Being an expat still comes with tax obligations to the US, no matter where you live in the world. I moved to Germany but I still have to file US taxes every year unless I renounce my US citizenship someday. That’s one the most notable downsides that I can think of.
Vielen Dank! We really enjoy living here and we are working hard to settle here permanently.
As an American we had the standard 90 day visitor visa, which is basically just proven by showing the stamp you get on your passport when you enter Germany. I recommend applying for your next Visa immediately. Our wait time for an appointment was just short of 90 days. We did the language learning Visa which is good for up to one year and allows you to work up to 20 hours per week. They can’t really track that if you have a remote foreign job, it just hinders you from getting full-time employment in Germany. If you go this route, you can find a job that will sponsor you for a work visa or you can apply for the new Opportunity/Chance Card (Chancenkarte) which is up to a year long “job seeker visa”. If you have an accredited degree then you are eligible, otherwise there is a point system for things like language, age, finances, etc. The Chance Card wait time is pretty long so keep that in mind when planning.
The non-working visas also require you to have €992 per month in a “blocked account” that will be disbursed to you each month for living expenses. If you aren’t working, you’ll need private health insurance. Ours is €50 per person per month and is far better than the Kaiser Permanente insurance that we paid $550 a month for in the US.
I’ve been asking myself that question for years. My wife and I thought the best solution for us was to leave the country. We don’t have a good outlook for the future of the US. We moved to Germany last spring and have been enjoying a healthier and better quality of life. It’s not easy but it is very rewarding. The cost of living here is less than half of what we were paying in the US. Groceries, rent, utilities, insurance, everything is cheaper except eating out at restaurants (that costs pretty much the same). For what it’s worth, we moved from Denver to Frankfurt.
Haha. I read that a lot, but it’s honestly not so bad as long as you stay away from the Hauptbahnhof. That area is truly awful.