1. Preparation

You decided to live in Germany? Cool!

Now, most people might think something like “Oh no, I cannot do that! I have everything here. My job, my apartment, my family, my friends, just everything. Also, I don’t speak the language and might never be able to speak it. How shall I ever accomplish all these obstacles?!” Yes! That’s a good question! But you know what? There are so many people out there you already did JUST THAT! And we help you, to do all that way more easily from now on. Now let’s figure out the most important things to consider before arriving in Germany. Don’t enter the plane yet! There are quite a lot of tasks which need to be finished first 😉

We experienced by ourselves all the challenges and difficulties that you have to conquer when moving to Germany. Based on these experiences, we decided to create this website and help other people who also would like to move to Germany.

Because good preparation is your first step to success! And for everything else, we are there to help you out. If it is some support for your visa preparations for Germany, finding a job in Hamburg or figuring out how the German culture works. On this page and the two following pages ARRIVAL and STAYING, we are providing a lot of useful information for you to live and work in Germany successfully!

Check it out!

Depending on the approach, you will either decide for a specific country that you want to live in or a company that you like to work for.

These are the most common approaches. If the company is supporting you and perhaps also helping to finance the relocation costs, you are lucky. This makes everything a lot easier. But even without the help of a company, it is not impossible to realize your dream to live abroad.

By the way: in case you are somehow forced by your company to live and work abroad, it is very helpful to understand what it means to change the focal point of life.

On this website, you can find a bunch of information, which makes it easier for you to get the big picture of moving abroad. As we are based in Hamburg (Germany), we are especially focusing on German visas and working permits, German working contracts, finding flats in Hamburg, etc.

Nonetheless, we try our best to also help you out in other cities and countries. Still, most of the information applies to other countries as well. Processes like visa applications for example are generally the same within Germany.

Of course, such a big decision comes along with some negative effects as well. We don’t want you to step back and give up your dream. But we want you to be prepared and create awareness. This helps you to figure out, if you really want it and helps you, to stay strong in difficult moments.

First of all, you will be far away from your family and friends. You will be confronted with all the challenges of a different culture, a different language, and different food. Prices will be different. In case everything is cheaper, usually, this also means, that you will earn less money than in your home country. You should also be aware of the different climate, temperatures, and weather conditions.
Generally, it is good advice to spend at least a few days in your destination country to get a better understanding of the place and to find out if you would be able to survive there. But vacations are not the same as living and working there. Nice beaches, sun, and huge shopping centers don’t mean that there are never cold, rainy days. And most of the time you will not spend inside the shopping centers but on your desk in your new office. So concentrate on your future lifestyle abroad rather than on your feelings during short vacations.

Apart from these facts, there is always a solution to your upcoming problems. People are usually open to help foreigners and nowadays, you can find a lot of tips and hints online. Last but not least, there is friends-abroad. And we help you out, whenever you need it.

Often, people feel attracted by other countries, their culture, and language or just the lifestyle there. Be aware, that this is not everything to be expected in the new country. The biggest challenges will be the language, the different culture and the official documents to fill out. Starting from visa and working permit to working contracts and insurances.

The best tip to give you is to see the country as a whole. All advantages and disadvantages. And don’t make it too dependent on the money. If you just leave your home country because of the money, you will most probably not get happy abroad.

If you are one of the lucky persons who already have a company, you can skip one of the most difficult tasks: finding a job.

All the other people need to inform themselves about the job situation, the unemployment rate, and the most popular branches in the target city. Usually, you are competing with the native people. To protect the native job market, some countries set up restrictions for foreigners to increase the chances of finding a job for the locals. 

This means you need to have a better skill set (preferably a unique one) and experiences which also help the companies to defend themselves in case they have to argue why they employed you instead of the local.  

Canceling your running contracts for flats, phones, electricity, and so on is probably self-evident. Remember that some contracts have minimum contract lifetimes. You have to sell your car or scooter, your bike and perhaps also some furniture, clothes, etc.

This takes time. So better start earlier than later. 

Before moving to Germany, it is best to prepare some documents which will be harder to get when you are already in Germany.

The most important one is a certificate of your last employment. German recruiters are happy if they have some certificates, references, and testimonials about you in their hands. This helps them to get a better understanding of what you did in the past, how you performed in your previous jobs, about your strengths and weaknesses, and how they can deploy you best.
If you just finished your university degree and you do not have work experience yet, a recommendation letter e.g. from your professor might also be a plus for your application. Make sure that it is in English or German. If that is not possible, it is often easier and cheaper to official translate documents in your home country than in Germany. 

