Moving soon! What do I need

Hi Philip_,

Welcome to Expat.com

We have created a new thread as from your post on the Cologne Forum for better visibility and interaction

I invite you to browse the discussions on the  Forum and go through the threads regarding Information on visas in Germany and Working in Germany section for more feedback and feel free to participate and post your questions and interact with the other members for more feedback please

Also please check out those articles regarding your questions :

- Work visas in Germany
- Find a job in Germany

Maybe you can provide us more details for better guidance.. as in which sector are you are job hunting please ?

Best of luck with everything

Thank you

Maximilien
Expat-blog Team

That depends very much on where you are coming from.

Hi, I am coming from Ireland and hopefully will have a post-doctoral position or equivalent at a University/Hospital/Research Institution before I move but I will be moving over even I haven't secured one by that time

I'm not sure what you need coming from Ireland. I brought (from Australia) my birth certificate, I wish I'd had an apostille made before I left, my visa and all my important documents from home. When you arrive you need to anmelden (fill out a certificate which indicates you arrived and intend to live in a city) with the local Standesamt. Then you need to visit the ausländerbehörde to get your Visa. Then you can apply for a job, at which point if you make an application with the arbeitsamt to make sure you can stay and work for that contract. Bring everything that might be even a little bit useful. Germans LOVE paperwork.
Do you speak German because in my experience none of these people speak any other language.

My language skills are a work in progress. Thank you very much missbeesy! very helpful

No problem, the reality with the language is that it will involve vocabulary you won't really know yet and everything will be in the polite 'sie' form. I'm guessing that you're moving to live with a german?

You guess correctly. I have some German from second school and that involved mostly using polite form pronouns as well as some perhaps now considered out-dated vocabulary. I'm also looking forward to it because so far it has been quite funny. At the moment, whenever I have been over I can communicate well with her nieces, nephews and little cousins because they talk at a similar level and pace to me And when I try speaking German with her she mostly laughs at my pronunciations.

I assume getting set up with bank account etc. is relatively straight-forward too?

I've got a joint bank account in Germany with my German partner. That was relatively straightforward with the Sparkasse. I don't know how it goes with the bigger banks. I can't hold my own account without a visa and this year will mark my first international tax return too. Not looking forward to that. Generally banks need proof that you're living in Germany and have a German address. But a joint bank account will probably help later if you get married or anything.

You need to have insurance too. This is crucial. I took 12 months comprehensive travel insurance. I generally use travel insurance direct TID. Check out their website. Without it, you won't get any kind of residence permit.
This is because without Krankenversicherung (health insurance) Germany doesn't want any part of you.
If getting married is on the cards as soon as you are married you come under your partners German health insurance, and German health insurance is very cool. Look up Kurort.

If you're under 30 you can make an application for a 12 months working holiday visa, but if your real intention is to get married, it will open lots of opportunities. If you want a working holiday visa though, don't mention anything about getting married at the ausländerbehörde.

I studied German for 2 years at university, so 4 semesters, and am a qualified German teacher with 12 months working experience, but as the level I was working at was generally low, and language fades without use, it isn't easy to do the formal German stuff. To learn the language faster one of the tricks you can use is to read a book of your choice aloud to your partner and talk about the words as you go. I am doing that at the moment with The Hobbit (although that uses some very old very tricky German). Something like Harry potter or which you know really well so you can follow the context cues and you can work on reading and pronunciation as you go. Plus it's fun. You can do it with kids books too. Send me a message any time if you need more ideas.

That is all great advice, thank you so much!