Advice on moving to Germany (Bodensee area)

We are planning a move to Germany in the fall of 08 from USA. If there is anyone here who could enlighten us with information about the best and most efficient ways of getting started, we would appreciate all information.
If anyone has recently immigrated, what goods and bads have you experienced and would you please tell us your stories. I know this is brief, but I am new here and will get the hang of it later. Thanks for reading and replying,
Kevin and Claudia

PS..I, Kevin am a US Citizen. Claudia is a German Citizen. We will be married before we move and will arrive as a married couple. Thanks again,
Kevin

Perhaps, whilst you "get the hang of it" you would exercise your fingy a little and use the search function!

Yes, Kevin, try entering "Moving To Germany" in the search field and you ought to come up with these results, dude:

Moving To Germany.

Good luck with your plans.

Thanks for the link. It is helpful. Not trying to be lazy here just trying to get more opinions. I've done many website searches and stumbled upon this one. Sorry to offend anyone into thinking I'm not doing my part to find answers. Once I learn the ropes here, I'll be teaching YOU.
Thanks Tony, I really do appreciate your kind help. Not so sure about the other response though...
Keydeck, hope you get some sleep. You are cranky.

:)nah he is always like that. dont worry about it!!! lots of good info on this site so stick around.

all the best for your move.

Is there any companies Americans have better chances than at others to find work? What about fluent bilingual speakers?

Generally speaking, you will find that being bilingual English/German is not the be-all and end-all in the labor market (except maybe for translators). Make sure you have written references (preferably in the same format as a German Zeugnis) from any non-German employers and don't forget that non-EU citizens cannot do temporary work in Germany.

Which town/city/village are you planning to move to? What are your professions?

In all our research, we have never heard of non-EU citizens not getting temp work. I am thinking that being the spouse of a German citizen will give me certain work/benefit rights??? Is this a wrong assumption?
By trade, I am a meatcutter (Fleisher) and Claudia is more on the office structure of work (bookkeeper, retail, medical coder)
If you can share some info about being a medical coder in Germany, that would help too.
Our location of choice will be most likely Friedrichshafen, Ravensburg, Konstanz, or any of the larger towns in The Bodensee area.
Thanks for your reply and info.
Kevin

P.S. Does our age matter regarding employment? We are both 47

Your age will be a detriment, as it is considered axiomatic here than you don't get a job past 50. I don't know if the ban on non-EU citizens doing temporary work in Germany is going to affect a meatcutter, though. Trades like yours generally have specific training regimens here, although I don't know anything about what butchers in Germany have do for training- have your contacts in Germany check on that.

Unless she has a lead on a specific permanent position in Germany, have your wife contact some temporary work agencies in Friedrichshafen and Konstanz, as temporary work tends to be of the office variety.

As for non-EU citizens and temporary work, feel free to talk to Zeitarbeitsfirmen (temporary work agencies) to confirm that non-EU citizens can't do it. Temporary work is highly regulated in Germany, and the salaries they pay are, not suprisingly, not so great.

If I were you, I would assume for budgetary purposes that only your wife will be working. Then you will know for sure if it makes sense for you to come here given the likely difficulty you (Kevin) will have in finding work. To be frank, it may not make sense at this point in your life to come to Germany, but the Bodensee region would be a great place to retire to when you are ready to do that.

Good luck, and I don't want to discourage you, but at your ages it will not be easy to find work. If you (Kevin) do find work, it will have to be a permanent position (maybe having a lot of experience will make any training requirements go away- one would hope so) but you will be permitted to work here and you will get the full social benefits that any other permanent employee gets here if you do find such a position.

One point about working in your trade in another country is that not all trades are recognized by all countries. This would be something to check out beforehand.

The DeutscherFleischer-Verband may have some information on this.
http://www.fleischerhandwerk.de/

On the subject of employment discrimination, (which of course does not exist in Europe because they made a law against it) I would think for an employer a 47 year old female would be a safer option than a 27 or 37 year old female - so this may work in your favour.