Working In Germany - Work Permit or Green Card - How Quick

[salars]

Hi
Im an IT Professional from India in the UK On a HSMP. I have an offer of contract in Germany. I need to start in abt 2 weeks. Any help on
1. How to get a Green Card or Work Permit to germany
2. Documents required
3. most important - how long will it take.

Rgds
Sal

[Wanderer]

Hi
Im an IT Professional from India in the UK On a HSMP. I have an offer of contract in Germany. I need to start in abt 2 weeks. Any help on
1. How to get a Green Card or Work Permit to germany
2. Documents required
3. most important - how long will it take.

Rgds
Sal

1. http://www.london.diplo.de/en/06/Visabe ... seite.html

2. Same page, basically detailed contract from German company, passport, Vocational certificates ie degree, visa app form from site, colour photos, all two copies of each.

3. No chance of two weeks, website quotes 6-10 weeks, my gf is in same position handed her application at the emb. last week and was quoted three months processing time. Yes, three months....... Plus you have to visit the emb. personally to hand in your docs, appointment via 0906 number (11 quid call!!!) and the closest appointment we could make was over a week later so that's one week of your two gone alteady.....

Papers are sent to German Labour Office in Germany for checking and it seems it's quite thorough given the timescales quoted.

See my post further down for more info.

Steve

[salars]

Wow 3 months is a very long time. Did they collect ur GF's Passport as well? 3 months without a passport is very long. What was teh visa fees that you have paid?
Saleem

[salars]

Thanks for the links, ive read all these before and everything seems to be clear. Couple of ppl i nkow hv got a german visa in abt 10 days. I wonder how. Is it different if a company applies for a visa rather than us doing it? Or is it the same?
Thanks...

[Wanderer]

They returned the passport, she has to return to get the visa put into her passport. The cost was in Euro's came out at about 25 pounds sterling.

Hope we get ours in 10 days! She has a start date of 1st Sept. Not been impressed with the German Embassy so far, very inefficent, makes IND look great!

I dunno if the company can apply for it, I think it's actually a Residence Permit that allows you to work.

You can check out the Van Der Elst visa too but I think there are many stipuations to fulful, like working for the company in a different EU state for a set period, I gave up looking for loopholes...

Good luck, let us know the progress, I'm not hopeful this end for a 10 day turn-around!

Steve

[salars]

hi i booked an appointment under the 5th option for a non business visa - assume that workpermit comes under this option. I got a availbale date 1 month away. groan. isnt tht pathetic.
Is this the same for the Specialist professional as well.
thanks
sal

[Wanderer]

hi i booked an appointment under the 5th option for a non business visa - assume that workpermit comes under this option. I got a availbale date 1 month away. groan. isnt tht pathetic.
Is this the same for the Specialist professional as well.
thanks
sal

No! You should have booked a business appointment.

"Please apply as soon as possible and be aware that you have to book an appointment "for business purposes" through the Automatic Booking System. The application will be send to the Foreign Nationals Authority in Germany. If necessary they will get in contact with the Federal Labour Agency. The processing time will be between 6 and 10 weeks. You will be informed automatically when the residence permit has been authorised. After your arrival in Germany you must register as soon as possible with the Foreign Nationals Authority of your place of residence."

When we recently booked, the wait was about a week, appts 9:30-11:00 only which was a problem for us since we are 200 odd miles from London.

Visa is only 25 quid, but for us we had to add 50 quid train fare, and an 11 quid 0906 phone call, mounts up!

You should change the appointment type asap, because Germans are sticklers for the right form etc!!

Steve

[salars]

Hi I got the appointment for 1 week later. Thru the business Appointment thiing. Lets see how it goes.
What all documents did u carry with u? thanks for ur help mate. Good thing else i would hv waited for a month. It slipped my mind cos the intereactive thingy is confusing.
sal

[Wanderer]

Hi I got the appointment for 1 week later. Thru the business Appointment thiing. Lets see how it goes.
What all documents did u carry with u? thanks for ur help mate. Good thing else i would hv waited for a month. It slipped my mind cos the intereactive thingy is confusing.
sal

We took:

Passport plus two copies of relevant pages
Application form plus two copies
Original plus two copies of Contract from employer
Original plus two copies of vocational qualification, in our case a letter from her uni saying this was a placement for her degree.
Proof of Health Insurance - i forgot what that was!
Two photos
Cash for visa

In the end they only took a small portion of the docs, don't remember which but they seemed happy with what they had!

