kato

  Entry-level salaries for an employed academic in this kinda field (sic) are probably in the region of probably broadly 35,000 +- a couple thousand.

VBL is a separate employer-based pension insurance, and has nothing to do with regular pension insurance.   You also should have gotten a stack of advertising material from them by mail when your employer signed you up for it...

  In case you need further reasons in favor of that decision:   A marriage of an uncle or other non-directly-related person does not constitute sufficient reason to remove a kid from school. Examples for valid reasons are given in §4 (3) 9. There is no examption for "foreign background families" in any regard as the child is under 14.   Fines for absentism in Baden-Württemberg are capped at 1000 Euro in Baden-Württemberg. However, absentism on this scale and with such intention would require the school to also inform the Jugendamt due to Kindeswohlgefährdung, which may take the necessary step in order to ensure the child is not deprived of its rights (such as temporary removal of the child from the family, enforcing school attendance using police, additional fines and jail possibilities for the responsible parent).   You cannot "settle this in a court" - for about 230 Euro a lawyer might tell you that.   I assume the wedding is planned to be in Pakistan? With regard to the pandemic: You're aware that holding indoor wedding parties is currently banned in Pakistan? You do know that you'll have to prove you're negative with PCR tests both before departing Germany and before departing Pakistan in your travel, followed by mandatory quarantine in Germany after arriving back? You do know that breaking this quarantine may result in fines of up to 25,000 Euro or up to three years prison? And just in general: You realize that there is an active travel warning that includes that flights from and to Pakistan may be cancelled without notice at any time?

  The wording of the email does not constitute a cancellation. Doing so by email would not be legal anyway. The wording is a request that one can choose to ignore.   Considering you say you're moving out end of December, i hope you cancelled the lease or it ends regularly on that date. Because from those two emails she knows exactly what she's entitled to legally and how to communicate it such that it's also valid.   On a side note the conditions she's stating especially for handing back the Kaution (and the way she's stating it) are extremely favourable to you.  

Flixbus runs direct busses between Würzburg and Kassel in theory. One-way they take about 5 hours (compared to one hour by ICE) and the next one available has open seats for around 30€ (compared to 22-24€ for a ICE seat around the same time, if booking ahead). This does not include travel within Kassel, since the busses stop at the ICE station a couple km outside the city.   Due to Covid these busses do not run at the moment - Flixbus ceased operations on November 3rd. It is rather unlikely they'll resume operations anytime soon.

  Virtually anyone i know who commutes daily from Stuttgart to Mannheim (and there's quite a few, statistically) does so by car. Not because the ICEs are slow - they aren't - or full - that they are - or costly but because wherever they live around Stuttgart always adds at least 20-30 minutes to their commute to just get to the Hauptbahnhof to get on that ICE, which fully negates the speed advantage over driving.

Depends on whether you:   1) find an employer taking you on for a FSJ without German knowledge 2) find a language school that accomodates your work hours. or alternatively find a place specifically as an "incoming FSJ"   FSJ is full-time work, standard is somewhere between 38.5 and 41 hours per week, depending on employer also in shifts including night shift.   There are places that do hire "incoming FSJ" and may include some sort of language course, however most of these already expect a B1 German certificate from applicants. There are some that don't but they often have some peculiarities (e.g. Diakonisches Werk, which also takes people with "good English knowledge", but limits applicants for this particular programme to those pre-filtered and nominated by particular associated churches in South Africa and Brazil).   Since you've put Africa as location be aware that it is somewhat notoriously difficult to get a visa for FSJ in Germany for citizens of most African (and South American) countries.

  They will likely want to have a look (to ascertain it's the same goods as stated in the papers). There are a number of Zollstellen along the border, map with list and contact data: http://www.pwebapps.ezv.admin.ch/apps/dst/?lang=1 Probably would make sense to call or send an email with regard to what they need you to present where once you have that paperwork.   ----   If the handgun has CIP markings it should be good. The proofing is mostly about certifying whether the gun is safe to fire under current standards, CIP countries all have a common standard there. Having this certification is relevant for insurance, in addition you are also not allowed to sell or even temporarily hand over an unproofed firearm to another person. Cost is only around 25 Euro, two weeks wait time. It basically only needs to be done once, unless there are significant (structural) changes made to the gun.   ---   If you move within Germany the permit is not affected. For the initial 12-month period avoid switching between clubs of different national associations (i.e. e.g. only train in clubs organized as part of Deutscher Schützenbund / DSB - there are some competing organizations such as Deutsche Schießsportunion) and also try to stay within shooting clubs organized in one state. These associations have to co-sign your Bedürfnis - typically these national associations do not accept training within a competing organization as valid, and also require membership (at state level) for 12 months. Currently required training - at least within DSB - is either once per month or - with a maximum of 3 months between two sessions - 18 times in a year. For more than 2 handguns - as a sports shooter - you'd also need to enter competitions with them (twice per year), thus proving that you need the "extra training gear".   Small note on that last sentence: A "green WBK" (for sports shooting) regularly allows registering up to three long arms and two handguns. In addition you're limited to registering maximum two firearms in any rolling six-month period.   ---   Carrying a weapon is allowed within a home, business, or generally befriedetes Besitztum (fenced-in estate - as in having physical measures preventing others from trespassing), in all cases either your own or those owned by another person who has given you permission. In addition carrying is allowed at shooting ranges for the purpose for which your WBK is issued (i.e. for sports shooting). Transport between these estates is only allowed "inaccessible, non-shootable".   When you are not carrying the weapon you need to lock it up to prevent misuse by others. Ammunition also needs to be locked up. Detail document on that listing requirements for gun safes: https://www.bva.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Buerger/Ausweis-Dokumente-Recht/Waffenrecht/Einzelerlaubnisse/merkblatt_waffenaufbewahrung.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4

