Moving to/Living in Germany?

Hello. In the future I am planning on moving to germany perminantly. How does immigration work and what factors are involved with moving there? Does having family there help? I am a dentist and would preferably want to open a practice so I dont necessesarily have a "job offer". Thanks alot for your answers.

Moving to/Living in Germany?
Having family in Germany may help, however everything a little more complicated.





Step by step:





1. Getting the residence permit:


If you are citizen from any EU-Country, EEA-Country (European Economic Area) citizen or Swiss national you have the so called "free-movement" privilege. That means, you do not need to apply for a visa or a permit to move to Germany and you do not need to go through the whole bureaucratic stuff to work in your profession. Everything you have to do is to register your self by the immigration authority. You will have to submit some documents, but that's all. Which documents you have to submit depends on your citizenship: Citizen from the new EU-Countries might fulfill special conditions first. You can find more information in the following link (European Union Official Web)





http://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?catId...





If you are NOT citizen from any EU-Country but citizen from any of the following countries:





Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America.





you may obtain any residence permit that may be required after entering Germany if you fulfill the requirements as for example: proving that your financial situation is good enough for not needing any public help.(For more Information, please look in the following link : German Ministry of Foreign Affairs):





http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/...





If you are not either of the both cases above, you will have to apply for a residence permit at the German consulate. The requirements you have to fulfill depends on your citizenship.





However as high qualified professional it could be easier to get such a permit, as the German immigration law chapter 4 Art. 18 considers high qualified professionals as special case under certain circumstances as for example: The need for the German economy or the existence of agreements about work permit for determinated professions between Germany and your country etc. For knowing if your profession is considered part of this category you have to put your self in touch with the German consulate.





As you do not want to be employee but have your own practice, you may fulfill the requirements of chapter 4 art. 21 German immigration law. I am afraid I did not find the text in English, but it concerns basically about how your qualifications, how much money as investment you should show, how many employees you should have (for most of the areas normally a minimum of 10) etc. I can imagine the consulate can provide you the text in English. If you speak German, please look the following link:





http://www.info4alien.de/





Under "Rechtssammlung" you will find the text of the German Inmigration law (in German: Aufenthaltsgesetz (AufenthG) ) you should also look in the following laws (available in the same link):





- Zuwanderungsgesetz (complement to the immigration law)


- Beschäftigungsverordnung - BeschV





This is about visa and residence permit.


_______________________________





2. Now we go to the permission to work as dentist in Germany. I am afraid it is not that easy.





Normally before being recognized and registered as dentist and getting your official permit to work as dentist you might fulfill some requirements as for example to work for and under the supervision of an registered dentist for a determinated period of time (from 6 months to 2 years, depending on where you studied, I mean in what country) plus your degree must be recognized by the German Authorities as for example, by the Superior Education Section of the Ministry of Education etc.





But before you desperate, please contact and ask by the German Dentists association (in German: Kassenzahnärztliche Bundesvereinigung) if there is an agreement between your country and Germany. In some cases you do not need to go through the whole thing when there is an special agreement. If not the case you can get more information in this association about the requirements to fulfill, procedures and steps to follow in order to get your accreditation.





The official link of the German Dentists association ( Kassenzahnärztliche Bundesvereinigung) is as follows:





http://www.kzbv.de/





under "kontakt" you can find phone, e-mail and address info or you can also send a message. If you do not speak German you can send your inquiry in English, they will aswer you for sure.





If you speak German you can also read the text of the "Dentist Profession Order" (law) in the following links and scroll to find infos about requirements etc.:





http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/zo-zah...





http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:M12...
Reply:its gone be harder then u think u need ur passports,visa,green cards,birth citificat. itw gone be hard getting all those thing and u need these thing in germany 2.good luck my friend
Reply:Opening a practice isn't that simple. Most Germans have public health insurance, and to be allowed to treat them you have to become accredited by the Deutsche Zahnärztekammer. They'll assign an area/village to you where the previous dentist stopped practicing. There's usually a lot of red tape involved.





Outside of that, getting a working permit visa will depend on your country of origin.


Family ties help, but it all depends in the degree of relationship and, again, what country you're from.





You'll have to prove that you speak German language, too.





In any case, I'd recommend that you contact the German Embassy in your country, because they'll handle most of the application for immigration anyway and have the specifics for your country.


You can find a list of all embassies here:


http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/...
Reply:I know first hand that you need a work permit in order to work there... and in order to get that you have to be married to a German if you are not married to a German then i really don't know how that goes... i would suggest you call a German Consulat here in the United States... there's one in every Major city. You do need a valid passport and if you plan on being there longer then 3 month you need a visa... Good Luck Germany is beautiful... You will love it!!


I`m German myself but married an American and now live in the USA...
Reply:Lee L


Has the best answer so far, I can not even improve upon it. She sounds like she covered all the bases.


As someone who has moved to Germany it is not easy unless you poses a skill they need, or have a big company like Mercedes willing to sponsor you and take you through the paper work.


Under the German Social medicine Doctors and Dentist are a dime a dozens, many have trouble making ends meet and are moving to other countries because of the poor salary they receive here. The German education system is mostly free so there is not a shortage of Doctors and Dentists, health care professionals in Germany in fact they have to many.





Good Luck
Reply:First you are an AUSLANDER and always will be you will only have turks for patients, I thought germany was really kewl until i went there to live. Firstly the germans i met hated Brits and all outsiders even though we saved them from extinction when the russians wanted to anialiate them after the last war they just kept telling me British bastards bombed dresden