Thinking about leaving Germany

[diding 77]

3 hours ago, GertyMeTurty said:

this current topic is playing on my mind. My (now) husband and I lived in Germany for ca. 7 years. We moved to my home country last year in June (out of EU, a long flight away, at great expense). We had wanted to leave Germany forever, and we finally took the plunge and were SO HAPPY to be leaving. Well, we bought a house, got married, and my husband is absolutely struggling for work. We are in a commonwealth country, he speaks fluent, native speaker level, English, is super well educated and qualified (thank you German education system) and yet, he can't get even an interview here. We did our research before we came, and he spoke with employers and there was never a hint he would have difficulty. But unlike Germans, the people here are not direct and it seems can just be overly polite at times. So, all in all, he is miserable. For myself, I hate being back here.  My job is terrible, and I really miss our life in Germany. It also breaks my heart to see my witty, funny, smart and educated husband struggling to get even minimum wage jobs. Though we've got a great house, and the home life is great,  you don't realise how much you need to enjoy, or at least feel valued in, your work, particularly when both he and I spent so many years at University to do what we do. He had his pick of top qualified jobs in his field in Germany, and just nothing here. 

 

The long and short of it is, we miss Germany TERRIBLY and are now looking at ways to come back. I cannot believe that I am saying this now, but we wish we had never left. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and we would not have known how good we had it in Germany if we had not left. But right now it just feels like a very expensive mistake. So we are making contingency plans to come back to Germany as we speak. Maybe something will work out while we make those plans, but ugh. I second the advice above to try it out on a temporary basis for 6 months to a year and then make a decision. 

Are u living in australia now?

[Arctic Circle 50]

@GertyMeTurty hearing your story is giving me some second thoughts! Your situation is exactly what I fear happening to my husband, he's similar your husband: educated, native speaker level English, wanting to leave Germany etc. How long did it take you guys to realize you wanted to move back to Germany? Canada is equally as far and expensive as Australia, not exactly a quick hop skip and a jump back to Deutschland if we realize we made a mistake... 

[NickyZ 1]

hello

Tax declaration wise, hire a good steuerberater, a good one is worth his or her weight in gold.

[sanjay050284 47]

On 20.2.2018, 10:46:20, LeCheese said:

Then move to the North ( if you can find work there ) Uckermark and Mecklenburg Vorpommeren have large areas of next to no people - Uckermark has hundreds fishing lakes all over and is the least populated part of Germany for example.

 

Or he could also move to Thuringen... There are very few people here and the ones who are here won't acknowledge his existence 

[GertyMeTurty 403]

@Arctic Circle well we got here in June 2017, and apparently it takes time for jobs (even for my fellow countrymen / countrypeople) to materialise, and of course the Christmas break (it's summer time here then so everything shuts down) doesn't help. But we're moving into March in a few days and still nothing. He's had a couple of short term contracting jobs, but nothing permanent and he's now at just under 50 applications, NONE of which have even resulted in an interview. We have used every single one of my network contacts, we've got recruiters, and it just doesn't seem like anything will materialise. So, I guess the short answer to your question, how long did it take us to realise we want to come back, about 9 months. Germany is not perfect and there were valid reasons for leaving, we thought, but in comparison, Germany seems to value education and intelligence. My husband (with a PhD) has been told he's intimidating to recruiters/HR and should "dumb down" his CV. It just boggles the mind. I went to Germany initially without a lick of German and I was able to work there successfully, whilst slowly building my German skills. My husband speaks English as a native speaker and just cannot get a foot in the door here. It baffles me. #takemeback

[Funfkinder 5]

First post, long time lurker. Hubby and I are on the opposite side of the coin. We got married and started off in Germany, but I couldn’t stand being away from Australia and we moved out here. We toyed back and forth of returning to DE, but work and life always got in the way (kids/house/careers etc). Finally after 12 years away we are done here in Aus and are selling up and moving back. It’s not the opinion of everyone and for each their own. But we realised shortly after we left the old adage of “grass isn’t greener” and every time we visited (roughly every second year) we couldn’t bear to go back to our lives in Aus.

[Adem137 180]

4 hours ago, Funfkinder said:

First post, long time lurker. Hubby and I are on the opposite side of the coin. We got married and started off in Germany, but I couldn’t stand being away from Australia and we moved out here. We toyed back and forth of returning to DE, but work and life always got in the way (kids/house/careers etc). Finally after 12 years away we are done here in Aus and are selling up and moving back. It’s not the opinion of everyone and for each their own. But we realised shortly after we left the old adage of “grass isn’t greener” and every time we visited (roughly every second year) we couldn’t bear to go back to our lives in Aus.

 

What do you prefer in Germany over Australia?

[Funfkinder 5]

Without getting into any debates or such, family and the cost of living are the main factors. Australia is such a beautiful country, but you can’t really spend time just enjoying it. We’ve worked in various industries around Australia from mining to retail to HR to construction. We’ve seen great wages, but the $$ disappear quickly after mortgage, childcare, groceries etc. Which we know DE can be similarly priced, however not as much. As our children get older, we can see that the things we thought were important in our early 20’s are not so important to us now as we are nearing our 40’s. There are a few more factors but those are the main two.

[wien4ever 447]

On 2/21/2018, 3:58:58, NickyZ said:

hello

Tax declaration wise, hire a good steuerberater, a good one is worth his or her weight in gold.

 

 

hello

for complicated cases, yes, definitely. For most people who are employees, they don't need one. Just use www.germantaxes.de or steuergo.de and save yourself some money (cut out the middleman).

