How do you do it? (Move to Germany)

[mandapocalypse]

So I've been flirting with this idea for some time now.


I want to live in Germany for awhile, for a few years perhaps and just live life. This includes learning the language to the point of being fluent, and working.


Is there a way to do it without going through the system so intensely and paying all the fees and what not for a work visa? Obviously there are ways, I've known a few people that just got up and left abroad and haven't turned back and seem to be doing well.


I guess I'm asking for your advice and personal experiences. Tips, and information.


I feel like by being a radical/traveler/punk rocker it's a lot easier to make connections internationally and people in this community are generally willing to help you out-I know I've helped out a lot of people in my day and it's always been returned,... but I definitely don't want to rely on other peoples generosity. I will always be self sufficient and am down with squatting, dumpstering, sharing, community living, coming up with ways to make money, of course, but on top of that I'm just wondering what kind of jobs are available for people without work permits or visas over there?




Sorry if this post was hard to follow, my thoughts are pretty scattered right now.
Thanks in advance !!!

 

[christianarchy]

I was in Germany a week ago and will be back there in a few days. It wasn't as easy as I thought to meet people and stuff but I wasn't trying terribly hard I suppose. Personally I think it's easier in the states. I don't know, it's kinda different, and in some ways really expensive just so you know. But it's beautiful and a lot of it is really awesome.
I didn't look into jobs though and don't know anything about that, sorry,
Where were you thinking, outof curiosity?

 

[Matt Derrick]

i dunno how much german you know, but id definitely try and get a copy of Rosetta Stone for the german language, it's awesome and you'll learn really quick. and you can get it for free on bittorrent.

 

[chip]

Been living in Germany for a while now. You can enter the EU and just hang for a few months with an American or Canadian passport, so the initial landing's not a problem. But if you want an extended stay, you're going to need 1) a legitimate reason (job, school) and 2) a way to support yourself. Unless you're planning on going illegal, in which case good luck: they have a household registration system here, according to which every person is registered, if you don't register things can get hard at surprising places, and for non-EU folks the system is linked to the immigration stuff, too.

One way to handle the reason might be a school -- local community colleges ("VHS": Volkshochschule) are often cheap and you can get a visa if you're registered in a class. The immigration folks will also want to see how you're supporting yourself, and that's tricky.

My suggestion would be to come for a few months to travel and see if you can get hooked in, and then try to work things out. You can just call up the immigration people and ask them what they will and won't accept, although at least here you need German language or a German friend to do that, because they have little to no functional English.

Christiananarchy is right about it being expensive in Germany, especially with the exchange rate what it is.

 

[Cardboard]

Back in germany for a while now...
I guess its as easy to live here for free or cheap as any other wester european country with squatting and containers and all. Gotta to agree with Chip, give it a go, and things will work out (or not...). Travel in the schengen area is 3 months without visa, and I think if you are static somwhere for 3 months, that should be plenty of time to meet people and figure out what you might be able to do. Getting married for residency is quite monitored in Germany, but consider doing it in Holland, or some other coutry where tis easier, and then not having to worry about visa issues.
Black work seems available enough, though it might be better to go to France for a harvest and live in germany off your earnings for the rest of the year (you can usually make 10-12 euros an hour at least).
As far as learning german goes, rosetta or whatever program you may use to learn only goes so far. I would reccomend starting to study a month or two before coming here, to learn the structure and the basics, and then work on vocab here. German doesnt seem to be that hard of a language for me, a few weird sounds, but as german and english have the same roots, I understood a lot without ever having studied anything. and like any other language, it just takes trying it to learn it.
Good luck, and if you end up coming, drop a line, we'll drink a bier oder zwei.

 

[mutiny mark]

There are two ways that I can think of doing this, aside from getting work or school visas:

If your parents or grandparents emigrated from Germany, and you speak the language well, you can probably apply for citizenship. I don't know much about this, so you'll have to look into it. If I'm not mistaken, Germany doesn't do duel citizenship, so you'd have to renounce your US citizenship.

The other possibility is to enter and exit the schengen area every three months. That means that you'd have to either return to the US twice a year for a time period of six months, or spend this time some place like Turkey, Bosnia, Croatia, or the Ukraine. Sounds like fun to me, but you'll have to study more languages than German.

Don't count on staying illegally. If you're engaged in standard punk activities (black-riding trains, dumpster diving, scouting out train yards, squatting, etc.) the cops will stop you, probably about once every month or so - and you have to show them ID. If you overstay your visa, you may be deported, and required to pay a huge fine before being allowed back into the EU.


Hey Cardboard, if I'm not mistaken, we ran into each other at that truck stop outside of CPH. (I had poison oak all over my hands from walking through the forest to get there.) Kleine Welt, eh?