Are you thinking of pursuing a career in Germany?

So, you've heard that Germany is in need of nurses. Here are some of the common questions I am sure are in your mind right now. These are all based on my personal experience and may vary from that of other's.

 1.What are the requirements to apply in Germany?

- One must have a PRC License, Hospital Experience and Pass the B2 Exam.

2.Can I apply if my experience is private nurse or community health nurse?

- Yes, you can. They consider that as experience as well.

3.I don’t have any experience at all, can I apply?

- Yes! They accept nurses without experience and even fresh graduates too.

4. How long is the language course?

- It takes 6 to 8 months. On my experience, 3hours daily every weekdays.

5. How much is the language course?

- I paid almost 60K for the whole course. But there are lots of agencies now that offer free German course.

6. What is Allgemein and Pflege Exam? How much is the exam?

- Allgemein and Pflege Exam are B2 exams offered by TELC, which is a Testing Center. Allgemein is more of general German while Pflege is about nursing. The exam costs 10k.

7. How long will I need to wait for the exam result?

- It took more than a month for the result and certificate to be released.

8. What’s next after passing the exam?

- It normally depends on the agency. It could be translation of documents or setting for an embassy appointment. The waiting time also varies.

9. How much is the translation of documents?

- 10k.

10. How much did you pay for your visa?

- I think more or less 5k.

11. Did you pay for your plane ticket?

- My employer did.

12. What is partial and full recognition?

- Partial recognition means you will first work as a nursing assistant and will need to take exam before you can work as a registered nurse in Germany. Whereas, full recognition means you can work as a nurse once you arrived here in Germany.

13. How can I get full recognition? Will they base that on my work experience?

- No. It depends on the State you will be assigned at. Having many years of experience and even masters can’t guarantee a full recognition.

14. How much is your salary?

- Before recognition it was 2100+ euro and after passing the exam 2600+ euro gross  salary (night differentials as well as Sunday and holiday duties are not yet included)

15. What does gross salary means?

- That is the total salary without deductions.

16. How much is your net after deductions?

- 1600 as nurse assistant and 1900 as registered nurse. (night differentials as well as Sunday and holiday duties are not yet included)

17. How much do you pay for your Apartment?

- I live before in Berlin and I was paying 480euros every month. But I am working in a small city now in northern part of Germany and I pay 245euros all in.

18. How was the nurse licensure exam in Germany?

- You can have two options. One is the Kenntnisprüfung and the other is the Anpassungslehrgang. The former is composed of oral and practical exam while the latter will be like you will be assigned on different stations for certain period of time then you will then be evaluated.

19. How is the work in Germany different in the Philippines?

- In Germany, washing the patient is included in the daily tasks of nurses. The doctors do IV insertion and blood transfusion.

20. How much do you spend for your food monthly?

- Believe it or not, 100euros is enough including toiletries.

 

I will try to explain further on some of the things I mentioned here. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to comment below.