When you’re trying to set up your life in Berlin, visas are one of the first things you need to get in order. Unless you’re an EU citizen, you can’t live and work in Germany without one. Simple as that! But there are a whole bunch of different visa options. Should you try for the Blue Card? What is a Blue Card, even? Maybe the freelance visa makes more sense? Maybe a student visa? What makes the most sense for your situation will change over time.
Now, I’m not an immigration lawyer. I’m not going to run through the different options in detail, because I can’t really give you legal advice. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to tell you my story, and I’ll try to keep it as honest as I can – even when it doesn’t paint me in the best light. I’m just going to share the road I took. Times have changed, and things have become harder, to be sure… especially for Americans. But I’m going to tell you what I lived through in the hopes of giving you some ideas and suggestions.
How I went from a 90-day tourist visa to an unlimited one
I acknowledge right out of the gate that I’m from the US and that my path was easier than yours might be if you’re from the Global South. I get that. I had advantages that you might not have. I agree that it’s messed up, but this is what I lived through. Your mileage may vary. Here’s how I went from a 90-day tourist visa to an unlimited one. It took me from 2012 to 2016 to be awarded a “Niederlassungserlaubnis,” after which papers were no longer an issue. I hope it helps. That’s what we’re trying to do here: help you make Berlin a home.
I had wanted to live in a German-speaking country since 2000. It has been my experience that you need to live in a place to truly learn a language and make it your own. I had lived in France for two years, and I understood this pretty well. Why did I want to learn German so bad? Well, when you’re a native English speaker, your language is the bastard child of French and German. Old English, like we get in “Beowulf” is a dialect most resembling Frisian. And after 1066, the Normans took over England and brought French with them.
So, I really wanted to get close to the Teutonic side of things. I didn’t get serious about learning German until 2007. For the five years between 2007 and 2012, I started doing all the prep work. I saved a big stack of money and started to build out my resume to be more European-friendly. In Europe, people love their degrees and certificates. When you hire someone in the EU, you’re taking a much bigger risk than in the US. Employers rely on these credentials to mitigate that risk. I started to document my skills. I sat an exam for B2 in French. That was in a French high school outside of Portland, OR… very weird. I also acquired a bunch of tech credentials and certificates.
“Please prepare the missing documents”
And then I took a B1 German exam in Munich in 2008. By the time I actually made the move to Germany in 2012 and was applying for a visa, I had a collection of bona fides. Basically, in June 2012 I thought, “It’s now or never! Either we try this Berlin experiment or we give up on the idea entirely.” I quit my job in Seattle and signed up for a two-month language course at the Goethe-Institut that came with lodging.
I remember arriving in Berlin and going through customs. The guy at customs who looked at my papers said clearly, “you’ve got a 90-day tourist visa. You’ve got to leave within 90 days. You understand that, right?” I nodded and entered the country. From Tegel, I took the metro down to Weinbergstrasse and sat a placement exam at the Goethe-Institut. I did not place well, but it was done.
At the end of the program, I found an apartment in Mitte, got my first “Anmeldung”, and secured an appointment at the Auslanderbehörde for my first visa. Here’s an important thing to know: once you’ve got an appointment, whatever visa you’re on is immediately extended to that appointment. The appointment was in December. When I arrived at the appointment – something that I had thought so long and hard about and tried to prepare for – I was confronted by a state employee half my age. She went over my documents and the pronouncement was, “Not enough here to make a decision. Please prepare the missing documents.”
The “looking for work” visa
The next appointment was set for the following March. I guess it’s important to mention that I came to Berlin with no contacts and no job. I was operating on the idea of “jump and there will be a net.” If you already have a work contract or a collection of customers, you’re way further along than I was in 2013.
March came, and after a quick meeting, I was able to secure a “looking for work” visa. I had private health insurance – valid health insurance is a requirement for a visa – and I could show that I had money. I assumed that with those two things, I would be left alone and able to renew this visa after the six months had elapsed. I mean, if you could continue to afford to live here, why would they care? Well, this was a terrible assumption.
The “looking for work” visa is only good for six months. You cannot renew it. I only found this out when it was about to expire. I was talking to a coaching place in Kreuzberg, going over my resume and talking about options. I was given the contact info of an immigration lawyer. This was the best thing that could have happened to me.
Yes, you can do all of this on your own. It’s possible. But if you can find a lawyer to represent you and have the money, always buy the services of a professional. You’re totally buying access to their skill, but, much more importantly, you’re buying access to their network. An immigration lawyer knows everyone in the foreign office. They can get things through with connections. You really want access to that.
I met with the lawyer, and she said, “Ok. If you want to stay in Germany, you’re going to need a Freelance visa. In order to get this, you’ll need letters from prospective employers who will indicate how much they will pay you. It’s not a promise of work, but still gives an idea of what you might be worth… and that you can support yourself.”
Niederlassungserlaubnis, Fiktionsbescheinigung
As I was starting to put this together, my first full-time contract came through. I was offered a position as a system administrator at a think-tank in Kreuzberg. The salary was high enough that I qualified for the Blue Card. The Blue Card is the EU’s version of the US Green Card; it provides a fast-track to permanent residence. If you have it for 24 months, you’re immediately eligible for an unlimited visa – say it with me: “Niederlassungserlaubnis”! Not 24 consecutive months, just 24 in total. So, with my new contract in hand, I was able to apply for the Blue Card in August of 2013 and got it. Things were going well.
My job lasted a year. We were a sub-entity of a larger company, and after a year, we got shut down. I was “redeployed into the work force”… given my walking papers. It was deserved, if I’m being honest. Because I had worked for a year and paid into the system, I had six months of unemployment benefits. This meant that I had a right to stay in Germany and collect my benefits.
I was given a “Fiktionsbescheinigung”; that meant that I could stay in Germany and collect unemployment benefits, but I didn’t really have the right to work again. Before the six months were through, I found a new job. And here it was the same process: I got a contract and was able to apply for the Blue Card again. Because the salary was high enough, I got the same thing again. Probably important to note that your visa is tied to your job. Anyway, that job lasted one year. November of 2015 came and now I could apply for an unlimited visa, which I did immediately through the lawyer. The paperwork got hung up, and we waited.
Freelance visa, Blue Card
Then came December of 2015. A whole lot of crazy nonsense piled up on me at once. I was having problems with my landlord, my girlfriend, and my job. We all knew that the company was going under and it would be sold to a Chinese company. We were all going to get shit-canned. It got ugly. Still, while all of that was shaking out, I was given my unlimited visa in March of 2016.
They’re raising the salary requirements for a Blue Card. It used to be 48k a year and has now gone up to 51k. You really want this. It’s a quick path to an unlimited visa. The Freelance visas are only good for one year, I think. The other work visa will give you two years. Student visas are the worst – I understand that there can be all kinds of problems. Is your degree recognized? What about your work experience?
And then there’s how Europeans do things. In the US, companies are willing to take a chance on someone, even if they’re not the best fit. Because of how the laws are set up, you can just get rid of someone if it’s not working out. The whole, “Here’s your cardboard box. This nice young man from security will be showing you to the door,” that we’ve seen in TV shows and movies is a very real thing. So, it’s harder to get a European company to invest in you. Once they do, though, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Whatever your situation, I wish you all the luck. If I knew in 2012 what I know today, when I started the Berlin experiment, I might have chosen differently. But I will say this: I regret nothing. After a lot of trouble and strife, I have made a life and a home here – and you can do the same.
