“I was a barber in Qamishlo [Qamishli]. When I came here, I had a brother who was also a barber. We opened a barber shop together in Bochum for seven or eight years. We got a permit and the right to stay. Without them, no one can work. No matter how skilled you are in barbering and your profession, the difficulty is to have a meister permit. To get a meister’s permit, you have to study for five years,” Mohammad Farhan told Rudaw.
Farhan arrived in Germany from Rojava 10 years ago when then Chancellor Angela Merkel made the controversial decision to accept over a million asylum seekers. Like many other immigrants, he now has an influential role in the German economy after working hard to start his own business.
Government data shows that the participation rate of immigrants in the economy has significantly increased over the past 10 years.
Language skills are key to integration, according to Josefine Paul, the state minister of children, youth, family, refugee and integration in North Rhine-Westphalia.
“Now if you have a good language and educational background, it will not only be useful in the labor market, but you can also get a job in less time and integrate. In three months time [if you speak the language] you can get a job and acquire everything you need," she said.
