121: How to move to Germany: A step-by-step guide

Germany is one of the strongest economies in Europe — but it’s also one of the most bureaucratic. It can be an incredible place to build a long-term life… if you understand the system before you move.

In this episode, I walk you through exactly how to move to Germany as an American — from deciding whether it’s the right fit for your personality to navigating visas, housing, healthcare, taxes, and integration.

This isn’t a romanticized take. It’s a practical, step-by-step guide.

We cover:

• How to decide if Germany actually fits your lifestyle and personality
• The most common visa pathways, including the new Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte), EU Blue Card, freelance visa, student visa, and family reunification
• Updated 2025 salary thresholds and proof-of-funds requirements
• What Americans need to know about applying from inside Germany
• Why Anmeldung (address registration) within 14 days is critical
• How health insurance works from day one
• What housing is really like (yes, sometimes no kitchen)
• Taxes, church tax, and cost-of-living realities
• Work culture, integration tips, and why the first 6–12 months can feel harder than Spain or Portugal

Germany is structured, rule-based, and process-driven. It rewards preparation and patience. It’s not the easiest spontaneous move — but it offers long-term stability, strong infrastructure, and serious career opportunities.

👉 And if you’re still choosing between Germany, Spain, Portugal, or somewhere else in Europe, take my free quiz to see which country actually fits your goals and personality.

