Foreigners Survival Guide for Germany

I'm living in Kuwait right now with my German wife.
I am supposed to relocate to Germany after 5 months  and want to transfer all my savings to Germany.
my wife is German but unregistered her address in Germany because she was living outside Germany for long time.
What shall we do to properly relocate?
Please advise.

You need to apply for a family reunion visa to join your German spouse in Germany. The embassy needs up to theee months to process it, so start early.
For the visa, basic German language skills (A1level) are required, and the officers also often ask for other stuff to evaluate whether your marriage is genuine and whether your life in Germany is financially secured.

That means my wife has to go there  three months before me and register an address then i apply for   family reunion visa right? and how can i transfer my savings to Germany when i leave Kuwait and i have no German bank account?

Your wife can open an account and you transfer the money to that?

This what i think of but there is a worry of blocking her account if the bank finds big transfers  from a Kuwaiti account from my name to her German account in her name..they might think it is money laundry!

Your wife does NOT need to go three months before you, just submit with your visa application some proof that you will move with her (e.g. her job contract in Germany). You also don't need a residential address there at the time of application.
Regarding bank transfer, just move first, open a bank account and then make the transfer (by Internet banking or post).
The German money laundry law requires you to declare any transfer above €12500 - and in case they ask you need to show proof of how you got the money. They only ask if anything looks suspicious.

Thank you so much for this info
My wife works as a freelancer translator and if i move from Kuwait i will cancel my residency and will close my bank account in Kuwait. that means i must transfer my savings before that.
So if one transfer is below  €12500 it should be ok ?
If i transfer let say every second day  about €3000 for few days  that should be ok right?

I'm not sure about the exact wording of the regulations, but I don't expect them to be so dumb that this can circumvent the need to declare (which is what I suggest you better do!).
In addition, all countries I worked in so far allowed me to keep my bank account even after moving away (and many of them I still have).

Thank you so much  ..I think i was misinformed about my bank account in Kuwait.

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I'm new here I tried getting a job but it's been irreesponsive and opening a bank account as well. Please any suggestion on how to deal with this. Thanks in advance

Kzman wrote:

I'm new here I tried getting a job but it's been irreesponsive and opening a bank account as well. Please any suggestion on how to deal with this. Thanks in advance

Well if one is looking for a job and wants advice then they should give much more details about their education, job experience and skills. And your profile says you are a Nigerian living in Spain but you are posting on the German forum. How does this fit? And how does one immigrate to an EU country without first getting a job and work permit? Your profile also claims you speak Turkish and Russian and having lived in Guyana, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Czech Republic, before going to Germany and then to Spain. Would be interesting to know what one was doing to manage all of that.

Best guide I´ve seen for Germany so far!! I cannot beleive parents must choose from a list of names for their children how archaic!!!

Aisling12 wrote:

I cannot beleive parents must choose from a list of names for their children how archaic!!!

You are right: Better don't believe it - because it's not true.

Aisling12 wrote:

Best guide I´ve seen for Germany so far!! I cannot beleive parents must choose from a list of names for their children how archaic!!!

Sorry but this is misinformation. There is no such approved list, just a review from authorities to keep kids from being burden with clearly inappropriate names. Of course people with foreign roots might often choose names unknown in Germany – and that is OK. What they don't want is names like moon-beam, wolfman, crazy-dude, Adolf Hitler etc. Thus they give the right to a child to have an acceptable name that won't likely lead them to be bullied or discriminated over the freedom of the parents to give a name of their choice. The kid after all is the one that has to live with it.

Good to know !

Interesting I wonder if other countries have a similar system in place to approve names?

The UK doesn't allow offensive names; how that is judged is left to the Registrar to decide.

Rule number one: learn a language! That makes life in Germany so much easier. Not everyone can speak English well here as in other countries.

German is definitely not one of the easiest languages to learn!

I enjoyed reading this Foreigners Survival Guide in Germany. Thanks JohannesM !

TominStuttgart wrote:

Aisling12 wrote:

Best guide I´ve seen for Germany so far!! I cannot beleive parents must choose from a list of names for their children how archaic!!!

Sorry but this is misinformation. There is no such approved list, just a review from authorities to keep kids from being burden with clearly inappropriate names. Of course people with foreign roots might often choose names unknown in Germany – and that is OK. What they don't want is names like moon-beam, wolfman, crazy-dude, Adolf Hitler etc. Thus they give the right to a child to have an acceptable name that won't likely lead them to be bullied or discriminated over the freedom of the parents to give a name of their choice. The kid after all is the one that has to live with it.

