Moving to Berlin and my situation or question is unique

[kiwistef 0]

Hi all, I'm looking to move to Berlin in March.

 

Any tips on moving to Germany?

 

Myself and my partner will not have much in the way of German language skills when we first arrive.

[Guest]

Hi Kiwi,

 

you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned language skills. I think that more than anything will help you get the most out of our time here and make things a lot easier for you, especially the beaurocracy side of life which is BIG in Germany. So if I were you I'd do everything to get your head round the lanuage before you come, it will make things much easier.

[Weeman 2]

Hi Kiwi,

 

Neil is probably right on the language front. But I moved here at the start of last year with my wife, and we had a son in April.

 

Things have not been easy, we were actually illegal for a while because we did not apply for the correct residency permit. But my advice is to just go for it, you will fumble your way through things just as we have. It might be a good idea to make sure you have completed all of the right paperwork at the start though (or at least understand what is required).

 

Good Luck.

Duncan.

[andy_y 2]

Go for it.

 

I have been in Berlin since '96 love it.

 

We, my wife and I, have had our ups and downs, but we got through.

 

Make sure you get the Aufenhaltserlaubnis residency permit before you do anything.

 

When you get a job and you need a tax form remember even if you go to church in the bit that says what religon put "--" in the box.

 

Language - my experience is people are more likely and willing to speak English than "almost" any other language.

 

What is your profession or have you already got a job here?

 

Just a couple of tips.

[ramonb 4]

Yep, there is a lot of paper work, and the sooner you get into learning German the better really, best to start as soon as you can. English is generally understood all over the place though., but you may always feel like a tourist if you don't learn it.

 

We don't look back, at first there was a bit of running around to do with the paper work. There are lots of discussions on this forum which have all sorts of good stuff on it, lots of people are always coming over, perhaps have a browse and search through the archives?

 

If you have no clue whatsover what to sort it out, tell us, but I assume you know someone in Berlin anyway.

 

Good luck.

[BoomerE30 0]

Hey guys, im new here. I've always wanted to study/intern in Germany, so now I am serious about it and decided to see if I can get something done to start my adventure in Germany at the end of september or early october.

 

Unfortunately i have no German language skills or what so ever but from what i've heard so far, it is not impossible to get around with only English.

 

So i have a few general questions;

• How much is rent for a student (i am traveling with a friend and we dont care if we live in a box )
  
• Are there a lot of places in Berlin to offer language courses, if so, is it through universities (im looking for transferable credit to my local university)
  
• Should I come to Berlin maybe a month before and get everything done there? because it seems very difficult to get things done over the mail/phone.
  

Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

Thanks a lot guys/girls!

 

Renat

 

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[Deccie 244]

Hartnack School Nolendorfplatz is where I think most foreigners learn German. Reasonable prices. There is also the Goethe Institute. Much more expensive.

[globalgirl 88]

You need to have a Untermitzfetrag or mitzfetrag (renter, sub-let) agreement from your renter (you can buy these at McPaper if your renter doesn't have one)

 

You take that letter with your passport to your local Bezurk-ampt. they will give you an official stamped letter saying you actually do live at your address.

 

Then you have to take this and proof of funds to support yourself for a certain amount of time, that is if you haven't found a course to register in by the time your visa is due to expire, and all foreigners have to register at the Foreigner office at Friedrich-Krause-Ufer 24, 13353 Berlin. near-ish Wedding station

 

you can also take the receipt from, for example a language course, to prove that you are here to do something.

 

If you have a course, then like someone else suggested each university should have an office to help you out.

 

If you take some time to navigate around government websites like www.berlin.de you might be able to get ahold of phone numbers to call in order to book appointments to help save waiting so long in the famous line ups. (you will have to wait, it just might be for half the amount of time)

 

*please note that my german spelling sucks, but should be almost spelt as it is said.

[Wrigleyville 1]

Hartnack School is terrible. Goethe is rather expensive, but they have a few co-op contracts with small private schools thoughout the city. I would highly recommend that one of the very first things that you do is dive head first into a language course. Because if you wait too long you will start learning german from, the tv, street and all sorts of others places. And that is nothing but conterproductive.

