Dear Berliners,
I am planning on moving to Berlin to teach English and I wondered if you could help me with some of the questions I am having difficulty finding the answers for. Any help you can give me would be gratefully received 
1. I hear that as a freelance teacher you have to pay tax if you earn less than 20k euros in your first year? Is that true? Then what happens?
2. What is an average teaching wage per hour?
3. I hear that it pays more to go private or teach business English – are there any agencies that can help me do this?
4. I am an EU citizen and have the EU health card but I hear you need to pay out for private healthcare here when you arrive, anyway, is this true? I have read articles about this on this blog and I am still confused. How much does this generally cost?
5. Can you recommend some good districts to look for a flat share in central Berlin, something cool and funky but not too noisy.
6. Do you generally have to provide a deposit on a flat share? I need to budget for my arrival costs.
7. I may stay in my current location till Christmas and earn some more cash, is Berlin a good place to arrive in in January to work (as a teacher) or is that the worst time (I am assuming the worst time).
Many thanks,
Sam x
Help for TEFL teacher moving to Berlin
Hello Sam,
I have moved your topic to Berlin forum for more visibility. I hope like such, other members of the site will be able to give you some useful responses in regards to your posted queries.
Regards
Hello Sam!
Unfortunately, youŽll find Berlin has become a very popular place to live in and has attracted millions and millions of English teachers. Many are earning 8-10 euros an hour. However, donŽt let me put you off the idea! You might find writing to some language schools before you come will help and the rest is then networking...
Health insurance: if you can PROVE youŽve been in the public health service in your current country of residence ( you need to bring more than just the EHIC..you need a written declaration from the country youŽre in ), you can then join a public health insurance company - there is no NHS here -- there are many competing public insurers!!! Just to add to the confusion!
Mind you, contrary to myth , it is NOT free. It is based on income and the authorities assume ( unless you can prove otherwise ) you earn enough to pay for 320 euros a month health insurance payments! Minimum!
You can choose private health insurance if you want. If youŽre looking to pay less ( because itŽs NOT based on income ) and have better cover, this may be the way to go.
There are pros and cons of both systems and professional advice is necessary.
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