Yes this makes sense.

Aisling12 wrote:

Interesting I wonder if other countries have a similar system in place to approve names?

Yes, this would be interesting. As an interesting titbit, some cultures actually have multiple names, like our house friends from China have 4 names i) ming, ii) zi and iii) hao (ming - given by the parents, zi - name given when reaching adulthood,  and hao - name given by yourself (almost like westerners give nickname but instead it is not a name given to you by your friends but rather one invented yourself),and finally iv) the western name, which is almost exclusively used in business context and usually not used with friends or family.

The forename point was a surprise to me in Germany because in other countries it is usually left to the parents, and caught me off guard, with our firstborn registration,  that there was multiple rules, and that specific names resulted required court cases was an indication that it is not a matter to be taken lightly :

especially the following rules have to be applied in Germany:

a) the name has to uniquely identify whether it is a boy or a girl
b) cannot be similar to a city or a brand name
c) not a surname (this is quite usual in the Anglo Saxon speaking countries)
d) no more than 5 forenames
e) not the same as sibling

(Personally, I cannot think of even one International common rule after visiting Spain, Dubai and US and meeting a few Jesus's, Mohammed's, Cain's, Judas's along the way)

So for me it was the point in a) that caused some 1 week headache for us especially -> if is a name that is not known in Germany (foreign), it is a requirement that you to proof that such name belongs to a boy or a girl. Back then, Our official at the Standesamt in Munich, could not find such name is his archive (and even more critical, a proven   link that the name can be used for a boy, girl or both) . Of course, if you choose a standard name like Ben, Hannah, Tom, Dick or Harry  you would be oblivious that such a rule even exist.

on the lighter side, you can visit
Wiki link
and see the recent court cases ( successful and unsuccessful) why Fanta can legally only be female in Germany, or Oleander only male...

The thing with the names being identifiable with gender is actually a bit different than claimed. The gender does not have to be identifiable per se, it just cannot be counter to what is normally assumed. Thus a boy cannot be given the normally feminine name Maria or Sophie as a first name. They are allowed to have them as a middle name; like Jochen Maria Mustermann.

There are of course some names that can actually be either sex like Dominique, Francois or Ivan/Yvonne (depending on the spelliing) etc. that are perfectly acceptable. And foreign names like Öslem or Arzu would be scrutinized first to what gender they are associated with since Germans would not automatically know. But again, for a German these are not necessarily clearly identifiable as to gender.

Friends of ours wanted to give their boy a name from the Mahabarata, an ancient Hindu epic. The name ends in „a“, which for Europeans indicates female. They submitted as proof a review of the story, which clarified that this character is a male semi-god. It was accepted. (They probably did not notice that the review was written by the father ...)

TominStuttgart wrote:

The thing with the names being identifiable with gender is actually a bit different than claimed. The gender does not have to be identifiable per se, it just cannot be counter to what is normally assumed. ...

Hi Tom, I don't know what your source  of information is, but the source I'm referring to is https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de … 57607.html
which is basically the equivalent of the Supreme Court and hence the ultimate decisioning body of what is right or wrong. In §1 subpar 3 they explicitly link gender to a name. "Eintragung des von den Eltern für ihr Kind gewählten Vornamens ... mit der Begründung ab, als alleiniger Vorname lasse der Name Zweifel über das Geschlecht des Kindes aufkommen"

Of course  you are entitled to a different opinion than the German Supreme Court, but you should know that the state are not as relaxed as you presumed until now.

BTW have you ever personally registered a kid yourself with foreign (unknown) forename ?

JohannesM wrote:

TominStuttgart wrote:

The thing with the names being identifiable with gender is actually a bit different than claimed. The gender does not have to be identifiable per se, it just cannot be counter to what is normally assumed. ...

Hi Tom, I don't know what your source  of information is, but the source I'm referring to is https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de … 57607.html
which is basically the equivalent of the Supreme Court and hence the ultimate decisioning body of what is right or wrong. In §1 subpar 3 they explicitly link gender to a name. "Eintragung des von den Eltern für ihr Kind gewählten Vornamens ... mit der Begründung ab, als alleiniger Vorname lasse der Name Zweifel über das Geschlecht des Kindes aufkommen"

Of course  you are entitled to a different opinion than the German Supreme Court, but you should know that the state are not as relaxed as you presumed until now.

