steps, the GCA is therefore offering a “holistic care” package consisting of the language course (A1 to B2), integration/orientation training, and accreditation training and job placement for a total expense of 1.0 Lakh Rs (instead of 2.5) for all those, that are included into the model project and signed for it. According to Abhayam’s recommendation, they will get 50,000 Rs back and also the flight charge will be taken over by us, depending on the candidates’ financial status.

For people, that aren’t interested in the model project, but want to profit from single aspects of it, the costs are about 2.5 Lakhs Rs. We have signed an MoU with a German Government department under the Ministry of health. Because of our MoU and the part of our model project, our candidates don’t have to worry about their accreditation, visa and other documents and procedures, because our governmental partner will prepare the documents, get the permission from the foreign department and forward the visa and accreditation documents to the consulate office instead of each single person apply to the consulate and then the documents come to Germany, getting back to the consulate etc., which would take too much time. Even to get the appointment at the consulate is difficult. In this model project, we and our governmental partner will manage the whole procedure from Germany.

Those candidates who are planning to apply for the so-called job-seeking visa or who are already attending a language course and wish to have our “holistic care” coverage, can continue the language course in the German Care Academy in any language level. Anyone who is not interested in our holistic care package, but in single components of the program, and who is able to pay the training fees (for the German language course from A1 to B2 either in India or in Germany, integration/orientation course or accreditation course in Germany), can apply to us to get a calculation of the exact costs they would have to manage regarding to their status and demands. More information can be found on www.Germancareacademy.eu and www.igchs.com.

There is also a special program to support the Indian doctors who want to work in Germany. As a second step, we also want to offer educational twinning trainings in 2022 and in the following years training courses for technical professions (from auto mechanics to avian techniques).

The Indo-German Centre for Healthcare Sustainability (IGCHS) is not a recruitment agency. IGCHS is coordinating projects between India and Germany. The GCA is a teaching institute now. Starting from July, it also offers recruitment and job placements. But if somebody has learned the language, is attending the accreditation course in Germany and wants help to find a hospital or old age home to work in, we are ready to help now.