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I'm in the process of applying for a German 3 months work permit in order to be able to apply for a Blue Card. One of the requirements, as the embassy states, is that the university degree should be recognized in the Anabin database.

I'm holding a 4-year software engineering degree from a university listed as H +/- in the Anabin database. However, I couldn't find my "exact" degree title there.

In the degree listing, there were a lot of duplications with just different spellings! Seems like that there's a way to submit your degree and there's no actual reviewing there to recognize spelling errors, etc.

I found my degree category, but it only has 2 degrees listed; "English literature" and "Environment Health". Non-related to software engineering. IMHO, it doesn't seem to be a matter of scientific recognition, the list is just incomplete.

Am I going to be eligible for an EU blue card with a non-listed degree and H +/- university? Should I get a ZAB comparability statement instead? Embassy stated that your degree is either recognized or you're going to need a letter from "Kultusministerkonferenz". What's my next step? I'd appreciate any hints here.

Update:
Seems like that ZAB is part of "Kultusministerkonferenz".

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    I fixed a typo in Kulturministerkonferenz because it's such an important search term in your question. Highlighting that, because that might improve your own research.
    – hiergiltdiestfu
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 8:21
  • Thank you @hiergiltdiestfu! Interesting that the typo is there in an official embassy document.
    – sepehr
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 12:53
  • Yes, interesting indeed. I've seen Kultu*r*ministerkonferenz used in the context of supranational bodies, like G7, but in Germany it's a fixed term for a fixed institution, so I'm willing to claim that the embassy or a translator managed to misspell it.
    – hiergiltdiestfu
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 12:56
  • @sepehr I am facing the same case. My university is listed H+ but my degree Computer Science is not listed under it and listed for other universities that have much less rank in my country. Does it mean that I still have a change for getting a blue card ?
    – faressoft
    Commented Nov 30, 2018 at 14:17
  • @faressoft From my own and others' experience I know, there's no defacto rule about this. I had to go through ZAB myself, however, I know people that didn't and had no problem with their German Blue Card. I'd personally get ZAB's testimony for the bluecard application to go smoothly.
    – sepehr
    Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 20:46

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As far as I could find out you gonna need a ZAB evaluation:

  • If your university is listed as H +/- in the Anabin database.
  • Your degree's exact title is not listed in the Anabin database.
  • Even though your university is listed as a H+ and your exact degree title is there, you gonna need a ZAB evaluation if your local embassy is picky.

The only source for the Anabin database is ZAB evaluation requests. So, if there were no body asked for an evaluation of the exact same degree before, you gonna need to do that.

And if ZAB provides you with a statement of comparability after the evaluation, you gonna be eligible for obtaining the blue card.

If ZAB rejects your application and so you're left out without a university degree, you simply can not obtain a blue card from Germany. However, you can file a complaint to ZAB or try other bluecard countries.

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    If one will get an evaluation that claims his/her degree as not sufficient, it might still be possible to apply for regular residence permit for the purpose of employment, see expatriates.stackexchange.com/a/11511/13223 for details.
    – Andrey Sapegin
    Commented Jan 14, 2020 at 19:34

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