👉Take the free quiz: Which European city should you move to? 🤔

Grab my free guide: 5 exact steps to move abroad

Website: jordangiberson.com
Instagram: @jordan.giberson

Transcript

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So is Germany worth it? Honestly, it's one of the most stable in Europe although the weather might not be as sunny and as nice as southern Europe, it's better for career builders than lifestyle seekers. Germany has a very strong economy and would be a solid choice for a long-term move. Hey, my name is Jordan Giberson. I'm a Texas girl living and thriving in London. The best thing I've ever done? Moving abroad, hands down. And I'm passionate about helping others do the same. Are you curious about finding a job abroad? You're in the right place, friend. I'll teach you the tried and true secrets of how to make moving abroad a reality for you and how to live a fulfilling life once you get there. We'll cover topics like choosing the best visa for you, how to get a job offer in another country, how to get over your fear of moving abroad, and how to live a life you love once you get there, this is The Move Abroad Podcast. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. Today we're continuing in our series about moving abroad to different countries and a step-by-step guide, and today's country is Germany. So if you want to learn how to move to Germany and hear a step-by-step guide for Americans about how to make that happen, then this is the perfect episode for you. So let's go ahead and dive on in. The first step that you'll want to decide is really just deciding if Germany is actually a good fit for you or not. You'll want to decide if the lifestyle realities are a good fit for you, so you wanna think about things like direct communication. That is their style. They have direct communication. They are really big on rules. They care a lot about rules in a certain way that things are done. A lot of Germans will also speak really good English, although you will want to learn German once you're there. So a long-term life does require German, but you will be able to get by with English for sure for a while. Germany also has a really, really strong economy, although the weather might not be as sunny and as nice as southern Europe, Germany has a very strong economy and would be a solid choice for a long-term move. If you are a career focused expat, if you're a person who likes structure, stability and clear systems, and if you're okay with taking a little bit of time to get used to the culture and the people and that is a good fit for you, then Germany might be a really great. Fit. It might be one of the best places for you to move to, but if you're still deciding which European country really fits you perfectly, you might want to consider taking the quiz. It just helps to identify the best place that fits your vibe and who you are and what you're really looking for. So if you're interested in taking that quiz, you can just click on the link at the bottom of the podcast description, or you can go to Jordangiberson.com/quiz and you can take the quiz there. So if Germany is the 100% best spot for you, then you are in the right place. This is the perfect episode for you. So if you know that Germany is the best place, then let's go ahead and go on to step two. Step two is figuring out how you're going to live in Germany, which is your Visa options. In order to live in another country abroad, you have to have a visa I like to call it our hall pass of being able to live in another country. So here are some very common visas that Americans are getting in Germany. The first one that I like to discuss is the opportunity card. It's called the chance carte. I'm hundred percent saying that wrong, but I tried This was a new visa that came out just a couple years ago, and it replaced the traditional job seeker visa. What's great about this visa is you can actually move to Germany for up to a year. And be able to find a job while you're there because we know that it's a lot easier to find a job once you're actually living somewhere where you can meet someone in person, where you can interview in person, where you can network, et cetera. So if you want to be able to move to Germany for a year while looking for a job, then this is the perfect visa for you. This is a points based system in order to get this visa. So you have to have certain qualifications, language skills, and work experience to be able to get it. It also requires proof of funds because they wanna make sure you're not gonna end up. Sleeping on a park bench, but it's a very small amount. It's about a thousand dollars or so. So that was the minimum in 2026. And you can also work part-time for up to 20 hours a week while you're searching for a full-time role. So this is for people who do not have a job offer yet. So if you do not have a job offer and you want to just jump on in and start looking for a job abroad in Germany, then the opportunity card would be a great path for you. Another visa you might want to consider getting is just a normal work visa. So that's the EU blue card. This is the most common long-term visa and it basically comes whenever you have a job offer. So if you have a job offer in Germany, then you more than likely will have the EU blue card or a work visa. For this visa, you need to have a minimum salary of at least 48,000 euros. So that was a 2025 number. So you wanna make sure that you have that minimum salary at least, or if you have a shortage, occupation job, so something like healthcare or maybe IT, or engineering for instance, then more like 44,000 euros for those shortage occupation jobs. This visa also requires you to have a specific degree and a job contract. So you have to have a job offer and a contract in order to get this visa. So if you're able to interview online and get a job offer abroad, then you can definitely go for this visa. It is definitely easier to get if you are in an in demand. Field where there are a lot of jobs and where the competition maybe isn't as fierce, but it's definitely possible to get this visa. I have a good friend that just recently moved to Germany actually, and he was able to get a job offer without moving to Germany first. He got the job offer while living in another country and they offered him a job and a work visa once he was able to get the offer in the job contract. So it's definitely possible if he can do it, then you can absolutely do it. Another very common visa is the freelance visa. This is a little bit more restrictive than it might be in another European country like Spain or Portugal. You just need to be able to show the economic benefit to Germany. In order to have this visa. You also might need to have client letters of intent showing that you have clients. You'll need to have a strong business case and financial projections to make sure that you are, again, not going to be living on a park bench, that you'll be able to take care of yourself as a freelancer. This is better for certain professions, like if you're a writer or a designer or a consultant or something that you could do online and be a freelancer and have multiple clients, then that would be a good fit for you to have the freelance visa. Another good visa option is the student visa. I think the student visa is the easiest way to be able to move to