BTW have you ever personally registered a kid yourself with foreign (unknown) forename ?

Nonsense, everything I wrote is 100 % correct and I know most of these aspects first hand. You have simply misunderstood what the law says - or again are ideologically blind. And local officials and not the high court are deciding about names; they do have the flexibility to decide within the guidelines set by the court.

Before this derails into an argument:
I found three links about the topic, one from the government itself, one on Wikipedia and another from a well-researched website:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct … v_YxLhbvp3https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorname_(Deutschland)
https://www.vorname.com/vornamenrecht.html
They partially contradict each other, but all agree that there is no clear and straightforward law for names. My experience is that the individual family registries can more or less decide for themselves.

A few million people born in Germany disproves JohannesM's claims. Lots of people, mostly foreigners, have names that would not clearly be gender specific to most Germans. And I gave examples of common names that also disproves this.

Tom: Did you read my links above? One of them says that the requirement of clear gender-assignability of the name was removed in 2008. But in the opaque legal situation the individual family registries can pretty much do whatever they want - and few parents sue.
Furthermore (but not mentioned in the links), all foreigners who come to Germany of course keep their original name, however "un-German" they may be.

beppi wrote:

Tom: Did you read my links above? One of them says that the requirement of clear gender-assignability of the name was removed in 2008. But in the opaque legal situation the individual family registries can pretty much do whatever they want - and few parents sue.
Furthermore (but not mentioned in the links), all foreigners who come to Germany of course keep their original name, however "un-German" they may be.

Yes, this is consistent with what I posted - and contrary to what JohannesM is claiming.

beppi wrote:

Tom: Did you read my links above? ....

TominStuttgart wrote:

...Yes, this is consistent with what I posted - and contrary to what JohannesM is claiming.

@Beppi. Nope. Either he read it, but did not understand the nuance, or he did not read it at all and simply continued some monologue.

***

Which all the more support my original point in a post 4 years ago : Up until 2019 (2 years ago), where the German parliament specifically felt the need to set the point straight on naming rights. Until that time the common Joe on the street were in a grey area, with contradicting sources, even legally, as the history of court case proofs. And those were just the tip of the iceberg of people that went to fight for that right. Some of us with kids having non-common names had to live with the whims of what any particular city official interpreted, at a time where getting precious sleep with a newborn was much more important. Feel free to proof me wrong when I say  - I doubt if we can find any other country that has such a track history (including court cases, parliament decrees, etc.) on a non-point like the choice of forenames up until 7 October 2019.

----------------------
That said, I suggest we close this point on "forenames", move on to greener pastures and ask Tom kindly to lay down his weapons with all his "millions" of followers he hyped up behind him. After all, it is just about a name.

JohannesM wrote:

beppi wrote:

Tom: Did you read my links above? ....

TominStuttgart wrote:

...Yes, this is consistent with what I posted - and contrary to what JohannesM is claiming.

@Beppi. Nope. Either he read it, but did not understand the nuance, or he did not read it at all and simply continued some monologue.

I guess I will be dragging this aggro chihuahua attacking my shoelaces, in my posts, ad aeternum.  https://th.bing.com/th/id/R57e56bb45a87 … pid=ImgRaw

On the lighter side -for all on the ringside - It is imaginably one of those "popcorn" moments, which we all enjoy when we see people vehemently bringing  a moot point, where we can lean back after a busy day and enjoy the drama unfolding like a soap opera. It is probably divine humour that Homo sapiens directly translates from Latin meaning "wise man".
My Scottish grandfather used to say : "A man without reason is a beast in season"

Which all the more support my original point in a post 4 years ago : Up until 2019 (2 years ago), where the German parliament specifically felt the need to set the point straight on naming rights. Until that time the common Joe on the street were in a grey area, with contradicting sources, even legally, as the history of court case proofs. And those were just the tip of the iceberg of people that went to fight for that right. Some of us with kids having non-common names had to live with the whims of what any particular city official interpreted, at a time where getting precious sleep with a newborn was much more important. Feel free to proof me wrong when I say  - I doubt if we can find any other country that has such a track history (including court cases, parliament decrees, etc.) on a non-point like the choice of forenames up until 7 October 2019.

