Canadian wanting to move to Germany

A non-EU-citizen can work in Germany if he/she gets a work visa first.

Getting one is much easier with a job offer by a Germany-registered company (foreign-owned or not).

If by "foreign company" you mean one without a legal presence in Germany, then you'd be classified as self-employed. Getting a work visa as self-employed is much harder - and the formal requirements for registration/licensing, accountancy and taxation when working here are also complex (and potentially costly, if you have to engage local expet for it, due to non-fluency in buerocratic German). You should read related discussions on this forum!

@Roubafouz To obtain German citizenship, you must live in Germany for at least eight years, as a registered resident, with a valid residence permit. So the answer to your question is: no. You must move to Germany for that.

@W48SRQ Imust admit that Roubafouz's message above isn't entirely clear about it, but I assumed he wants to live in Germany and work for a non-German employer. In that case he can become citizen after 8 years (or less if he shows good integration - or if the rules change, which is in discussion).

But if your interpretation is correct and he wants to workabroad for a company "based out of Germany", then you are correct: This gives no benefits whatsoever for German citizenship (and there is alsono German taxation for this)!

@Roubafouz Could you please clarify your intentions?

@beppi Yes, it seems I was wrong, he's asking whether he can live in Germany and work for a foreign company. In that case I don't see why he couldn't obtain citizenship after 8 years.