Europe. It is quite affordable to be able to go to public universities in Germany and a lot of times it's a great foot in the door to be able to pursue long-term residence. After you are a student, a lot of times you can transition to finding a job and getting a job seeker visa, for instance, after you graduate. So student visa is also a great way to go. And the last one, this is a lot less common, but you might be able to get a family reunification visa if you have a partner or a spouse of German or EU residents. So if you know that's the case, then that is amazing. You can get the family reunification visa. But otherwise, I think all these other visas are really solid options. So that is a quick summary of the best visas that Americans can get when moving to Germany. The next thing I want to unpack a bit is for you to understand the potential bureaucracy before you actually move to Germany. So Germany loves paperwork. I'm just trying to set expectations here, just so that you have a good idea of what it might look like to move to Germany. They love process and rules and structure, so one thing that you might need whenever you move abroad to Germany is to get your address registered. So this has to be done within 14 days of moving. You might need something like a landlord confirmation. You cannot register at hotels or Airbnbs. Usually this is your key documents for everything else. Once you're living there, you also will need to get things like a tax id, so that will arrive, you know, a couple weeks after you get that address registration, you'll need to get health insurance. This is mandatory from day one, but amazing because Germany has public healthcare. You wanna get a bank account, so a lot of them require you to get this address registration. Before you're able to get a bank account and if you want to get your residence permit appointment, you'll also need to fill out that paperwork. So those are just some examples of why Germany loves paperwork and some things that you'll have to do. A few common mistakes that Americans might make is moving without understanding the address registration requirements. So just make sure that you give a little look. Through to see what that process might look like so that you know what that looks like before you move and you're kind of blindsided. Another common mistake might be trying to use temporary housing for registration because they don't allow that. Another one might be not having all original documents at your appointments, so just make sure to bring all your original documents to the appointments so that it's just a smoother process for you. It's not really a scary process, it's just very system heavy. Germans love having rules and structure and a certain way of doing things like you do A, and then you do B, and then you do C. So as long as you follow the steps in order, it will totally work. And Americans have the advantage because they're actually able to apply inside Germany. That's one thing that's quite different from other countries, is that Americans are able to do this. So that's also a huge bonus if you are American. So that's a little bit on understanding the bureaucracy before you move and some of the things that you might need or some of the things that might happen in terms of bureaucracy to you. But I think the next important step for you is going to be deciding your housing in Germany. So finding that housing. To set expectations, I would say that housing can be quite competitive in major cities like Berlin and Munich apartments might be unfurnished. Sometimes they might not even have a kitchen or light fixtures. So just make sure that you are doing your research on the apartments that you're looking into if you do want furnished options. There's a lot of companies that will provide furnishings if you organize that. viewings are also a little bit competitive. Something that Germans might expect is proof of income. So they might want you to show them three times rent as a common rule to be able to pay for your housing. One thing you might consider is to start with temporary housing so that you can view apartments while you're there. Maybe this is a sublet or a serviced apartment that allows for you to do that registration. You wanna make sure that you're being really careful to avoid scams, so don't ever send money before seeing the apartment. If something feels fishy, then just get out. Be flexible on the neighborhood initially. You obviously want to be in the place that you want to be, but try to be a little bit flexible in the beginning as you're looking. And just confirm with your landlord that they will be able to help you with the address registration before you move in. So that's a little bit on finding housing in Germany. The next step you're going to want to look into is the healthcare taxes and cost of living. So in terms of healthcare, they do have mandatory health insurance. Let's talk a little bit about public versus private. Most people under a 34,000 Euro salary must use public healthcare. Public covers about 120 per month if you're unemployed and your employer splits if you are employed. So this is a high quality system, but there are appointment wait times that do exist. Germany is strict about prevention and regular checkups, which I think is quite good that they're more about kind of prevention instead of patching a bandaid on something. So I think that's a pretty good system on the healthcare, and I've heard really positive things about German healthcare. Now on taxes, just a little bit about taxes. It is higher than the US so the income tax starts at about 14%, and it's progressive to about 45%, which I know is a little steep. But there are benefits to that. Like healthcare for instance, there's also a church tax, so that's eight to 9% of your income tax if you register as religious. So you might wanna keep that in mind. And then there also are social benefits that are included with you know, paying this tax, which is healthcare, unemployment, pension contributions, just to name a few. You might also need to file your US taxes, which a hundred percent you won't need to if you are still a US citizen. You know, unfortunately the US does tax your global income. But the good news is that because of foreign earned income exclusion, you more than likely won't need to pay taxes, and you can probably get around taxes. If you want to learn more about the tax system abroad in Europe, then I would highly recommend going back and listening to episode 91, which is US expat taxes, what Every American moving Abroad should know. I highly recommend going back and listening to episode 91 if you do have questions about taxes, because that episode was solid. Next up is the cost of living snapshots. So rent is a really big factor that you want to consider in terms of cost of living, and what I would highly recommend you do is look at the cost of living of the city that you're planning on moving to, because it does differ depending on the city. So Berlin might be cheaper than Munich or Frankfurt, for instance. Groceries and transit are often pretty affordable, so not something to worry about and smaller cities are going to be significantly cheaper. So do look into the cost of living snapshot of the city that you're planning to move to, to get an idea of what the rent and transit and groceries and