Source: BUS Sachsen-Anhalt (Linie6Plus)

Apply for general swearing-in as a court interpreter with a foreign professional qualification

Description

Working as a sworn court interpreter is regulated in Germany. This means that in order to be able to work permanently as a court interpreter in Germany, you need to be sworn in. You can also be sworn in with a qualification from abroad.

To do so, you must have your foreign qualification recognized beforehand. This is a different procedure. The competent authority compares your qualification with a German qualification and carries out an equivalence test. The competent body for the equivalence test depends on which professional qualification you have acquired.

Note: If there is no comparable interpreting examination for your qualification in Germany, you may be able to prove your professional qualification in another way. The competent office for general swearing-in will inform you.

If your qualification has been recognized as equivalent, you can apply for the general swearing-in at the competent office. You must also meet other requirements for the general swearing-in. One important requirement, for example, is the necessary reliability.

Prerequisites

Professional aptitude: You have the necessary language skills in German and the language to be sworn. And you have basic knowledge of German legal language.
Personal suitability: You are reliable for the work as a court interpreter. You have a health condition sufficient for the work and have no criminal record.
You live in orderly financial circumstances.
You are a citizen of a country of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. Or you live in one of these countries or are professionally established there.
Minimum age: You are at least 18 years old.

Required documents

Resume
Proof of your expertise: Certificate of equivalence
If you do not have a certificate of equivalence, you may be able to prove your professional knowledge in another way: for example, through a university degree, language skills at level C2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), or a state verification of language skills.
Perhaps: proof of basic knowledge of German legal terminology.
Evidence of your personal suitability:
- Certificate of good conduct for submission to a public authority: The document must be no more than 6 months old at the time of application.
- Declaration as to whether you have received a sentence or a measure of correction in the last 5 years before submitting your application.
- Declaration as to whether insolvency proceedings have been opened against your assets and a discharge of residual debt has not yet been granted. Or whether you are entered in the debtors' register.

If your documents are not available in German, you must submit German translations of your documents. The translations must be made by translators who are publicly appointed or authorized.

You may have to submit further documents during the procedure. The responsible office will inform you.

Deadlines

Sometimes documents are still missing in the procedure. The responsible office will then inform you by when you have to submit the documents.

Processing time

Processing Time: 3 Months
The competent office will acknowledge receipt of your application within one month. The competent office will inform you if further documents are required. If you have submitted all the required documents, you will receive a decision with the result after 3 months at the latest. In certain cases, the competent body may extend the procedure by one month.

Legal remedy

You can take legal action (for example, file an appeal) against the decision of the responsible office within a certain period of time. The decision will then be reviewed. Details on this can be found in the appeal instructions at the end of your decision. You should first talk to the responsible office before taking legal action against the decision.

Responsible body

Procedure

Application

You submit an application for general swearing-in as a court interpreter to the competent office. You can hand in the application with the documents to the competent office or send it by mail. Do not send originals. Sometimes you can send the application electronically. The competent body will inform you.
The competent body will then check whether you have the necessary expertise and meet all other requirements.

Equivalency notice

In order to apply for general swearing-in, your professional qualification must have already been recognized in Germany. This is a different procedure at another competent authority. Here, the equivalence of your qualification from abroad with a German qualification is examined. If your qualification is equivalent, you will receive a decision. With this, you can prove your professional suitability for the general swearing-in at the competent office.

If there is no comparable interpreting examination in Germany for your foreign qualification, you may be able to prove your expertise in another way. For example, through a foreign university degree or language skills at level C2 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The competent office for general sworn interpreting will inform you.

Possible results of the examination

If you demonstrate the necessary professional knowledge and meet all other requirements, you will be sworn in as a general court interpreter. You may then use the title "Generally sworn interpreter for [specify language]" or "Generally sworn interpreter for [specify language]".

Are there significant differences between your foreign qualification and the German qualification? Then your foreign qualification will not be recognized as equivalent.

Compensatory measures

In most cases, you can take a compensatory measure to make up for the missing knowledge and training content.

There are various compensatory measures:

Adaptation course: the adaptation course lasts a maximum of three years.
Aptitude test: The aptitude test examines the areas in which significant differences have been identified.

You can usually choose between an adaptation course or an aptitude test. Perhaps the competent body will decide which compensatory measure you have to take.

If you have successfully completed the compensatory measure and meet all other requirements, you will be sworn in. Then you will have the same professional rights as a person with the German qualification.