Second, your university degrees might also be officially translated to make it easier here for the recognition process. You can use the following website to check for the recognition of your profession: anerkennung-in-deutschland.de

Do I need a visa? – If you want to stay longer then 90 days, study or work in Germany you need a visa. In the following, you can find information about how to prepare for a visa in Germany and how we can support you with that. A list of the most common types of visas you can find here: germany-visa.org

The best time to apply for a visa for Germany is several months before your arrival (maximum six months before your departure). It is strongly recommended to apply for a visa before booking the flights, organizing the relocation, etc.

You can apply for a visa in the German mission (embassy) of your country. For the process you usually need the following (the detailed process depends on your country):

• An appointment
• The application form (usually available online, often in your mother language) See this link for direct access to the form
• Your passport (it must not expire within 3 months after your visa expires)
• Biometric photo means a photo of your face, frontal, without smiling with specific measures. If you need more information, take a look here, the example photos are self-explaining if you do not speak German)
• A health insurance that is valid in the whole Schengen area and covers even repatriation in case of death. All costs shall be covered to at least 30.000€. More information can be found here.
• The travel itinerary proved by flight tickets, hotels, etc. 
• A motivation letter
• To prove that your financial resources are high enough to survive in Germany for the period of your planned staying you need an overview of your bank account. This is generally counted with 45€/day. Meaning a six months stay is round about 8100€
• Depending on the country where you apply for the visa and the type of visa you are applying to, you might need additional documents. You can find this information on the website of the German embassy of your country

A six-step plan on how to apply for a German visa can be found here.

Your chances will increase highly to receive a visa if you

• A working contract (in case you have a signed working contract with an income of 55.000€ or more per year you have good chances. Unfortunately, companies usually don’t even invite you for an application interview without a visa)
• speak German (B1/B2 level is sufficient, but be aware that it needs several months to learn just the German basics)
• more money (you should calculate with 350-700€ for the rent, 200-500€ for food plus extra money for job seeking/traveling/sightseeing, etc. each month. A 6 months visa requires usually 6000€ but having the double amount increases your changes and shows, that you are still able to come back in case your plan is not working out)

What you need to do next is to fill out the form for “application for a national visa”. This document can be found here. It is also available in our languages like Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, or Turkish. Take a look here for other languages.

The costs for the visa are listed here or here.

Usually, the results of your application are available within 10 to 15 days. The embassy will inform you, how much time they need.

We help you out! If you need support for your visa preparations for Germany and more, just let us know. We are happy if you have fewer worries.

If you just want to travel, you can check here, if you need a visa (ja=yes you need a visa, nein=no you don’t need one). The visa for traveling is called Schengen-Visa and allows you to move freely within the European Union (EU).

You have to meet the following requirements:

• It must be plausible and comprehensible why you want to travel to Germany
• Prove that you are able to finance your complete travel and living costs
• You must be prepared to leave the Schengen area before your visa expires
• Your health insurance must cover at least 30.000€ valid for the entire Schengen region

You can find more information here. Also, the German embassy will support you in your visa preparations for Germany.

After deciding on a country and a company, it is time to apply. Do not be too picky. The most important thing is to get a foot into any company, understand the new business culture, and how people are working.
Get an understanding of how things are getting done, what people are focusing, and what matters most at work. This will help you in further positions and when you want to change your job later on. Even if you just stay for a few weeks, you will gain experiences that help you with your next job. 

The same applies to applications, application interviews, and assessment centers = AC (presentations, group work, and other tasks while being observed by the recruiters). Use every application interview as a possibility to collect experiences and further develop your application skills. Just don’t say “I’m out!” too early.

If you got an invitation, you are already a huge step closer to your job. Congrats so far!

Remember that recruiters look at your address when you are applying as a foreigner. This can mean a K.O. criteria because they will not want to employ someone, who is still abroad, not knowing if he or she will ever get a visa.

In case of an invitation to an interview or AC, do not expect, that they will pay you flights and hotels or other costs. Today, Skype, Zoom, Cisco WebEx, Rabbit, and others are decreasing the distance and help to get the first impression of you as a candidate. Still, when you receive an invitation do all your best, to make the appointment.
If you need to drive for six hours, drive for six hours. Spending a night in a hotel before the interview can release a lot of stress and help you to be mentally better prepared. An interview usually takes about one hour of time. Some are 45min others are up to two hours. Calculate some buffer time when booking your trip back home and rather use if for some sightseeing in the new city.
If they offer you to take over your costs for traveling or part of it, feel free to use this opportunity. Just ask them to whom you can send your tickets to and add your bank account.

