A Multilingual “Welcome to Germany” Portal for International Qualified Professionals
Germany is tied with Japan as the “oldest” country in the world with a median age of 46.1. In a phrase “the Germans are dying out” (die Deutschen sterben aus). It’s estimated that the population will shrink to 66 million by 2060 from a current population of about 83 million. Since Germans are not having enough babies for various reasons that transcend one blog post , they have no choice but to compensate by encouraging the immigration of educated and qualified people from around the world.
This includes a campaign called Make it in Germany, which has been translated into a number of languages, including Vietnamese, and customized. (There’s even a sign language video.) Other target countries include India, Indonesia, Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, Russia, Italy, Portugal and Portuguese-speaking countries (Brazil?) and Serbia. The website has various entry points for people interesting in working, studying, traveling, research or starting a business. It also features a section with “I made it” success stories, in addition to detailed information about in-demand professions, living in Germany, learning the language, etc. .
Here is the introduction and overview of this website, which characterizes it as a “‘Welcome to Germany’ portal for international qualified professionals”.
“Make it in Germany” is the multilingual “Welcome to Germany” portal for international qualified professionals. It is run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. “Make it in Germany” informs qualified professionals who are interested in immigrating about their career prospects and shows them how to organise their move to Germany – and what makes it worthwhile to live and work here. The portal posts current vacancies in occupations where there is a labour shortage and provides information about the sectors in search of skilled workers. There are also presentations by international qualified professionals who have already forged a successful career for themselves here, while employers in Germany can get tips on how to go about recruiting skilled professionals from abroad.
In actual fact, “Make it in Germany” is more than just an information portal – it is the expression of a whole “culture of welcome”. It portrays Germany as a modern, diverse society and helps convey the friendly, cosmopolitan nature of the country.
The Vietnamese version, which is being actively promoted on various social media channels in Vietnam, features Tung, a business software development engineer from Hanoi, who lives and works in Giessen, Germany. (I like the pretzel and the beer – nice touch. Makes me hungry & thirsty. :-))
Make it in Germany is a bold and exciting initiative that recognizes the reality that the country’s population is graying and that future success will be the result of attracting international qualified professionals. It rolls out the virtual red carpet to those individuals who might have an interest in studying and/or working and living in Germany.
While the median age of the US is lower (36.8 years), its economy desperately needs a certain percentage of international students, for example, to stay, work and, ultimately, emigrate. (One reason is not enough native-born US Americans are studying key subjects, e.g., STEM fields.) While emigration is possible, it is not yet policy, hence the third student visa criterion about returning to one’s home country, which often ends up being a hoop that applicants have to jump through in order to get the visa.
Kudos to Germany for launching the Make it in Germany initiative. The US should follow in its footsteps in order to align its immigration policy with the fast-changing realities of the US and global labor market. Is anyone in DC watching, listening and learning? Tick-tock, tick-tock.
MAA
An International Educator in Viet Nam 
Reblogged this on now and then.