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Bosnians wanting to emigrate to Germany – but who do not know much German – are increasingly forging language diplomas, the Goethe institute in Sarajevo says.

“The number of false diplomas has considerably increased since 2014,” Claudia Kindler, head of the language department of Goethe Institute in Bosnia, an association promoting the knowledge of German language and culture, told BIRN on Friday.

“We have registered 47 cases of our diplomas being forged and submitted them to the German embassy in Bosnia,” Kindler said, adding that many cases occur “because Bosnian citizens don’t have enough time to reach the level of language that is required for a work visa.

“These diplomas were fabricated by people who never attended our classes,” Kindler told BIRN.

“Generally those who try to counterfeit their language certificate already have job offers awaiting them in Germany and Austria, but don’t have the time to wait six or seven months to attend classes and reach an adequate level of German,” Kindler explained.

In an attempt to stop this forgery, the German embassy in Sarajevo on Thursday published a warning against submitting forged language diplomas when applying for working visas in Germany.

“The using of false documents is against the law and will be legally prosecuted,” the embassy said, warning that “employees at the embassy are trained to recognize false documents so any forgery will be discovered.

“The Goethe Institut will forward any person who presents forged certificates to the competent Bosnian judicial authorities,” the embassy added.

Although a good knowledge of German is not always a prerequisite for obtaining a work visa, the German authorities impose a certain level of language knowledge for specific jobs.

As Bosnia’s economy stagnates, with a registered unemployment rate of 27 rate and a youth unemployment rate of around 60 per cnet, according to the World Bank, many people are looking for job opportunities abroad.

The trend is common all over the Balkans and raising fears that the region is “losing its human capital”.

According to the Ministry of Security of Bosnia, in 2014 the majority of Bosnian emigrants were residing in Germany – 153,470 – and in Austria, 85,173, although many of them went years ago, during the 1992-5 war in Bosnia.