Steve

[salars]

Thanks for the update on the docs. Did they return all originals or did they take them?
Rgds
Saleem

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the update on the docs. Did they return all originals or did they take them?
Rgds
Saleem

Returned all originals, said processing would take about three months, and said we'd have to go back to get the visa put into the passport.

Also they seemed to want to photocopy everything themselves despite us providing the copies as per the webpage.

I'm going to try and call them today for a progress report, will report here assuming I get through!

Steve

[curiousone]

test

[gani999]

I have a question - is german green card for professional is a permanent green card or temporary. Based on what i read, they changed this green card scheme in 2005 and made it a permanent. Please verify!!

It is valid for a period of five years. That is considered 'permanent', the idea being that you will be able to apply for citizenship afterwards, provided you satisfy some further conditions.

These conditions concern your level of Integration into the German society and your knowledge of the German language.

[curiousone]

is it Aufenthaltserlaubnis or Niederlassungserlaubnis?

[Altan]

Hi,

Do you guys have any update on processing times for german work permits? I heard that current processing times between 6-8 weeks, but I'd love to hear how long your applications took.

Also I wonder if the process is different for Niederlassungserlaubnis, I assume, if your salary is more than 85k euros, your application should be automatically considered for Niederlassungserlaubnis.

In case of Niederlassungserlaubnis, do you think if it helps to work with a local german immigration attorney?

[Wanderer]

Hi,

Do you guys have any update on processing times for german work permits? I heard that current processing times between 6-8 weeks, but I'd love to hear how long your applications took.

Also I wonder if the process is different for Niederlassungserlaubnis, I assume, if your salary is more than 85k euros, your application should be automatically considered for Niederlassungserlaubnis.

In case of Niederlassungserlaubnis, do you think if it helps to work with a local german immigration attorney?

My gf applied around 7th July and so far we've heard nothing!

Steve

[Altan]

Steve,

Sorry to hear that. But she is in the 6th week, I hope you receive someting very soon. Don't forget to update this topic!

By the way, did she applied for an IT position? which city? IT-related positions likely to be processed sooner, especially the sponsoring company located in the high-tech oriented cities like Munich.

[Wanderer]

Steve,

Sorry to hear that. But she is in the 6th week, I hope you receive someting very soon. Don't forget to update this topic!

By the way, did she applied for an IT position? which city? IT-related positions likely to be processed sooner, especially the sponsoring company located in the high-tech oriented cities like Munich.

She applied for a visa for basically a year working in Germany as part of her degree. It was arranged by the Uni but they just assumed everyone was a non-visa national, hence our panic!

It's nothing special job-wise, translating and interpreting English/Russian and German and just really absorbing German language. I should say her degree is Translating and Interpreting English and German and she's a Russian National. It's kind of something they do for all students....

Job is located in Hamburg, start date 1st Sept.

We were told three months for visa!

Steve

[Wanderer]

Update: Some News!

We got a call today from the company in Germany, the visa is granted pending confirmation of some details and some docs they want in original.

Although the German Company are hoping my gf can start 8th September I somehow doubt it will be ready in time, especially since we have to send documents to Germany and then make an another appointment for the German Embassy in London to have the visa put in her passport.

So I reckon it will be around three weeks for now realistically meaning the whole saga will have taken three months like the lady at the Embassy said it would!

Wonder how long it will be valid for? This placement is for six months, to be followed by other six months at another company.

Hope this helps others.

[Wanderer]

Just to bump this and add some info:

Due to a lingusitic misunderstanding on our part, we erroneously thought the German WP had been approved in principal. We were wrong, we have no progress news at all on the WP, it was the German company asking for more info, not the German Embassy/Labour Office.

So, we are now past three months since we applied and in reality we have heard nothing from the German authorities.

Rubbish aren't they!

Steve

[Wanderer]

Just to bump this and add some info:

Due to a lingusitic misunderstanding on our part, we erroneously thought the German WP had been approved in principal. We were wrong, we have no progress news at all on the WP, it was the German company asking for more info, not the German Embassy/Labour Office.

So, we are now past three months since we applied and in reality we have heard nothing from the German authorities.

Rubbish aren't they!

Steve

Further update, four months and still nothing!

Embassy say 'still being processed'! Placement is only six months at this company, and four months gone already!

Steve and Nadia

[Wanderer]

Success!!!!!

We got the visa! by my reckoning 4 and half months since that first trip to the consulate, pity there's only six weeks left of the placement.....

Just thought I'd bump this to finish it off........

Steve and Nadya