socrates74

Members
 View profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    86

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by socrates74

  1. Posted

    very grateful for the responses so far. Just wanted to add that my son is fully integrated, been in normal german kita, kindergarten, school. So while it will take some work, I am not concerned about him keeping up basic German. More concerned about the actual material of 4. Klasse Deutsch and the formal requirements of moving on.

    0

  5. Posted

    Thanks all. We would definitely either send him to a German school in the US or have some serious tutoring going on to keep up the German. He already speaks English, but will have to learn to write in English (he can read mostly). Grades are good enough but not stellar.

    0

  8. Posted

    Sorry for the random question: My wife and I just got notice that there are registered letters for each of us that couldn't be delivered and will be waiting at the post office. The tracking number indicates that they originated from Detroit Michigan. We have no idea what this would be (never lived near Detroit either). Anyone else get a registered letter from Detroit today?

    0

  9. Posted

    hi, thanks. i spoke to the health insurance company in the meantime, they said that she is not obliged to have health insurance during her stay in the us. and afterwards she will go back to work anyway and be versicherungspflichtig, so will be able to enter the public system. (there is a 2 week window between her return and starting work again). i am not sure we are talking about the same thing, but the insurance for longer stays abroad is not offered by so many companies. I have found tarifs at ADAC, Hanse Merkur, and a couple of others. The one at ADAC is significantly cheaper but I am suspicious that I am looking at the wrong rate. most are about 70-80 EUR per month for the US.

    thanks again

    0

  11. Posted

    Thank you! I am planning to call the GKV today just to see what the situation is. The situation is a bit complicated because she was half time for a few months, and also on unpaid elternzeit for the last three ... i don't know if that figures into calculating the costs. When you say to give a shout out to those brokers, do you mean to sent a pm? or have you already gotten their attention (i'm a bit behind with technology!).

    thanks again.

    0

  13. Posted

    Still struggling to understand this, if anyone is there to help at the last minute. Let me repeat with some updates:

    My wife will be in the us jan 5 to mid march. she will have a job in the US (unrelated to her german one). Unfortunately her current employer has been very slow and she does not yet have her permission to be "beurlaubt" so the current public health insurance does not know about this yet.

    1. Must she be on public insurance during this time? If so, how will the cost be determined? based on her usa income? that will be a good salary for these months. Does this information (about the purpose of the beurlaubung) appear on the information that is sent to her insurer from the employer?

    2. I found reasonable extra insurance for the US through ADAC. Hanse Merkur.

    I am worried that the cost of the public insurance here will be the maximum, some 650 EUR, and another 100 or so for the extra. Any better options?

    Very grateful for any help.

    Thanks.

    0

  15. Posted

    Hi I am just looking for some pointers before talking to the insurance company next week.

    My wife is a US citizen and has been living in Germany for the last 10 years. For tax purposes anyway, we are German residents. That is, we have to file US taxes but can exclude all of our (middle-class) income, and we don't have to file state taxes. My wife will be in the US for about 11 weeks this winter, and working there (not for a German company, rather she will be on leave from her job here to take up a visiting academic position). I know that health insurance in the US can be really expensive and so I am wondering if anyone can suggest something that we could get from here that would offer pretty good coverage for that time.

    More information and questions: she is publicly insured, and also, from 1. October will be on unpaid Elternzeit for three months, before going to the US. I am not sure what her insurance situation will be from 1. Oct., to be honest. Must the public insurance keep her at a reasonable rate? 

    Finally, should one in this case keep the German insurance, and stay registered, etc.? She will be going back to a job April 1st, where she will be required to have public insurance, as I understand it. The timeline is: from 1. Oct. on elternzeit, she goes to the US in late December or early January, and returns around mid-March, and starts work here again April 1.

    So, all in all, I'd be grateful for any suggestions for insurance for the US and for thoughts about what we can expect to be paying here for regular German insurance, if she should have it during the trip, etc. Interested in saving money, of course, but also avoiding complications.

    Thanks!

     

     

    0

  16. Posted

    Hi, for various bad reasons, I have not filed a Steuererklärung since moving to Germany some 8 years ago. Earlier I had little to lose, but now I have a small family. Moreover, I am quite worried that I have made a terrible mistake, that there will be harsh penalties. So, I am hoping for some reassurance first of all, and second, advice on someone trustworthy (English-speaking not necessary) who can help me sort this out, if possible in Munich.

    A bit more detail: My informal calculations suggest that I probably broke even for several years, but in the last two years could have probably gotten some money back with child credits and such. One thing that worries me is that my wife has some investments in the US, which of course should have been reported. The income from those would come to a very small amount, but still, in principle that might count as unreported income.

    Thanks

    0

  22. Posted

    hi employed, and used the payslips. however they wrote back that there was too much rückrechnungen to be able to determine the appropriate income for the calculation, thus sent a form for the employer to fill out. but the request for the einkommen- and kirchensteuerbescheid (with no explanation) seems to be independent, and not to have to do with determining the basis for the calculation of elterngeld.

    thanks.

    0

  23. Posted

    Hello, for various bad reasons I have not yet done the steuererklaerung for 2012 but it seems i need the steuerbescheid for the application for elterngeld. my question is: what is the quickest and easiest way to do this. i am pretty sure i owe a little money (there was a mistake for several months in the steuerklasse) but not so much, and i have all but filled out the steuererklaerung, but i do not trust myself with german language forms. should i go to a berater or just directly to the finanzamt? the office that handles elterngeld in munich would like this within 3.5 weeks.

    thanks

    0

  24. Posted

    Hi, just wondering if my newborn is automatically registered (the wohnsitz anmeldung) when i do the registration of birth or whether i need to do that separately (in which case i am very late). sorry if it's a silly question but I'm having trouble finding the answer. And if so, do I need an ID for the baby? That is still on its way.

    thanks.

    0

  25. Posted

    Hi I went to the US Consulate in Munich and just wanted to share my experiences. Some of the people there can be a bit difficult and impatient. Good to go there with the whole application in order. I had to wait an extra 20 minutes because it took me more than 30 seconds to get the right passports out of my bag. What I was most worried about -- spotty travel history -- was not a problem. You can give this info "to the best of your knowledge" which can include educated guesses. What was problematic though was proof of having lived in the US. Passports were not enough. From me (born and raised in the US) I had to show my birth certificate. The fact that my wife was a naturalized citizen through marriage (which requires 3 years of residency) was also not enough. In the end they reluctantly accepted her drivers licences as sufficient. An imperfect passport photo of the baby was also accepted. Thanks to all those who were helpful on this matter.

    0