Job Seeker Visa

If you applied for a 6 months and only got 3 months then there is probably a reason for it. But here is the thing, many question if the cost and effort of coming to Germany on a JSV is worth it at all. The foreigners most likely to line up a job and get recruited to Germany are offering experience in highly demanded fields like IT. And many of such jobs can be found over job websites without coming to Germany. One might assume more time to look on a JSV increases their chances but is it cost effective?

Face to face interviews are probably a plus but then one should have already researched the possible employers, contacted them to see if they are any job openings and lined up such interviews BEFORE coming. To just show up and start looking around for who might hire you and trying to get interviews is not efficient. And here is a truth most people might not want to hear; if you cannot do this in 3 months then you are probably wasting your time. 3 months is likely more than enough time to contact every likely employer – so why spend 6 months at it? One prioritizes and contacts the most likely/desirable employers first and then goes down their list. After 3 months one is probably desperately looking at unlikely employers and possibly in a related field to one's expertise that might not even fit.

A really cheap hotel in an average German city will cost 50 euros or more, easily in the 80 euro range per night. Then one eats at restaurants etc. One thus can easily spend 100 euros/day on such a trip. Spending extra months after exhausting the likely possibilities at such a cost is very questionable. On the other hand, if one is flexible with their flights, they are not obliged to stay until the end of the visa's validity. One should think about this beforehand and be prepared to return home as soon as possible when it is clear that they have not had success and further attempts are no longer likely to bring anything. Open ended flight tickets hardly exist anymore but some might add the option to change return dates for a reasonable fee.