Good advice, but not having a degree or showing work experience might make it hard to get the freelancer visa. I would also recommend the "preparation for study visa" which gives you two years for taking German language courses and you can always change to the freelancer or work visa before the two years is up. [1] for the OP, without a degree you can still get the work visa if you're hired by a German company.

> what's it like out there comparing to America?

Main daily difference is you don't need a car. Find a job and go there. You need to experience it yourself to really know what it's like.

1. https://service.berlin.de/dienstleistung/305156/en/

Thanks a lot! I didn't know about this visa. FYI, You may have just changed my life.

One thing not mentioned in this post is the minimum amount you need to have in the bank. I've heard people with as little as 3k, but technically Germany asks that you have 10k in the bank to prove that you are economically viable even between jobs. It's up to the discretion of the person at the Foreigner's Authority who decides on your application.

It is much easier to obtain the freelancer visa after you've worked for a german company for some time. I know people who have been rejected from the freelancer visa for not having sufficient money in the bank.

You can also just ask friends/family to loan you the money so you can take a screenshot of it to show to the person at the foreigners authority ;)

Edit: Also, if you're really interested in moving to Berlin/Germany, I have a bunch of content about this on my blog (incl. the entire process end-to-end) you might find useful: http://notanomadblog.com/categories/work-abroad/

Thanks for the insight. Could you share more about how you went about getting a freelance visa as a programmer.

Most of the bullet points for Documents Required in you link actually say "not required for freelance" but then I see:

"Proof of a secure livelihood must also include sufficient health insurance."

Did you have to show a current consulting contract?

Do you have to show that you are currently contracting for a company via invoices?

If so does that consulting contract or invoices have to be from a German company or could it for a company in the US?

Is it possible to contact you off list?

I don't want to go into how I got the visa, but I will say that most people get friends with German companies (even single person companies) to write contracts for them :) The contract simply has to state the project, date of future employment, and how much you will be paid upon completion.

The contract can be for future dates. Does not need to be a project that is currently paying you.

I had one German company and one US company. I think it's safer to have at least one German company.

Sure thing, contact me if you need advice. I haven't been through the process in a couple of years but expats talk about it a lot.

I totally understand. What's the best way to contact you? I didn't see an email in your profile. Thanks again. I really appreciate it.

Wouldn't it be smarter to just make use of his U.S. citizenship, contract for a Silicon Valley startup, make like $100k, and just travel in and out of the Eurozone whenever necessary to still be considered a tourist? Seems like he'd probably net around $2k a month after taxes doing that.

> If you spend three months in the Schengen area during any six-month period, you must wait another three months before you can apply to enter the Schengen area again without a visa. If you do not meet these conditions, or plan to stay in the Schengen area longer than three months, contact the embassy of the country where you plan to spend the majority of your time to apply for a visa.

If you are fine with this then that's a good idea. But it's hard to really settle down knowing you need to leave in 3 months, and can't return again for another 3 months. I recommend getting a residence visa like the freelance visa. You can still consult for a US company after getting the visa.

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/go/schengen-fa...

Apply? When did this happen? I stayed in a Schengen country for almost a year and came in and out without having to apply for anything.

Eek, I thought you only had to leave for UH day, not 3 months. Yeah, that would suck. That's for pointing that out.

>> If you are a programmer/designer you can get a 3 year freelance visa in Berlin, Germany. I currently live in Berlin with that visa.

For someone like me who doesn't understand German language, is it possible to go on with the daily life interacting with the locals in English?

In Berlin, sure. The elder may not be able to understand your English.

Some rules of thumb:

1) The younger, the more likely to be able to speak English.

2) Rural area less likely to speak English (well) compared to big cities and tourist areas.

3) In IT/tech world in Germany you should have far less problems than say farmers.

I'd say those count in general though :) if you go to Amsterdam people are much more likely to speak English than a local, small Dutch town foreigners generally haven't heard about. And, English is very practical in our globalised world. Make no mistake about German though; it is also a practical language in Europe.

I don't speak German. In Berlin it's not a big problem, particularly in certain neighborhoods where even waiters at restaurants may not speak German.

English is taught in every school in Germany.

You should have it easy to get by.

> I wasn't able to save nearly as much as I did in NYC

Never having lived in the US, is the savings you are talking about in terms of percentage of your cost? i.e. if the only cost you have is rent and its 2800 vs 700, i would need to save at least 4 times as much to cover the difference.

Absolute numbers. I saved at least 4 times as much in NYC. Don't take this to mean much since I am one data point.

Typically these are measured in absolute numbers. I'm not sure why you'd want to measure as relative ratios.

The ratio of savings:spending lets me know when I can retire early.

Using exaggerated figures, if I earn 100k in the US, save 10k a year but I spend 90k, then it's going to take me longer to retire than if I earn 35k in Europe, spend 30k and save 5k. Because in the US, it'll take 9 years to save enough to live off one year, while in Europe it'll take six years to do the same.

Of course you can move to a cheaper country when you retire, but you'll have to rebuild your friendships, adjust to the culture, etc.

You are taking the exactly correct way to think about savings: asset-liability matching, and being realistic about it (not imagining you can move to a new place because 'retired', so do, but many can not do so successfully).

But many can, and do. To each their own.

Indeed. But shouldn't assume the can, because that kind of assumption something many cannot survive.

Sensible planning is asset-liability matching.

But the win in that game is to save 10k per year in the US, then retire in Europe. Get full retirement in half the time.

Many do that within the US with cost of living games. Work in SF for 5 years saving 200k a year. Move to Flordia and be set living in 40k a year for life. (Or some variation thereof)

That works for some. But there is a loss of social capital and cultural capital in moving. Over a few years it's possible to build a new friendship circle (although I'm told that gets harder as one gets older). Additionally, while a basket of goods might be cheaper in Florida, as Rumsfeld said, there are unknown unknowns.

Perhaps Florida is more expensive than you might think because the cost of air-conditioning is expensive. And while lots can go without it, as a non-native, you might find the heat unbearable. I'm using this as an example of why it's difficult to estimate the true costs of living somewhere until you've put down roots there.

Furthermore, when you're on 100k a year and saving $10k, spending $400 on a new phone is a negligible expense. If you're on $30k, and saving $6k it is a bigger proportion of your savings. If you plan on moving, you're going to readjust your standard of living and your creature comforts.

Obviously your strategy can and does work, but counting on a move working out and being able to reduce living costs is a riskier strategy (with a potentially bigger payout), and it comes with its own costs.

Because i need to be able to cover the costs (i.e. what is the savings in terms of purchasing power rather than absolute savings). If i lose my job tomorrow and my rent is 2800, I don't really care that i save 1k compared to 700 per month (under the assumption i can't increase the purchasing power of my savings somehow).

One idea is that by investing a larger amount of money while living in an expensive area, later moving to a less expensive area (perhaps upon retirement, etc) will leave you with more assets to work with than if you had stayed working in the less expensive area the whole time (and investing a great deal less due to lower wages).

This is a great summary, nice one! mbrain, move to Europe, you will love the lifestyle. Good luck!