Job interviews are often following this structure:

1. First, recruiters, team leader, or project leaders will tell you something about the company, the department, the team, their tasks, and challenges.
2. Then you will present yourself in 1-5 minutes. You should know your career by heart. Practice to summarize your main career steps and make sure to concentrate and relevant facts only. Be prepared, that they may also ask you for your strengths and weaknesses. This is tricky! Make sure to present yourself in an honest, likable, trustful way. Prepare some arguments about why you are the best candidate for this position and don’t try to make them believe that you don’t have weaknesses. 
3. Afterward, they will tell you more about the position, your responsibilities, and tasks, the challenges or recent changes in the team, and some other facts. Make sure to make notes about everything you are not understanding for the last part.
4. Now they will ask you some more questions, e.g. about your motivation, why you applied especially for this company and why you think you are a good choice for them.
5. In the end, they offer you to also raise questions. Use this part of the interview to show your interest and further grab their curiosity.
   

   You can ask e.g. for details of the project, the size of the team, the tools they use, the currently biggest challenges in their projects, if they have a canteen included or close the company, etc.
   Finish the call by thanking for the invitation and asking for the next steps.

After the interview, you are free to write a Thank-you-email where you stress again your interest in the project and the company and that you are looking forward to the next step in the application process.

The first want to get to know you via a video call? 

That’s great! You can stay in your comfort zone to present yourself and still grasp a lot of interesting facts about the job and the company.

Still, you should regard it as a virtual application interview. The correct dress code is as important as a serious environment. Make sure you have a stable and fast internet connection, your pets, roommates, partner, etc. are not at home or not disturbing and that everything which is visible for the other party is clean, neutral and tidied up. This includes dirty dishes, posters of your favorite movie, and everything else which could theoretically distract the recruiter’s attention.
By the way: if you wear a suit, we recommend also wear pants. Just in case you need to stand up for whatever reason, you don’t want to show them your naked legs.

Present yourself as the best fitting candidate (without lying of course). Make sure to read every detail of the job offer and connect them to your CV and cover letter. If your abilities fit 60% of the required skills, you are theoretically fitting.
Companies tend to describe their ideal candidate, knowing very well, that this candidate does not exist. Therefore focus on the similarities between the requirements and your skills and experiences. If you do not fulfill everything, make sure to offer them solutions like participating in a training or self-studying course to catch up soon.
Still, don’t make empty promises! Be honest and stick to the truth. Otherwise, companies have the right to kick you out even if you have a working contract. And yes, even if you already worked for them several months or years.

Germans are often regarded as perfectionists. Some recruiters do indeed notice double spaces, different fonts, and font sizes, spelling and grammar errors. So make sure to double and triple check all application documents. Better let somebody else read through them as well. 

Also, pay attention to the form. Even if there is no perfect form of an application, there are some rules with which you cannot really go wrong. Orientate yourself to German business letters, address your letter to the recruiter directly (if known) and write your address as well as the recipient’s address in the upper left corner. Don’t forget to use the current date. All your application papers are up to date when you send them out!

Due to all this effort, details, and adaptions, it may take two to three days to write an application. That’s completely normal. But keep in mind: better spend three days in one application which leads to a job than to copy-paste ten applications which are going to the recruiter’s trash right after reading the first few sentences.

We help you out! If you need more advice, tips, and tricks on how to improve your chances when applying, let us know!

In an application interview, recruiters will ask you for your working permit. With a job-seeker-visa, you are not allowed to work. Tell them, that it is just a formal procedure to change your job-seeker-visa into a working-visa and that you will need the working contract as well as a job description fitting to your abilities to get the working allowance.

Do you need help with this? Just let us know!

Once you have the visa, a flight ticket, and everything ready to leave your country, you are ready to terminate your working contract. 

There is one very important thing when doing this: Make sure you will receive a certificate showing where you have been employed, for how long, what you did there and in the best case also some references from your last bosses about your performance, achievements and behavior at work. This will help you to find a new job abroad because potential employers get a better understanding of who you are and how you are working.

Make sure that the document is signed (at least by your direct supervisor) and has a stamp from the company. Alternatively, it is also fine if it is printed on company paper with the official name and logo.

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