Working holiday visas for NZers and Aussies

I've been asked a few times about getting a Working Holiday Visa here in Germany so I thought that I'd summarise my experience (I got it in May 2008). I am a New Zealander but I understand that Australians get the same privileges as us when it comes to the WHV.

Not many people get this type of visa in Germany and the Ausländerbehörde (immigration office) sometimes requires convincing. I needed to at least! Major centres are definitely easier - I tried to do it in a small town initially but quickly gave up.

To clarify:
* I did this in Munich, some things are specific to here
* You can definitely get the WHV when you arrive in Germany if you're from New Zealand or Australia
* You are now allowed to work 1 year in the same job (changed at the end of 2007)
* It took me 2.5 hours at the office
* Don't expect the officials to speak English (I managed to do it with bad German!)
* I'd recommend getting the visa it in NZ or Oz if possible (easier and probably slightly cheaper)

What you need:
* Passport (obviously)
* Proof of health insurance (12 months cover, travel insurance is ok)
* Proof of funds (bank statement)
* Application form (filled out)
- http://www.muenchen.de/cms/prod1/mde/_de/r...thaltstitel.pdf
* Information about the WHV
- German: http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/In...ingHoliday.html
- English: http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/In...ingHoliday.html
- Highlight this sentence "Australische und neuseeländische Staatsangehörige können die erforderlichen Visa für Working Holiday-Aufenthalte sowohl vor der Einreise bei der zuständigen deutschen Auslandsvertretung als auch nach der Einreise bei der zuständigen Ausländerbehörde direkt einholen"
* Pen
* Reading material (magazine, book)
* Water, sandwiches (seriously)
* Patience

What to do:
1) First thing in the morning, go to the Kreisverwaltungsreferat (KVR) building
- Ruppertstrasse 19 (U-Bahn line U6 or U3, Poccistrasse stop)
- Opening times: http://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/kvr/service...8198/index.html

2) Register your address (Anmeldung) at the Bürgerbüro (citizen's office). To do this, find the room on the ground floor that corresponds to the first letter of your surname, get a ticket from the machine on the wall, extract book and wait your turn. They'll ask for your passport and address (have it written down).

3) Next go to the Ausländerbehörde on the 1st floor. Again, find your room by surname and talk with the receptionist. This is the person you have to convince that you can get a visa here. Be calm but firm and insist that they look it up, if they say "no", then keep insisting until they get someone to look it up. Show the German information about the WHV.

4) You'll get a number, wait, then eventually be shown to a room where you can hand in your application. It won't take long to process it and they'll hand you a piece of paper.
- More than likely, the person you speak with will only speak German. There are normally a couple of people who speak English and might come over to help.

5) Take the paper to where they direct you (I've forgotten the name but it's on the same floor). It's where the visa is printed and stuck in your passport. Go to the cashier (Kasse), hand over the paper and your passport, pay €50. You'll be given a number and wait until it's ready.

6) Celebrate your triumph over German bureaucracy!!!

To get your tax card (Lohnsteuerkarte) you can do it at the Bürgerbüro but I found it easier to apply online and have it sent to me: https://ssl.muenchen.de/vhosts/kvr/lohna.htm

Ok, I think that's about it. If anyone has anything add, feel free to chuck in a few comments.

great post!

Also do i need evidence of a return flight? did they ask for this? Ive been in the country for like 2 weeks so will they give me a whv dated from backdated 2 weeks or for 12 months starting from the very day they hand me the whv at the office? I need to know because this seems to have implications foe length of travel insurance cover. I would hate to be denied a whv cos my travel insurance was 2 weeks under their 12 month whv period...What do you gals n guys think?

I wasn't asked for evidence of a return flight and the WHV is valid from the day they issue it, not your date of entry into the country.

I have a 12 month WHV and my insurance does not last the full 12 months. I explained to them that when I bought my insurance, I could only buy 12 months at a time and I had been travelling for 2 months. The lady told me to come back with proof of insurance when my current policy runs out.

I recently got a Working Holiday visa issued from the German Consulate in Sydney.

I did not require proof of a return flight, IF I could show proof of an additional $1500 available funds. (in addition to the proof of funds to support your stay).