[persik 20]

globalgirl is right in some of the things (perhaps not the spelling though ). You do need to get an official Anmeldung form which is a letter from your local Bezirkamt (or the proof of your residence at a specific address from the local area authority) For that you need to bring your rental agreement -the Mietvertrag. The Anmeldung paper then you can take to any of the language schools of which there are quite a few in Berlin and internet is really your friend here...

 

Goetheinstitue is rather expensive, so is Berlitz. But I had a friend who went to Hartnackschule and it really was fine, she passed the final exam and is attending a university. Do you have any German skills at all? If not and you are attempting to also study later at an actual Berlin University, you will need quite a bit of class, and Goethe will cost a fortune for 5-12 months! Inlingua school is also pretty good, but still about 350 a month. The BerlinSprachInstitute (you can google their site) is alright I hear and it's 165 a month- don't know if will able to pass the uni entrance pruefung. but that is all really up to what you want to do- once you figure that out, you can pick an appropriate school. you must have done some research before you came here and decided this is what you want to do? also, if you just use the search function here...

good luck

[sunny 17]

I went to Die Neue Schule in Berlin and I really liked it. More info here:

 

www.neueschule.de

[HelenT 0]

Hi all,

 

I've just moved to Berlin from Belfast and have gleaned some great advice from these forums already! but i have a couple of questions that i cant seem to find discussed here before, apologies if already covered.

 

does anybody have any tips on good second hand furniture shops? especially in the kreuzberg area. I've been checking out zweite hand but would just love to browse more than look online or in paper. we still need a fridge and washing machine so tips on second hand shops for those would be great too.

 

does anybody have any recommendations with regard to phone companies and broadband providers? whats the cheapest? best service? shortest minimum contract? So far i've just looked at the O2 deals but i'd love to find a DSL provider that doesnt have a minimum contract.. impossible maybe, but any advice would be much appreciated!

 

I'm living in east Kreuzberg and was wondering if anybody is a member of a gym in the area? I'm looking for something that has a good range of machines, maybe a pool and a range of classes... not asking for much am i? Also, has anybody any tips on swimming pools in the east kreuzberg area? I've looked at the site that covers all berlin but would love personal recommendations if possible :-)

 

and finally, i've registered with my local burgeramt as a resident and have to now find work. I'm a bit confused with regards to what i need, do i need an additional permission to stay? Can i get this without a job?

 

Hope this isnt too much of a post for a first timer! looking forward to getting out to the thursday meet up when i get a bit more settled.

 

Thanks

Helen

 

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[Guest]

 

Unfortunately i have no German language skills or what so ever but from what i've heard so far, it is not impossible to get around with only English.

 

So i have a few general questions;

 

* How much is rent for a student (i am traveling with a friend and we dont care if we live in a box smile.gif)

* Are there a lot of places in Berlin to offer language courses, if so, is it through universities (im looking for transferable credit to my local university)

* Should I come to Berlin maybe a month before and get everything done there? because it seems very difficult to get things done over the mail/phone.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Hi, BoomerE30. I've been here for about two weeks. I'm 17 years old. When I came here, I could pretty much only say hi, how are you? and thanks in German. It's not hard at all to get by by speaking English (almost everyone here can speak English), plus all the Germans I've spoken to have been extremely nice and helpful.

 

For my first two nights in Berlin, I stayed in a hostel called Meininger Hostels. http://www.meininger-hostels.de/ It was very affordable and convenient for me. While I was there, I looked for shared apartments (WGs) on the internet. I used http://wg-gesucht.de and http://studenten-wg.de There are heaps of very cheap furnished WG listings on the net. Although cheap, they are very good, and that is how I got hooked up with the apartment I'm renting now. I am only paying 240 euros per month rent, with everything included.

 

As for the language courses, I go to a language school called IH Prolog Berlin http://www.prolog-berlin.com/en/berlin.htm. I'm enrolled for 3 months, for a little over 1000 euros. I think it is very worthwhile, because after having had one week of lessons, I can make simple conversation in German with correct grammar and I can also understand a bit of the conversations going on around me. After several months, you'll have the opportunity to sit the Goethe test (apparently this test is recognised worldwide), so you might be able to get transferable credit for it for your local uni. However, to get into any uni here, you'll have to pass the language test.

