Emigration from Serbia to Germany – Case Story 2: Medical graduate from Serbia who only wanted to work abroad
Interviewee: male, 5 years in Germany, a medical doctor in residency on dermatology, regional hospital
An interviewee is a Serbian man who came alone to Berlin after his medical studies to continue his career and life here. He has been in Germany for five years. For about 10 last months, he has been working in a regional hospital as a medical doctor and as a dermatologist in residency training. Before that job, he was employed in another hospital in Germany.
He did not want to work in Serbia after graduating the medical studies, and he wanted to go abroad. Reasons, why he left home, include the poor quality of further professional training available to him and the unsatisfied financial and economic prospects of the country. He spent the first few months in an apartment organized by the hospital, and after about 5 months he found his apartment with the help of a German agency for the recruitment of professionals That German agency helps immigrant health workers, among other issues, to organize a job, find an apartment, the translation of documents/diplomas, and the correspondence to different organizations, but for a fee. That period of the immigration process lasted about 1 1/2 years. First, he had to meet specific requirements to practice as a doctor in Germany, such as the translation and recognition of medical studies (approbation). In addition, he had to complete a German course (at least a B2 level of language proficiency). After that, he applied for a visa. In order to get his license to practice medicine in Germany and to work as a doctor here, he had to pass a knowledge test. In that regard he commented, it is much easier for doctors from the European Union to settle and practice here than from non-EU countries. Find more HERE
