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So, you’re moving to Germany! What next?

Glückwünsche on taking the leap and deciding to move to Germany! You’ll soon realise the country’s straight-laced reputation is just a mask for the sometimes strange but ultimately charming reality.

Published: 7 March 2018 07:55 CET
So, you’re moving to Germany! What next?
Photo: Club Transatlântico/Depositphotos

Don’t get us wrong, life in Germany is uniquely regimented.

This is a country where the red man on a traffic light is obeyed as though he were a honest-to-goodness traffic officer.

But at the end of the day, it’s also the country that brought us Oktoberfest, nightclubs that stay open for 48 hours straight, and the perm.

Life in Germany is all about balance.

If you find yourself primed to move to this country of seeming contradictions, there are a several questions you should ask yourself first.

Are you allowed to be there?

In a nutshell, if you’re from the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, you’re welcome to live and work in Germany visa-free.

If you come from a country outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, and you plan on staying in Germany for longer than three months, you’ll need a visa before touching down on German soil.

No matter where you’re from, if you plan on living in Germany you need to apply for a certificate of residence within the first three months of your arrival. This can be done at your nearest Ausländerbehörde (Foreign National’s Authority) or at the Einwohnermeldeamt (Residence Registration Office).

They’ll ask to see documents that support your application, which can vary depending on your circumstances. In general, they include your passport or an accepted form of ID, an employment contract or job offer, and proof of health insurance.

Check out BDAE’s health insurance packages for expats in Germany

BDAE offers a comprehensive range of health insurance packages for expats living in Germany. Find one that suits your situation so you have everything you need in advance of applying for your residence certificate.

Where will you live?

Chances are you’ll need somewhere to live when you move to Germany.

You could get help from a real estate agent (immobilienhändler), look at listings in the newspaper, or — if you know someone —  try to find a place through word of mouth.

There are also several websites where you can browse available properties, just a couple of examples are immobilienscout24.de and wg-gesucht.de. The rental market is competitive, so be prepared to send out your fair share of applications (and receive your fair share of rejections).

Once you’re found somewhere, you have two weeks to register your residence at your local registry office after which you’ll receive a registration certificate (Anmeldebestätigung). Hang on to this — you’ll need it to open a bank account and for various other bits of admin.

How will you pay for things?

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

You’re often faced with a similar question when you move to a new country. Have you moved there for work, or have you moved there and hope to find work?

If the latter, then it can be nearly impossible knowing where to even start the job hunt. Particularly if you don’t speak the local language.

The internet, of course, is a good place to start.

Germany’s Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) describes itself as ‘the largest provider of labour market services in Germany’ and its online job portal lists opportunities offered by its network of over 700 agencies and offices around the country.

There are several other job boards you should check out too, including Craigslist and The Local’s own job board.

In the meantime, you could also work as a freelancer (freiberufler).

A word of caution: if you want to freelance in Germany and you come from a country outside the EU, you’ll need to make sure you’re in the country on the correct visa.

All non-EU citizens must apply for a freelance visa, which involves attending an interview at the German embassy in your country — unless you’re from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, or the USA — in which case you can apply for a freelance visa from within Germany.

Find out more about BDAE’s health insurance packages for expats in Germany

All expat freelancers working in Germany are required by law to have health insurance. BDAE offers  that are suitable for foreign citizens who are freelancing in Deutschland — you can take a look here and find one that’s right for you.

What will you do for fun?

One of the most common expat complaints is that it’s hard to build a social life from scratch.

At the end of the day, making friends in a new country all depends on your attitude. It can be all too tempting to spend your spare time streaming videos and scrolling through your Instagram feed, but if you want to meet people you have to get out and about.

Join clubs, take a language class, ask people you like if they want to go for a beer. Take a proactive approach to meeting new people — don’t just sit back and wait for someone else to make plans.

And remember, when you do get that all-too-elusive invite…show up. Germans are committed to keeping their appointments — there’s even a word for it: verabredet — and you’ll lose friends just as quickly as you found them if you flake out at the last minute.