Awesome post. I got my WHV from the Helsinki consulate (was living there), it was ridiculously easy and they were really helpful. Glad I didn't try to get it here!

The NZ WHV was also relatively easy to change over to a Aufentshaltserlaubnis at the end of the 12mths - or at least as easy as dealing with the Foreigners Office can ever be.

Duesseldorf were also happy to accept Southern Cross insurance for the extension too.

Just thought I'd mention to people that CareConcept's College Care insurance policy is not good enough for the WHV. It needs to be College Care Plus. Also, you need to buy insurance for the duration of your visa (IE 1 year if you plan to stay that long) or they will only give you until your insurance expires. This was my experience just then. Oh yeah, and money is 400€ per month (I read in numerous places 250€ per month, but that's wrong), so if you want to stay a year it's 4800€.

I just want to note/vent a few things..

1) There is so much mixed info on this topic that it makes me want to chainsaw my own head off
2) German bureaucracy is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarked!
3) I got a "large" woman in her 30s with an attitude as my visa person, but I'm guessing if you got a better looking therefore less bitter at the world visa person you might get through with less money and Care College (without the PLUS)..

The above statements are from my own experiences and from my own opinions of the world and it's inhabitants..

Danke farking shön!

PS: I'm in a bad mood..

So you did get the full 12 month WHV after all? Or only until the end of the insurance policy after which you would have to go and extend that initial visa?

I was issued a full 12 month WHV but they asked me to come back to show my new insurance, when my current insurance expires. It depends very heavily on who you talk to - for example my girlfriend is in the same situation but her immigration officer didn't ask for any evidence of insurance.

I told the officer I dealt with that I could only buy 12 months of insurance and had travelled for 2 months (that was true btw!).

I thought the WHV was a mandatory 12 month issue. I didn't think they had the discretion to give me 8 months for example if I only had 8 months of insurance left. Wouldn't they merely revoke the VHW if new insurance wasn't purchased when the 8 months elapsed?

I arrive in Munich next week and will be applying for a WHV. However, I only want to stay in Germany 6 months (at this point in my life) and am slightly adverse to having to purchase a 12 month insurance policy for the privilege (however grateful I am for that privilege).

Will the beurocrats still give me a WHV if I have an insurance policy that was only ever purchased for a 6 month period or will they be dodged out by that and refuse me outright?

I realise that my chances of success may come down to the individual on the day who processes my application BUT it would brill if someone has already tried the same thing and could let me know how it went.

@NZGirl08: They can issue whatever length visa they want to (up to 12 months). I've said in the above posts that technically you do require a full 12 months BUT myself and my girlfriend were issued a 12 month WHV without having 12 months of insurance (10 mths and 6 mths, respectively). This is HIGHLY dependent on who you get because I have heard of people not getting the full WHV because of their insurance.

Summed up, you should get your WHV but it does depend on who you get and what you say (btw, you might as well try for the full 12 months)

Has any aussies tried getting a visa in Germany?

I went last week (in Munich) and they told me Australians can´t apply for one in Germany?! Is this true?

It seemed like there was a lot of confusion amounst the staff in the office.
One man told me Kiwis can´t and Aussies can, when I remined him I was Australian he looked rather confused and didnt know what to say.
They sent me back and forth from the waiting room while they chatted. After an hour or so they just said NO and sent me ion my way.

Im going back today with documents from offical websites stating I can apply, hopefully it will work.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Thanks
Michael

I'm an Aussie who turned up here to be with my girlfriend, been here about 4 months now. I got my visa from the same office you did (Munich) after applying here in Germany after finding a job (I'm not on a working holiday visa). It might take some time and patience but you should get there in the end. You're right about the infrequency of these visas, it took some fast talking from my girl to get me on the right track.

My advice? Take someone who speaks German, because nobody but the secretary seems to speak English. Also, if you have already lined up a job then you MUST do the paperwork in the same region you are doing your work in. Otherwise, they send all your papers there and you get an unaccoutable and very worrying 3-4 week delay over the normal 2 week processing period.

