Anyone live in Berlin or Vienna? (1 Viewer)

[baarbogast]

I just agreed to an interview with an academy headquartered in Vienna and with offices in Berlin. It sounds like it is just a language learning school, that is for profit.

I'm just wondering how difficult it is to get a work visa (non-EU). I. am in Spain and am hoping to get paperwork started while that visa is valid, I'm hoping to cut out jumping thru a bunch of hoops. It took over 4 months to get this one.

Somewhat debating becoming an ex-pat and moving to central Europe. If I do that, Germany, Austria, Slaovakia and Hungary head the destinations.

 

[2009ring]

Never lived in either, but spent some decent time in Berlin and enjoyed it immensely. Variety of shopping, restaurants, etc made it a nice mix between historical european city and modern place where i could get KFC if i wanted it.

 

[Grumpy Old Manatee]

Yes. Many people do.

 

[BarBar]

I live in Munich as an expat.

You need to ask potential employer if they will sponsor your work visa. Not all employers will. If so, it's not so bad. It was easy for me because I graduated from a German public university, which gives me easy visa options. I can get permanent residence at the end of this year, then I don't need to think about that stuff anymore.

Of the 2 I would choose Vienna, personally. It's an incredibly beautiful city and close to many great places for travel. Berlin is also nice, but it's much more of a big city and a lot of it is not really beautiful. There are a lot of English speakers there and much more options for shopping, dining, and night life if those things are important to you. Depends on what you want!

Feel free to message me if there are more specific questions I can answer.

Definitely don't expect to cut out any hoops. The beurocracy in Germany is SERIOUS and takes forever. Some people are waiting 9 or 10 months for their visa approval APPOINTMENT. Then more months for the paperwork to get completed My last student visa took so long to approve that I literally graduated university while still waiting for it, and the new student visa showed a month after graduation....lol. that was in September. I had applied for it the previous November. 10 months.

Appointment can typically be made online. I would make it now. You can always cancel if you don't need it.