  Oh boy. I don't think you have quite an idea what you're getting into.   for a WBK through a shooting club (sports license for both long guns and handguns) assume minimum one year after starting to train there regularly. Common requirement: 18 training sessions over a space of 12 months before application - depends a bit on the weapons agency (and sometimes shooting club). Also earmark a couple hundred Euro for the required training course for weapons handling. Forget about the hunting license, that would be way more complicated. Oh, and i hope you're over 25 and have no problem with domestic intelligence running a standard inquest. pre-register the weapons on your WBK before moving them. Apply for an import permit (Verbringungsbewilligung, §29 AWaffV) for the weapons that you already own. Note that you'd also have to do so for any ammunition. I assume you have the necessary documentation for the weapons in Switzerland, including proof of longterm ownership (in particular if you're not a Swiss citizen the Waffenerwerbsschein). Apply with Zentralstelle Waffen in Bern for a Waffenbegleitschein (note: if the rifle is in 7.5x55 apply with SECO for export of war material). Note that this export documentation will only be sent to Swiss addresses. Definitely when crossing the border take the Begleitschein, Verbringungsbewilligung, WBK, proof of ownership and weapons in with Swiss border control (legal requirement) and probably also German border control. Definitely make sure to take a direct road and do not pass through a third country (Austria, France) Register the weapons with your local weapons agency in Germany within two weeks after you have imported them. A weapon moved to within territory in which German weapons law applies needs to be proofmarked by a CIP country. Switzerland is not a CIP country, and privately owned weapons in Switzerland are not required to be proofed at all. The weapon (definitely the rifle) will therefore need to be proofed by a local Beschussamt in Germany. For the handgun it depends on whether it was produced in a CIP country. Relatively cheap, but requires some time. You will also need to transport the weapons in an "inaccessible, non-shootable" state at all times. Commonly meaning in a weapons case securely locked up, preferably disassembled and with that case in the trunk of your car. Any ammunition in the car to be stored separately, preferably but not necessasily similarly locked up. Maximum mass limits (50 kg) applies if you don't have a hazardous goods permit.

For water: Check your rental contract. It is legally possible for the landlord to distribute water cost non-usage-dependent, i.e. by distributing the overall usage to all apartments as done here. Needs to be contractually laid down though.   For heating: They didn't read the meters around the turn of the calculation period, i.e. at the end of the year (+-2 weeks) ? (possibly remotely, not on site - if on site, was there an announcement somewhere at the front door or staircase entrance?)   Also note that your point of contact is always the landlord or (for day-to-day business like this) the Hausverwaltung that he contracted to do this job. The company doing the calculation - Kalorimeta - is contracted by the landlord and doesn't have anything to do with you.

  Uh, no, you might be misunderstanding something there. This isn't a bill. This is a Betriebskostenabrechnung, i.e. a statement of what costs were actually incurred. The landlord is legally obliged to give this statement to the renter for transparency.  

  Since no one really answered the question:   Discrimination with regard to rental contracts for housing is regulated by §19 AGG. Possible discriminatory items under AGG are race or ethnicity, gender, religion or philosophy, disability, age, sexual identity.   §19 (1) AGG - no discrimination based on any of the above items (*) allowed for "mass contracting", set at a landlord owning a minimum of 50 apartments (**). §19 (2) AGG - no discrimination based on race or ethnicity with regard to rental contracts in general. §19 (3) AGG - discrimination based on gender, religion or philosophy, disability, age or sexual identity allowed "with a view towards the creation and maintenance of socially stable settlement structures and a balanced economic, social and cultural environment" §19 (4) AGG - discrimination based on all items, incl. race, is allowed if landlord and renter share the same living space. Courts have clarified this to mean the same estate, not just the same apartment.   (*) philosophy can be considered as a possible legal discrimination in this case, since it's not explicitly listed. (**) §20 AGG factually excepts religious communities from this with regard to religious-based discrimination (and only on that basis!).   Additionally under §20 AGG exemptions apply if a sufficient sachlicher Grund is stated, mostly pertaining to safety (e.g. it can be possible to state that an apartment due to how it is constructed is not suitable for wheelchair users or e.g. for blind people).   Language in itself is not a discriminatory item under AGG. It can be a derivative item insofar as it pertains to a particular ethnicity - e.g. stating "in diesem Haus wird nur Deutsch gesprochen" in an ad would be a definitive discrimination based on ethnicity (and yes, such ads weren't exactly uncommon 20-30 years ago).