Allgmeine Beeidigung als Gerichtsdolmetscherin oder Gerichtsdolmetscher mit einer ausländischen Berufsqualifikation beantragen

Would you like to work as a court interpreter in Germany on a permanent basis? Then you need to be sworn in as a court interpreter. You can also be sworn in with a qualification from abroad.

The work of a sworn court interpreter is regulated in Germany. This means that in order to work as a court interpreter in Germany on a permanent basis, you need to be sworn in. You can also be sworn in with a qualification from abroad.

To do this, 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 check. The competent body for the equivalence assessment depends on which professional qualification you have acquired.

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

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

• Curriculum vitae
• Proof of your specialist knowledge: Certificate of equivalence
• If you do not have a certificate of equivalence, you may be able to prove your specialist 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 examination of language skills.
• Perhaps: Proof of basic knowledge of German legal language
• Proof of your personal aptitude:
  • Certificate of good conduct for submission to an authority: The document must be no more than 6 months old at the time of application.
  • Declaration as to whether you have been sentenced to a penalty or detention order in the 5 years prior to submitting your application.
  • Declaration as to whether insolvency proceedings have been opened against your assets and no discharge of residual debt has yet been granted. Or whether you are entered in the debtor register.

If your documents are not 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 course of the procedure. The responsible office will inform you.

• Professional aptitude: You have the necessary language skills in German and the language to be sworn in. And you have a basic knowledge of German legal terminology.
• Personal suitability: You are reliable for the work as a court interpreter. You are in good enough health for the job and have no criminal record.
• You live in good 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.

Application

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

Notice of equivalence

To apply for general swearing-in, your professional qualification must already have been recognized in Germany. This is a different procedure at a different competent authority. The equivalence of your qualification from abroad with a German qualification is checked. If your qualification is equivalent, you will receive a notification. This allows you to prove your professional suitability for the general swearing-in procedure at the competent authority.

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

Possible results of the examination

If you can prove that you have the necessary specialist knowledge and meet all other requirements, you will be sworn in as a 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? If so, 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 compensation 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.

As a rule, you can choose between an adaptation period or an aptitude test. The competent body may decide which compensation measure you have to take.

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

Sometimes documents are still missing from the procedure. The responsible office will then inform you by when you must submit the documents.

You can take legal action against the decision of the competent authority within a certain period of time (for example, by lodging an objection). The decision will then be reviewed. Details can be found in the information on legal remedies at the end of your decision. You should first speak to the responsible office before taking legal action against the decision.

• General swearing-in as a court interpreter with a professional qualification from abroad Issue
• In order to work as a court interpreter on a permanent basis, you need to be sworn in as a court interpreter in Germany.
• You can also be sworn in with a qualification from abroad. To do this, you must first have the foreign qualification recognized in Germany. This is a different procedure. It is called: equivalence assessment.
• If there is no comparable interpreter examination in Germany, it may be possible to establish professional suitability without recognition of the qualification.
• Prerequisite: Citizenship of a country of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland. Or you have your place of residence or professional establishment in one of these countries.
• Further requirements: professional aptitude, suitability, reliability, orderly financial circumstances, minimum age: 18 years
• Competent authority: the Higher Regional Court in the district in which you live or are professionally established. Or another authority, depending on the regulations in the federal state concerned. Otherwise the Berlin Court of Appeal.