[/quote]
My advice? Take someone who speaks German, because nobody but the secretary seems to speak English. Also, if you have already lined up a job then you MUST do the paperwork in the same region you are doing your work in. Otherwise, they send all your papers there and you get an unaccoutable and very worrying 3-4 week delay over the normal 2 week processing period.
[/quote]

But its catch 22, you can´t get a job without the visa and you can´t get a visa without a job. No place will talk to me until Ive got the paper work sorted.
What can I do?

Another question. Is it true that you can only work at the one job on the working holiday visa? I was planning to work in Munich for a few months then move to Berlin. Will this be possible on the same visa?

You can work in as many jobs as you like with a working holiday visa. However, you cannot work for more than 90 days in total.

It's a good way to get out of the Catch-22 situation. If you start somewhere on a working holiday visa, then if you do a good job, your employer may decide to keep you and sponsor you for a proper residency/work visa.

I just came back from the office and got my working visa in about an hour!! No hassels or problems this time.

I guess it depends on who you get. The guy this time was really friendly helpfull.

@Hazza - Since the end of 2007 the 90 day rule no longer exists i.e. you can work for a whole year in the one job. Talk about sweet!


http://www.wellington.diplo.de/Vertretung/...perty=Daten.pdf

@Thorpey - Good stuff on getting the WHV. It's so true about who you get! :-D

Did anyone use travel insurance as a substitute for health insurance for the working holiday visa? If so which one?

I'm in Munich now and hope to go and sort out the visa etc tomorrow, so am really just looking for a cheap travel insurance that the Germans consider acceptable, that I can apply for online. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

My girlfriend and I used travel insurance for the visa. The Auslaenderbehoerde don't seem to be picky about what you have - 1cover is pretty cheap and my girlfriend used that for her visa: http://www.1cover.com/

BTW my guide above says that travel insurance is ok.

Thorpey - do you by chance know the name of the person who sorted you're visa??!

I'm going to try get mine on Wed! Haha!

No idea, sorry, you dont see the person until you get in the room.

But if you can, stay away from a lady with dark long hair, kinda looks like she has a turkish background.

Good luck! Let me know how it goes

Hah, she shed a little darkness into my life too. Guy was very helpful and speaks English, but I don't think you get to choose.

If you get a decent person, ask for their business card (Geschäftskarte?) - I wish I'd asked for one, so that I could pass on their details to others getting visas. It also helps if you need to go back or are required to send in extra info i.e. you can fax or post stuff straight to them.

Yea travel insurance is fine for the health insurance.

Did you get the visa in the end?

Cheers Schwack, I now have a policy with 1Cover insurance and am off to the see how the Germans react tomorrow down at the Ausländerbehörde.

Well, the guy I got was really lovely! Didn't even need to ask for his card - he gave it to me anyways!!

Only problem I had was that no matter how many people he rang, with the printout from the website in front of him stating that we could get the WHV in Germany, and the fact that I said I knew people who'd done this before me, apparently it wasn't possible coz they don't have the stickers to stick in your passport...

Hmm... So I got a visa/work permit/residence permit that allows me to do the exact same thing as a WHV... Personally, it didn't bother me, but would be curious to find out if thats what they did with anyone else, just to keep us all happy!

But now, my only worry is to find some work...!

K-Mee, that's pretty random, my experience was completely different.

I sorted mine out on Friday last. I had all my documents and the German info on the WHV ready to substantiate any arguments I may have had to make as to the existence and validity of the WHV!

It was just as well I had the German info with me because the gentleman I got spoke NO English AT ALL and my German is extremely crappy. He read the German info briefly, looked at me, had a cursory glance through my passport then brought me over to the receptionist (who evidently is the only one there who can speak English) and relayed through her that I was to head down to the other room where they would issue my visa. I got the WHV proper, no problems with lack of stickers etc. In fact one of my stickers even has "...working holiday visums..." printed on it. The whole process took about 30 mins max from getting my number to getting my passport etc returned to me with the visa.

I guess it completely depends on who you get.

P.S. Cheers Schwack for your original post. My experience was far less stressful than it would've been without it!

All this information looks helpful, but does age play a factor? I'm 32 so I miss out on the Shengen agreement

I have a meeting organised for a job when I get to Germany but we haven't discussed work permits or anything.

The WHV requires that you are:


http://www.wellington.diplo.de/Vertretung/...perty=Daten.pdf