This article was produced by The Local Client Studio and sponsored by BDAE.

 
For members

HEALTH

How to find available therapists in Germany

It’s no secret that mental health care can be particularly tricky to access in Germany. Here are some helpful tips for anyone who is struggling to book an appointment for therapy.

Published: 23 April 2024 12:55 CEST
How to find available therapists in Germany

The process to find psychotherapy in Germany’s urban centres is arduous – licensed therapists often have impossibly long wait times, and private practices don’t accept public health insurance.

A major reason that public insurance funded mental health care is hard to find in Germany comes down to regulations. Specifically the ‘coverage plan’ (Bedarfsplanung) that basically limits the number of licences available for publicly insured therapists in a region.

Germany’s maddening bureaucracy probably won’t be fixed any time soon. So residents in need of therapy will need to find a way through the system as it is.

So here are a few helpful tips for finding therapists, as well as how publicly insured patients can have private practice therapy costs reimbursed.

Look for therapists enrolled at academies

You’ll probably have a better chance getting an appointment with therapists who are currently in training, because not everyone knows that this option exists.

You can search for “Akademie für Psychotherapie”, to find one in your location. The Berliner Akademie für Psychotherapie, is one in the capital city, for example.

If you arrange an appointment this way, you can expect to be connected with a grad student therapist in training who needs to complete their supervised practice hours. In this case, you would see your therapist as usual, and they will be going through your session with an experienced therapist afterward.

The main advantages to seeking a therapist in training is that it may be cheaper and you can probably more readily find an appointment. A potential disadvantage is that the therapist you’ll be seeing is less experienced. 

But according to a Stockholm University study, student therapists who receive regular feedback from supervisors may be just as effective as licensed therapists at treating patients.

How to get reimbursed for going to a private practice

As mentioned above, therapists covered by public health insurance are few and far between, especially in many urban centres, and therefore regularly come with long wait times. But for those willing to do battle with the bureaucracy, there is an option to have your costs reimbursed for seeing a private practice therapist.

Specifically, public insurance providers are obligated to provide full reimbursement of costs in the event of a “supply emergency”. 

Waiting times of more than three months are considered unreasonable. So generally, patients can claim a supply emergency if they have contacted several therapists, and none of them offered available appointments within that time frame.

But you’ll want to make sure that your process is properly documented so that you won’t be stuck with the out-of-pocket costs.

First, you’ll need to document your need for psychotherapy. To get this, make an appointment for a psychotherapeutic consultation with a practice in your area, and be sure to collect a written recommendation for treatment (a PTV 11 form). 

If you don’t know where to start with this, look to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigung) for a database of therapists. You can also call 116 117 or use the 116 117 App.

After you’ve got your PTV 11 certificate, you’ll need to document your futile search for a licensed therapist. To do this, contact at least three to five therapists that have public health insurance approval. Keep a list of the names of therapists you contacted, as well as dates and times of contact and how long the waiting list for treatment is. 

Additionally, you should try to arrange treatment through the aforementioned Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, and receive confirmation if it’s not possible. So you’ll need to call 116 117, or use the 116 117 App again. But this time go through the process to have them try to find you placement with a therapist. This should take a maximum of four weeks, but rarely happens.

Finally, if you have documented all of the above and have still not found a readily available therapist, then you can seek out a private practice. You’ll need to enroll as a self-paying patient initially, but then you can submit an application for an outpatient reimbursement (Kostenerstattungsverfahren) along with the previously collected certificates and proof of your search. Private practice therapists are usually familiar with this process, and may be able to help you with the application as well.

READ ALSO: What are the main reasons internationals in Germany turn to therapy?

Free phone consultations for students

Students in Berlin can also take advantage of a free 50-minute conversation with a therapist through StudierendenWERK.

For students elsewhere, it’s worth checking what kind of mental health support services your school offers. Many German universities offer mental health support to some extent, and if school counsellors can’t provide the care that you need, they may be able to offer helpful information about where such services are available in your area.

READ ALSO: Here’s how you can get mental health help in English in Germany

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