You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: One can study for free in Germany, is that true?
To be fair, you should mention the "Verwaltungskostenbeitrag" everyone has to pay every semester. Depending on the university, that is 100-300 Euro per semester. Not too much, but also not nothing.
Overall, I would recommend foreigners with an interest in getting a degree in Germany, to make a vocational training in the tech/industry sector. Today that is at least as much worth as a university degree plus you get paid for getting a degree. On top, you already got a job and have the chance for a university degree on the expense of your corporation. It's a common career scheme and I do regret not having used it.
@jaki01 has given the correct response on my behalf for your first 2 sentences .
And for the rest I would do it my self. ^^
The vocational training which you just mentioned is not that simple to obtain for foreigner like us, at least not for foreigners coming from non-EU countries.
This form of education would need more than just a student visa, because the working hours one must go through would exceed the limit set by the immigration (I have written about this working hours limitation before, but only in Indonesian language).
For this vocational training one need a special working permit from the relevant "Ministerium", and obtaining such permit is not that easy.
The only departement which open rather bigger opportunity for non-EU citizens are the health care department, because Germany needs more "Krankenpfleger und Altenpfleger o.Ä." :-D. Foreigner are cheaper and easier to be taken advantage of, that's why. Sad but that is the fact. ><
But for other department like "technique", Germans would always be first priority, then the next come EU-citizens and EEA-citizens, then citizen of the other allies. Foreigner from developing country would normally only get in the line if the boss of the company/institution as the visa sponsor could prove to the immigration and Department of Work, that only this particular foreigner could fill in the position the best, that the company couldn't find better candidate among Germans and EU-citizens available.
So foreigner who could obtain this kind of visum and a position in such vocational school really needs a big big good luck. Most of the time it's because they have studied here, during the study they might do a part time job there so that they have a good relationship with the boss, but unfortunately they failed the study of they just finally find out that university life is not their cup of coffee.
However they couldn't simply change the visa either, but they normally have to go back to their homeland first and apply the new visa from home.
My case is of course an exceptional case, because I'm married to a German, so my visa type was the one which already had gone trough this obstacle, and as a spouse of a German I logically would live together with him and probably need to help him earning money to finance the family, so I would definitely need this working permit :-D . Otherwise, I might increase the probability of my hubby to burden the gorvernment with social support LOL.
I deeply apologize for overlooking the 100-300 Euro part.. Thanks for clarifying the vocational training part. It seems to be just another moronic regulation. I wouldn't see the problem with foreigners getting into the vocational training system - after all, the company trusts them enough to let them in (and pay them!), so there should be no problem. Maybe the best way to get into the system is via the dependence of a German corporation in Indonesia or elsewhere, but that exceeds my knowledge and probably depends on the local situation.
There is nothing to forgive. :-)
Anyone could overlook something, the article is rather long anyhow.
Bureucracy sucks, you're right. Trying to get a settlement in Germany through the subsidiary company in our homeland is indeed a possibility, but normally it's not for vocational school level but for at least the university graduates.
But you're right, the key point is the boss. If they like you enough and really want to hire you, then they should not mind going through the visa hassle and be helpful with it. However the reality is not always that nice.
As a university graduate with a major in STEM field in Germany, we have maximum 2 years time to find a job which could fulfill the requirement for the Blue Card, which means we need a job contract with annual income at least 39.624 € (brutto), and if it's not STEM-graduate we need annual income at least 50.800 € . So you see how difficult it is. Vocational schlool graduates would never be able to fulfill that T_T. Even most Germans do not earn that much.
I have a friend who jus finished her study here and actually got 2 job offers in 2 different city, however she just has to face a doom loop because of the visa issue.
The company said she will only be hired if she has got a working permit, but... the immigration and the Department of Work said that they would issue the resident and working permit if she could prove that she has got a job with a sufficient income.
The problem went on because the company didn't want to spend too much effort for a staff candidate who wouldn't occupy a high position in the company. It's not worth the time. There are plenty of graduates out there waiting in line who have no problem with visa.
Realit bites hard. :) Finally it is always those "Vitamin B" (connection), which could help us get the position, without "Vitamin B", most of the time one would meet the similar problem like what my friend has.
Fortunately this dear friend of mine has a serious relationship with a German, if she really would like to stay here, they could just get married. But that's not a romantic way of planning a marriage, is it LOL. Especially because they are both are so young, 23 yo.
Well, but not every foreigner would be that eager to stay here (often I would roll my eyes when I heard some prejudice from racist people here toward us foreigner as if every foreigner were beggars for social benefits from Germany).
She would rather bring her BF to Indonesia, her parent could provide them just well there. They could just run her parent's company hahaha.
Of course this would only work if the BF doesn't spoil his pride too much so that the love still wins.
Crazy isn't it?
But my own express wedding was also due to visa issue, but at least I'm not that young anymore, so it is ok, I have already mentally prepared for a marriage life anyway.
But it's really not a beautiful reason at all to get married.
Thanks for the elaboration. If it was about me, I would hand out everyone the citizenship who gets a degree in Germany (in something STEM - not social studis or comparable BS). But the way it is, people are confronted with so much insecurity that too many of the highly skilled leave again, I fully understand that. And on the other hand they invite illiterate criminals and Islamic extremists in the millions who will never do anything else but cost money and causing trouble. It couldn't be more idiotic.
But believe it or not, the situation has improved - you can feel lucky. A good friend of mine is from Islamabad and studied medicine in Germany. She was top of the class and had all doors open. Back then (~10 years ago) she only had half a year time to get a full time job. Eventually, she left and is now treating people in Dubai for more than just good money.
If you ask me, I don't think that this is coincidence. Something's seriously going the wrong way and it's done on purpose. It's probably the best thing to keep the place in good memory and just leave. It's such a pity that the country screws itself up so much.
That's exactly what @kobold-djawa has written:
see, that is what happens when you only skim over an article;-)