all the things actually will cost that you can get an idea of the budget that you'll need. The next step is really just starting to work on building a life in Germany and what that looks like. So in terms of work culture in Germany, there is a really strong work-life balance. A lot of people will have 30 plus vacation days, and that's really common, and people actually take their vacation days and. A beautiful thing. There's also very clear boundaries. Work stays at work. Germans are very cut and dry when it comes to rules, so that's actually a really nice thing when it comes to work because there are very clear boundaries. Efficiency might also be valued over FaceTime. That's very German. And there's also longer maternity and paternity leave than in the US That goes across the board for most European countries, for sure, compared to the us. But that's also something that's a bonus to consider when moving to Germany is that there's longer maternity and paternity leave. In terms of integrating into Europe, you'll want to learn German as early as possible. I would highly recommend joining a German class. It's a great way to meet other expats as well, who have probably also just moved abroad. So I think it's a great place to be able to connect with other people, but it's also just great to learn in person and be able to interact in person. So I would highly recommend joining a language class. A few other integration tips is germans socialize through activities, so I would highly recommend joining clubs that align with your interests, whether it's yoga or jiujitsu, or painting or sewing, or, anything that you're really interested in. I would highly recommend joining a club. I'd also suggest that you just be patient with friendships. It will be a lot slower making friendships with other Germans, or it might be maybe you find it's. Be quite easy, but they might be a little bit closed off, so it might be a little bit slower. But I think that once you are in, then those friendships will be a lot deeper and stronger. So be patient whenever you're making friends in Germany. Also, just understand that the German stair isn't rudeness, it's just a part of their culture. I think that Germans are just, seem a little hard on the outside, but I think Germans are great. All the Germans that I've met have been very kind and actually very inclusive, especially during travel. Just be open to the culture in general and you'll get used to it over time. And then just respect quiet hours. This is typically like all day Sunday, in between 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM This probably depends vastly across different cities, but I do think that Germans are again, very rules driven, and I think that respecting the quiet hours would be smart on your end. Also, just as a quick reality check, the first six to 12 months might feel a little bit lonely or frustrating. Just as you learn the new system of doing things, of having the bureaucracy that might feel overwhelming initially. I think that Germany would be an amazing place to live long term, but emotionally it might be a little bit more difficult than moving to Spain or Portugal, for instance, where the people are super, super warm from the get-go. So I think that Germany would be a great option if that's a country that you're considering. I think the economy is very strong. I really love Germans. I like the way the Germans do things. But it also depends on the person, you know, if you are not a career driven person or aren't interested in the culture, then maybe Germany isn't a good fit for you. But I've heard of many people moving there and really enjoying it. So I would highly recommend Germany and I think that you can absolutely build a great life there. So is Germany worth it? Honestly, Germany rewards, preparation and patience. It might not be the easiest move, but it's also going to be one of the most stable In Europe, they have a very strong economy. They have an excellent infrastructure. It's very, very clean. There is. Great EU access. If you want to travel across Europe, it's better for career builders than lifestyle seekers. If you're looking for sunshine and a very, very relaxed lifestyle, then maybe Germany isn't the best fit. But if you're looking for a career building country with a strong economy, then Germany would be a very good fit. It Germany's best for long-term planners who are valuing structure, career builders, and maybe fields like tech, engineering, healthcare, for instance, people that are seeking EU stability over maybe the Mediterranean spontaneity. Those that are willing to invest in learning german, that's also very important when considering a long-term move to Germany. People who might prefer elsewhere are people that are seeking immediate social integration. Maybe those that are prioritizing weather and lifestyle over career, or anyone that's unwilling to navigate the bureaucracy. And one thing I do want to highlight that I feel like maybe we skipped over a little bit is that Americans can actually apply for visas inside Germany. So this is a huge advantage that I feel like maybe wasn't emphasized enough. So if you are American and you're looking to apply for a visa, you might want to look into how Americans can apply inside of Germany, if that is a benefit to you and something that interests you. So want to make sure that I mention that. But otherwise, I mean, those are the really the steps moving abroad. I feel like people think that it's a very complicated process, and yes, there is a checklist that you have to go through whenever you're moving abroad. I mean, just kind of closing down your life in the US or whatever country you're from to, sell your car and figure out what to do with your apartment and kind of start figuring out how much stuff you want to bring and how many suitcases you're packing, and what's to do with the rest of your stuff. And do you sell it, pack it away, it's in it on shipping containers to the European country. I mean, there are a lot of decisions like that to make and it does take time. But in terms of kind of securing a spot in Germany, it's a pretty simple process. It's just deciding if you actually want to live there, figuring out which visa you're going to get and actually getting that visa. Kind of making sure that you're clear on the bureaucracy and what to expect whenever you move there, but it's really not too much, so don't stress over it too much. Finding housing in Germany and then just making sure you understand a bit about the healthcare, a little bit about the taxes and the cost of living to make sure that you're set for moving there. And then just making sure that you're investing in building a life in Germany, like taking language classes and meeting people and things like that. So it's really not a super complicated process. Yes, it does take time, but I hope that this didn't feel super overwhelming. A million details to think about. That's not the purpose, and I hope that it doesn't feel that way. I hope that you're exiting this episode, feeling a little bit enlightened and a little bit clearer on your steps that you need to be able to move abroad to Germany. So with that, I will go ahead and close today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. I will catch you here again next week, same time, same place. I'll catch you then