Integration and work

• Offers for refugees in Berlin
• Welcome to Berlin – Useful information for getting started
• What help is available to promote integration?
• How can I get further qualifications?
• How can I have my training or my university degree officially recognized?

Learning German is the key to integration. Berlin’s 12 “Volkshochschulen” (adult education centers) offer special German classes for refugees that will help you to get started and to communicate in everyday life.

• Berlin’s “Volkshochschulen” – Courses for refugees (in German)

The “Beratungsstelle für Migrantinnen und Migranten” (advice center for migrants) has information on the following areas and can advise you regardless of your residence status:

1. Asylum law, residence law, and social law
2. Taking up employment
3. Family reunification
4. Getting German citizenship
5. Advice on hardship cases

• Advice center at Berlin’s Commissioner for Integration (in German)

Integration mentors can be an important contact for you. They are a liaison between newcomers and the German authorities, educational institutions, health care institutions, and youth centers.
Integration mentors accompany you when you have an appointment at a government office, a school, or an advice center and help with translation. They can also help you fill out applications and look for language courses and other integration services.

• Integration mentors (in German)

If you don’t know what field you would like to work or be trained in, the Lernnetz’s mobile educational counseling services can help.
They will put together a profile of your skills and abilities and give you information about available educational options and career prospects.

• LernNetz Berlin – Brandenburg e.V. (in German)

If you have already completed training in a skilled trade in your home country or would like to work in that area, please contact ARRIVO BERLIN.
This is also the right partner if you would like to be trained for the restaurant and hotel industry or for the industrial sector.
ARRIVO BERLIN is a joint initiative of Berlin’s Senate Department for Labour, Integration and Women’s Issues, the Handwerkskammer Berlin (Berlin Chamber of Skilled Trades), and the Berliner Netzwerk für Bleiberecht “bridge,” a group of project sponsors working to help refugees on their way to finding jobs. This initiative offers you a chance to try out different occupations in practice workshops and 4-week internships in skilled trade businesses. The internship can lead to an apprenticeship and a job.

• ARRIVO BERLIN (in German)

The Berliner Netzwerk für Bleiberecht “bridge” will assist you on your way to finding work. They can help you look for a job or an apprenticeship.
In addition, “bridge” can help you get a school-leaving qualification on different levels and provide career counseling. It also offers coaching and qualification programs in the area of business.

• bridge – Berliner Netzwerk für Bleiberecht (mostly in German)

If you have completed a training program or a university degree in your home country or have another qualification from that country, you should have this officially recognized in Germany.

• The IQ Landesnetzwerk Berlin (in German)