----------------------
That said, I suggest we close this point on "forenames", move on to greener pastures and ask Tom kindly to lay down his weapons with all his "millions" of followers he hyped up behind him. After all, it is just about a name.

Again, Beppi's post only supports my post which you are misrepresenting and very arrogantly and insultingly so. I never said there was no issue. It is clear that Germany doesn't want what they consider inappropriate names; things that can be seen as ridiculous, embarrassing or counter to what assumes to be gender specific. Good intent but with a history of controversial application. But Beppi reconfirmed that it is not clearly illegal to have a non-specific gender name. This was officially recognized in 2008, which was just a codification of the reality that in many cases such a thing was unattainable. That some local officials might object to a given name anyway is clear. Just because something can happen in practice in some cases doesn't mean it is codified and applicable in all cases. Seems the nuances of what is being discussed is well beyond your comprehension. My post is factually correct, yours is an ad hominem attack.

And with Johannes M's history here of controversial ideology it is really ironic he would feel the victim of what amounts to discrimination against foreigners for such things as names. And of course as Beppi mentioned, foreigners don't have to change their name - but the naming of children born in Germany  is more complex due to foreign names. The purpose of protecting a child from a horrible name is well meant but hard to put into practice when a suggested name is unknown to officials. They can't demand it is a German name but is still appropriate to given nationality/culture - just being foreign doesn't give it a pass. And the legal shift went from a name being required to be clear about a gender to the interpretation that it should simply not be clearly contrary to what would be expected. And this clearly contradicts JohannesM's argument, not mine.

Cynic wrote:

The UK doesn't allow offensive names; how that is judged is left to the Registrar to decide.

Germany has guidelines but it is still a matter of local officials deciding, which is part of the controversy. A name might be accepted in one place yet not in another. And of course it is  foreigners that get caught up in the subject since it is more complex for German authorities to judge names that are unknown to them. But a name isn't given a pass either just because the parents are foreigners.

TominStuttgart wrote:

Cynic wrote:

The UK doesn't allow offensive names; how that is judged is left to the Registrar to decide.

Germany has guidelines but it is still a matter of local officials deciding, which is part of the controversy. A name might be accepted in one place yet not in another. And of course it is  foreigners that get caught up in the subject since it is more complex for German authorities to judge names that are unknown to them. But a name isn't given a pass either just because the parents are foreigners.

Sorry to step in, but I beg to differ, this has been common knowledge for many. Maybe Beppi can correct me on this?Banned Names

The Dutch goverment does it too:

What should I bear in mind when choosing a given name for my child?
Your child's given name or names must not be inappropriate. You may not choose offensive or embarrassing words or a name made up of several names. You may not use an existing surname as a given name, unless this is generally considered to be a given name too, e.g. the Dutch name Roos.
The Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships can refuse a given name.

Registrar refuses given name
If the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships refuses the chosen name you can think of a new name. If you do not, the registrar will choose your child's given name for you. If you do not agree, you can request the courts to change the given name within six weeks. You will need a lawyer to arrange this for you.

TominStuttgart wrote:

A few million people born in Germany disproves JohannesM's claims. Lots of people, mostly foreigners, have names that would not clearly be gender specific to most Germans. And I gave examples of common names that also disproves this.

i feel you are so right

Thank you all for chiming in. Alas, there we have it.
In reality, worldwide there is a shortlist of no-go names.
In Germany the greylist became shorter and more precise since October 2019 possibly even shorter than the average list of in most countries.
...and then there are people (and their alter ego that just joined today as part of the "millions") that were oblivious that these challenges ever existed and will fight tooth and nail that people join their bubble. Let's agree to disagree and move on.

JohannesM wrote:

Thank you all for chiming in. Alas, there we have it.
In reality, worldwide there is a shortlist of no-go names.
In Germany the greylist became shorter and more precise since October 2019 possibly even shorter than the average list of in most countries.
...and then there are people (and their alter ego that just joined today as part of the "millions") that were oblivious that these challenges ever existed and will fight tooth and nail that people join their bubble. Let's agree to disagree and move on.

Of course there are no-go names; anything obviously insulting - particularly associated with Nazi times. Point is that there is not a  limited list of approved names - although common ones don't create controversy. I correctly mentioned how this is determined. Claims by JohannesM that names absolutely have to be gender specific rather than gender neutral are simply false. The supposed regulation that once determined this has been rescinded and was in fact very often exempted as seen by millions of actual examples as I have detailed.