Advice on moving to Leipzig - Germany

Hello,

Me, my German wife of 12 years and our two boys (6 & 3) are moving from Stockport, England to Leipzig in the New Year 2008. Our house is currently up for sale and we have started applying for jobs from internet searches.

I would welcome any handy hints or tips for life in Leipzig for expats. My wife was born and bred in Leipzig but has not lived there for about 14 years.

We do have some friends and family in the Markkleeburg and Borna areas and would welcome any advise from English speakers about the best please to start searching for jobs and for life in general

Thanks & all the best,
Ben.

Another Stockport boy ! That's 4 of us already, we are slowly but surely invading Germany.

Hi Ben,

What kind of work are you looking for?


A pretty one.

I have been working as an international transport co-ordinator for the past 17 years. Sending cargo by road to a from eastern europe and russia. I am looking for work in a similar field but would also consider taking a teaching job.

Hi, Nice of you to join the forum and good luck job hunting.

However Leipzig has a 20% unemployment rate so finding a job there
could be tough.

Hi Ben,
Amazon has recently opened a big regional DC and as far as I know they are still hiring (including white collar). Then there is DHL which is currently preparing to open their European Hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport with a couple of thousand vacancies. Both companies may provide opportunities for you in the logistics area. Then there are obviously the usual bunch of forwarders...
Just check out:
www.stepstone.de
www.jobpilot.de
www.monster.de
and the like...
Good luck anyways.

hi and hi all (first post n all) :-)

as spiderman said about dhl and amazon ill skip that part - jobs are a little difficult to find but are there if you're willing to do anything to get started - for example if you want to work in a callcenter the place i'm working is usually hiring - but it's not great! -

as for leipzig... you may be interested in leipzig international school for the young uns - i believe they can carry on with brit gcse syllabus there and the language is english. private school and very nice people!

accommodation is very cheap in le - and of a pretty high standard - schleussig in the south part of the city is very family friendly and is an area that is rapidly becoming very popular - and is very close to the park. but markleeberg is also pretty nice and only 10 mins from city centre(as u know i guess).

good luck - i hope you like it here - i've been here 5 years and apart from the speedtraps (blue passat estate cars) terrible street surfaces and the fact it's got an ikea - i love it :-)

hi Benji, hope it works out for you.

If you are looking for a job it is an advantage to learn German. You can get the authorities to help pay for a course but you have to jump through some hoops first. You have to go to the auslanderbehorde and apply for a aufenthaltserlaubnis first. Or you could just pay for a language course yourself at the Volkshochschule (Folks Hoax Skool), they're not that expensive anyway.

You might consider looking for a job elsewhere in Germany. You could commute daily to Dresden, Berlin or Potsdam - however, they have similar unemployment rate. Or you could work mon-fri in a German city probably in the west and commute back at the weekend - a number of people do that.

Here's a link to apply on-line for jobs at DHL.