Information about Wolfsburg, Germany

Sorry but.....

2) Whats an Indian hotel?

Like a typical indian hotel, where they will serve Indian cuisines.

Wolfsburg is a city of 130000 people (which is big by German standards) and a major industrial base (headquarters of VW automobiles).
While it is certainly less cosmopolitan than Berlin, there are many other foreigners who live there, most of them happily.
But there are no Indian hotels anywhere in Germany, and only a limited range of Indian or other Asian grocery shops. Indian restaurants in Germany are generally not very authentic, but expensive.
My advice: If your brother wants to live just like in India and surround himself only with Indians, he would be miserable in Germany and should better not move here. But if he is willing to adapt local customs, food and friends, he will be able to thrive.
(Your comment that he needs to chit-chat with other Indians to understand Germany is almost comically besides the point!)
Safety is never a concern, anywhere in Germany. Cost of living is more or less the same everywhere, except rents (where, as you already found out, smaller cities cost less than bigger ones). Kindergarten places are in short supply and he can expect a waiting list - but once in, the child is cared for well and will learn German in record time (our daughter, who also came here at 3 years old, after 3 - 6 months refused to speak English!).

Mmm... Not sure that he is willing to move and get integrated in Germany or in any other European countries if he doesn't want to open his mind. European food is very good,Wolfsburg has a part of immigrates from all over the world as many towns in Europe (yes, 100000 inhabitants it is already a large city in Europe ) and where everyone lives with everyone

Also, at middle term, speaking German will be mandatory for all daily actions (administration, shopping, kindergarten/school (which will be in German language because there is not English speaking school in Wolfsburg)... So if he doesn't make any effort, this expatriation seems very hard...

Ok Beppi. Thanks for detailed answers. From the answers I feel like If he started learning German he can mingle well in the society irrespective of his own community is there or not. I will pass this information to my brother.

Thanks Steffi for the reply. Will pass this details to him.

Ok, will mention that having traveled extensively in India that the word “hotel” there is often used for a place to eat rather than a place to sleep. Thus the poster might be actually referring to Indian restaurants, which exist in Germany but not hotels in the normal sense, run by Indians.

The thing is that there are not a lot of Indians in Germany. The ones that do come are often in IT and working for a limited numbers of companies like SAP, so it is possible that there are larger communities of them in very specific locations. I have no idea if Wolfsburg is one of them.

As a typical example, I don’t see many Indians in Stuttgart. There are some Indian shops selling saris and jewelry and Indian foods – but much fewer in number than other shops selling say Turkish or Chinese/SE Asian food. And I only know of a handful of Indian restaurants in Stuttgart compared to 5 times as many China/Thai ones or 20 times as many Turkish. Again, I don’t know about Wolfsburg but generally one doesn’t see an abundance in most German cities.

As far as getting Indian foods; large supermarkets in Germany have a huge selection and even might have some ethnic specialty goods. Then there is the occasional Indian shop or even some shops selling other Asian foods might carry some Indian brands. But if one will find a good selection or many places is questionable. But for non-perishable goods like noodles, rice, canned goods; there are undoubtedly online shops where one can order such things.

But I agree with the sentiment that others have shared. It is a very strange attitude to be fixated on continuing life in a country like Germany as if one were still in India. If one is not open to new things then they are not likely to be happy and should not bother coming. Not that one has to give up everything but it’s a false expectation.

Otherwise, one should better consider immigrating to a country like the UK where there are many more Indians and they have established themselves over many generations. Nearly all Indians in Germany have arrived in the last couple of decades.  And while some jobs are available in English in Germany, one who doesn’t learn the language very well is unlikely to ever feel happy here. They can survive but not likely prosper.

Another thing is that while one might not find so much on Youtube or forums, there is lots of information on the web about places like Wolfsburg. But the information is not likely to be focused the availability of Indian food or culture but one could search for "Indische Kulture Wolfsburg"

Tom: This is off-topic here, but Stuttgart has indeed a sizeable Indian population. They are concentrated at Feuerbach, where many of them work at Bosch and where there is also a largely popular Indian Shop that also offers (very authentic) lunch meals - I sometimes eat and buy spices there and see lots of people buying. Stuttgart is also the venue of Europe's biggest (and Germany's only) Indian Film Festival and has several Indian cultural organisations (I happen to know the vice-president of a South-Indian regional association here).
I do not know, though, if any of this applies to Wolfsburg as well. Google might help find out!

Perfect reply Tom. Lot of insights from your answer. And you are really very true about the Hotels . I should have said as restaurant. Really many thanks, I will pass on your feedbacks to my brother.

I had heard about the film festival in Stuttgart but was not aware that there was a sizable Indian community in the area. But outside of Feuerbach one doesn't really notice it. Which shows all the more how relatively small the Indian presence in Germany is.

Well, I had to google it myself, and found to my surprize that there are over 4500 Indians in Stuttgart - less than many other nationalities, but enough to have their own activities and social life.
I also googled it for Wolfsburg: about 700 Indians are living there (source: https://www.wolfsburg.de/statistik). And I found an Indian online grocery mail-order business headquartered in Wolfsburg: https://easy-groceries.de (although that might not help Indians living there, as the website says no local pickup of goods is possible).