Hello. I am 22 years old and am thinking about coming to Germany. At first I apologise for my English as it is my second language. This is my first time using Reddit.
After my father passed away three months ago because of Covid, and my 12 year old dog died last week, I have nothing to keep me here. I do not have a partner or other family anymore. I have school education but did not have the money to go to university. At the moment I work at a fast food restaurant. I was able to live with my father in his house without paying rent, but I lost it after he passed. I did not know that he had so much debt, and the house was taken by the bank. I now have no debt from him but no house and I have to pay rent now. I spoke to a lawyer but he said the bank is in the right and ther is nothing I can do about it.
I now rent a room and do not have many belongings. I only have a laptop computer, my clothes, basic things I need for living, a smartphone and a motorcycle. I can eat a meal per shift for free at work so I save some money. I want to get away from my country. The poverty is making me sad and I would like to do something more with my life but there are no jobs. The economy is bad. I do not want to disclose my location because of privacy which is one of the last luxuries I have left. It is a non-EU country. I have a little money saved to last me through two to three months excluding rent. I am very frugal and do not need a lot.
A friend moved to Germany 10 years ago. He has started a construction company and said to me he would offer me work immediately if I come to Germany. He said I can start an Ausbildung if I come. But he is very busy man and does not have a lot of time to help me with legal things. I am not afraid of hard work. I like working outside and with my hands. It brings me joy to see what I have made, after the day. The friend said I could do an Ausbildung in Gas Wasser Scheise at a company a friend of him has. Is it a real Ausbildung? I tried looking it up but the last word is an insult I believe.
I have questions before I decide to do it or not. I tried to find information on [bamf.de](https://bamf.de) but some things are confusing so I thought to ask in forums. Tough to find English forums on Germany so a coworker said people on Reddit are friendly.
– I would like to try it for two or three years and then decide if I want to stay in Germany permanently. Is that possible? Can I do my Ausbildung then?
– Are the Germans friendly if I am not so good with the language? I have done some online courses in the evenings the last months and would take courses in Germany. Manchmal kann ich einfache Satz ohne fehler schreiben schon.
– I would like to bring my motorcycle. It brings me great joy to ride it in the summer months. I do not need it in winter. I walk or take the bus if it is cold. I have heard good things about transportation in Germany but people said it is expensive. Is this true? What do I do if I want to ride it in Germany? Will I need to get my license again? People also said road tax and insurance is expensive. I do not need it the whole year. Can I only register it for the summer to save money?
– I would like to come to Germany by riding my motorcycle. I will take me four days. I can camp or get a room in between. I do not like flying. What do I have to do to be allowed in at the border?
– Can I go to university later if I want? I am very interested on physics and have good grades in my certificate.
Thank you for your reply and have a good day.
6 comments
Read the wiki. Your personal story and background matters very little, all that matters is whether or not you qualify for a residence permit. Possible paths to residency are explained in detail in this sub’s wiki, linked in the sidebar and the “about” section.
The first and most important question is: do you know you need a visa?
Second question: what qualifications do you have to get a visa to stay and work in Germany?
>The friend said I could do an Ausbildung in Gas Wasser Scheise at a company a friend of him has. Is it a real Ausbildung? I tried looking it up but the last word is an insult I believe.
Tell your friend off for that. It wasn’t helpful. “Gas Wasser Sanitär”, gas water sanitary (meaning toilets), is a real thing. “Gas Wasser Scheiße” (gas water shit) is a slang term, obviously not helpful for a foreigner who doesn’t know the language and tries to google.
The problem with doing an Ausbildung as a non-EU citizen is that your prospective employer needs to prove they couldn’t find an EU citizen for the spot they are offering. In some fields (nursing for instance), that is realistic because there are too few applicants. In others it isn’t.
People from certain countries can enter Germany without issues for 90 days (essentially as tourists), and then apply for their residence permit from here. People from other countries need to apply for a visa in their home countries.
But in either case, you would need to have a job offer, residence permit and so on sorted before coming. What you should *not* do is get in your motorbike, travel to Germany, and see what happens. I’m sorry you’re in a bad situation, but doing something like that would make things *worse*.
Another problem is that the mandatory school part of the Ausbildung is done in German, together with others who speak German. You need a certain language level to cope. Your employer (who is training you) will also likely speak German, as will your colleagues, and the customers.
The motorcycle etc. are all secondary issues. However, one caution: in rural areas, getting along by public transport often isn’t realistic.
Where do you come from? Whether you can actually move to Germany depends a lot on your country of origin.
>- I would like to try it for two or three years and then decide if I want to stay in Germany permanently. Is that possible? Can I do my Ausbildung then?
Unlikely. For an Ausbildung as Gas-Wasser-Installateur you won’t get a visa. All your plans come down to if you get a visa. Your whole personal story doesn’t matter at all.
>- Are the Germans friendly if I am not so good with the language? I have done some online courses in the evenings the last months and would take courses in Germany.
The Germans unsurprisingly prefer to speak German. They do all their business and bureaucracy in German. Customers speak German. School and university are in German.
If you have someone who helps you with paperwork and stuff, you can survive, but you will have trouble with every step in life. Unless you are some well payed expert in a STEM field, you will have little carreer options. You will have a very minimal social and cultural life, to a point where you have to ask yourself “why do I choose Germany”?
>I would like to bring my motorcycle. It brings me great joy to ride it in the summer months. I do not need it in winter. I walk or take the bus if it is cold. I have heard good things about transportation in Germany but people said it is expensive. Is this true? What do I do if I want to ride it in Germany? Will I need to get my license again? People also said road tax and insurance is expensive. I do not need it the whole year. Can I only register it for the summer to save money?
Whether your license is valid in Germany or not depends on where it is from. Sice you don’t want to tell, you have to look it up yourself. Your motorcycle needs TÜV (= be checked and deemed road legal) before you can drive it here. It may be fine, it may need expensive modification to comply with German law, it might be too run down to be accepted. Depends on your bike. If you get TÜV you can register it for only part of the year, yes. Many bikers do that, since driving in winter is not fun here. There is no road tax, insurance costs depend on your bike.
>- I would like to come to Germany by riding my motorcycle. I will take me four days. I can camp or get a room in between. I do not like flying. What do I have to do to be allowed in at the border?
Have a passport and a visa. If you want to live here, you need a residency permit to settle down. You won’t get one by just driving up to the border, so get that sorted out beforehand.
>- Can I go to university later if I want? I am very interested on physics and have good grades in my certificate.
Depends on if your certificate is equal to a German abitur and you fulfill the other requirements for a study visa and enrollment. May I refer you to the wiki for that?
You say you live in a top-secret non-EU country. So you need a visa, and you need to take into account that the money you have now might be very, very little in Germany. Since you want to ride your bike to Germany, you also need to check if you need visas to cross the countries in between.
Most of your other questions can only be answered if you disclose where you are from and what nationality you have.