 

As for your last question, I don't think you need to come here 1 month prior. For my language school, enrollment and everything like that was taken care of over the internet. If you're worried about finding a place, I think a place was easy to find, because of the abundance of ad listings there were on the net. As for the anmeldung, you could probably get by without having to know German, but it's not hard to make a German friend who wouldn't mind going with you to the place to get you registered.

 

Anyway, I hope that helps!

[KofferInBerlin 1]

Hi Helen,

 

welcome to Berlin!

 

 

i've registered with my local burgeramt as a resident and have to now find work. I'm a bit confused with regards to what i need, do i need an additional permission to stay? Can i get this without a job?

I was going to say that if you're an EU citizen you'd have to go to the Ausländerbehörde at Friedrich-Krause-Ufer and get yourself a nice shiny Aufenthaltserlaubnis (residence permit), basically a formality. But it looks like since the start of 2005 not even this is needed; you should be able to stay as long as you want to look for work. Once you have work or have sorted your situation you can get a "Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung" from your Bürgeramt (I don't think this is absolutely required, it's just an official confirmation that you are resident in Germany; but the more bits of paper you have the better, I find). Basically EU citizens now have zilch problems as far as residence permits go.

 

HTH

[HelenT 0]

Thanks HTH, that's one thing i can tick off my list, for the time being anyway!

 

H

[KofferInBerlin 1]

 

Thanks HTH, that's one thing i can tick off my list, for the time being anyway!

Hmm, I'm not actually called "HTH", that's an abbreviation for "hope that helps" ;-).

 

As for swimmingpools, you might want to try the Spreewaldbad close to Görlitzer Bahnhof (U1 / U12,

address Wiener Straße 59H, 10999 Berlin), though I haven't been there for years so I'm not sure what it's

like now.

 

In summer there's also the open air Prinzenbad (entrance next to Prinzenstraße station).

 

Ian

[sarah_ 0]

My friend and I are moving to Berlin in July (we are totally sick of britain!) and we just need some advice about moving there. Finding a job and flat are getting increasingly difficult due to the lack of english sites on the net! Also we hardly speak any german (though we are getting some lessons!) so will that lower our chances of finding work??

Any other advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Thanks!

Sarah

 

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[Serenissima 105]

My partner and I are also moving to Berlin, and hopefully by July! We currently have our house up for sale, and once we have the proceeds converted to Euro we shall start looking for somewhere to buy in Berlin. We may need to rent for a while, but our ultimate goal is to buy some property outright. You've possibly noticed that what you can buy in Berlin for your Geld, compared to Britain, is of a ludicrously better standard.

 

We're not particularly 'totally sick of Britain' but we love the German people and have a sneaking envy for their standard of living. And with the shrinking world, it is actually cheaper and easier to fly to Berlin from our current home in the East Midlands than it is to, say, drive to Edinburgh.

 

I think you really need to grasp the nettle and learn the German. Even if it's not essential for finding a job (many UK and US companies have Berlin branches; look at e-Bay for example) you would really be limiting yourself. If nothing else, you will want to chat with your German neighbours without coming over as an ignorant foreigner

 

I hope it all goes well with your venture. Even if it isn't all you expect then, well, as we see it better to try whilst you can than die of old age full of regrets and 'what ifs'.

 

If you want to share experiences of looking at removal firms and insurance, registering as a resident, opening Euro bank accounts, and in our case getting pet passports and transporting four cats, then please either post here or PM me, as we are gradually learning about these things too.

 

p.s. watch our progress at http://auftakt.blogspot.com/

[djpaulnewhouse 0]

myself and my partner are thinking of moving to berlin this year, fed up in the UK :-(

 

ive been there before and loved the city, but im just wondering if anyone who is english native, and has lived and worked in the city can help me work a few things out.

 

what is it like to find a job, with very little german, is there english employers who employ english expats? do i need to get any work permits?

 

im currently running my own record shop, but things are not going great, im also a dance dj/promoter for many years, and my partner is an office superviser.

 

any help would be great :-)

 

paul.

 

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[Keydeck 9,235]

Hi Paul, welcome to Toytown.

 

Start with this thread: Various tips for foreigners moving to Berlin.

 

Then take a browse through the Newcomers section. You'll find many, many discussions in there covering the practicalities of moving to Germany and specifically Berlin. The Life in Berlin section will also provide you with a host of information.