 

 

 

 

[Bogies 6]

Hello Forum, this is a rather old thread, but it fits in with my theme and thoughts for today, August 2023. 
My spouse and I are experiencing a gradual onset of depression in our location in Germany, situated on the North Sea coast in East Friesland. It is August, and the weather conditions are chilly, windy, blustery, and wet. So we thought, why not move to a different part of Europe?
We are both German pensioners, and I receive German, British, and Forces pensions. We would like to keep as much of these pensions as possible. This means low taxes, a good but economical living standard, and low prices for both food and petrol. Lastly, a quality and efficient health service. We currently rent a small house, and that is what we would look for anywhere else.
Have any of the forum members any ideas? Croatia, Spain, Holland, France, Greece, and others? I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you have actually settled anywhere apart from the UK or Germany, and are happy with where you are. 
We appreciate your valuable thoughts and comments.

[optimista 5,934]

In avoidance of language learning, Cyprus. Jeba, already there, will be along shortly. JohnG would sell you Crete.

Portugal had a tax free incentive to attract such as you. It has backfired for them as oldies tend to be medicaly high maintenance... dunno if they already scrapped the deal. Beautiful country, gentle people.

I live in France now but would not recommend it... pervasively xenophobic, in the Alsace at least, and some aspects really not pleasant. Think jungle.

[Fietsrad 432]

What about the language? Does it make sense to move to a country where neither Englisch nor German is spoken? Even if lots of people in Greece speak Englisch.

Can you get your pension in other countries? What about another part of Germany?

I might have fancied moving back to the UK but Rental Health there is very troublesome. I understand you can be evicted for no reason.

In Germany my Rental Health is very good.

[fraufruit 42,671]

About weather conditions - they have been crap all over Europe this summer - too hot or too cold and rainy. Maybe further south in Germany away from the coast would be better to simplify your move and still have the things you want/need. Then you would be much closer to Italy, Slovenia and Croatia for holidays.

[LeonG 14,857]

It's not a problem if you move within the EU to continue with pension etc. You can even keep your German health insurance if you prefer to by filling out some forms. Very helpful to keep if if you might want to move back.

As for where, I know people who live in Portugal. English is pretty common. The weather is nice, maybe too hot in summer if anything. Cars are expensive. If you move there, you can import your car as a part of your household but to avoid taxes you must have owned it for at least 6 months, you need to import it within a year of your move and you can't sell it for some time afterwards. I think one year.

Spain has retirement communities, German and English. Plenty in the Canary Islands as well but not necessarily cheap. I know a woman in Tenerife who is paying 1000€ a month for a 2 br. apartment.

I also know people who have a 2nd home in Bulgaria. It's not expensive there but where they live, you have to be good friends with the neighbours and pay them to watch your house when you are not there because if your house is seen as abandoned, it will quickly be recycled and you may come back and find everything gone including plumbing, electrical, doors and windows. There are also retirement communities in Bulgaria.

Go on youtube and look for: "retiring in ..." or "rentner auswandern nach ..." There have been TV programs where they follow people who are moving and some youtubers post their own experiences.

[silty1 3,635]

No matter where you go, there you are.

Are you absolutely sure that your current depression is mainly weather-related? All the countries you mention have their share of bad weather, not to mention various land-based perils we've recently seen in Spain and Greece such as forest fires, floods, horrendous earthquake in Turkey... There is no escaping the human condition - or climate change. But if moving is what you want, do more than internet research. Go stay in your target area for a month or two first.

[kiplette 8,802]

Leon, how do the people you know rate health care in Portugal and Bulgaria? As Bogies gets older, that's likely to be a thing.

[keith2011 2,703]

To echo what others have said about climate change I always used to tell people back in the UK that Bavaria had hotter dryer summers and colder dryer winters with a rainy season usually in May/June but no more! It has been years since we had a proper winter, snowy bitter cold but with sunny blue skies and the summers have been cool and wet (it was only 8 deg. C here the other night) with some unseasonable very hot weather in the spring and temperatures rising to 20 deg. C round Christmas. Also while southern Germany is well placed for travel to other lands it is a very long way from the sea so not ideal if you fancy a quick dip in the briny though there are some good lakes and given rising sea levels that could be a bonus! Not sure where to recommend Germany has a good health service (albeit expensive even in retirement) and security, both generally and for rental tenure is also good, I guess it comes down to what you are looking for, btw don't forget that if you move outside the EU your UK state pension will be frozen at its current level, no more cost of living increases!

[Fietsrad 432]

Lovely fresh weather today, took me a moment to realise the weather is the reason I am feeling cheerful, energetic. But 30°+ is expected Saturday

Fortunately, in North Germany the main seasons are spring and fall🙃

[optimista 5,934]

Greenland anyone ? Huge, uninhabited, high plateau, getting warmer. Potatoes now growing there. Northern lights.

Should we get the sub saharan people traffickers on board ?

As we age we do not want cold and wet. Or too damn hot. I want to be where the fruit and veg grows and can wear a frock most of the year. I think this equates to ca. 50°N in Europe.

I was recently very impressed by Southern Belgium. Terrible road maintenance though.

Damn it.

The world my winkle and I dunno where to go either.

Bulgaria the poorest country in Europe. No infrastructure. Exceedingly corrupt. Can t see it.

Being an outsider probably the same the world over.

[tor 17,529]

Bulgaria is not a bad option. I have been there for a Ski and a golf holiday. Everything is about half as expensive as here, even more.