My Germany company in the US asked if I wanted to goto to Germany for 3yrs, should my family go?

Question

Have a home and a car and a wife and 12wk old child, transfering to Germany through my US company. SHould I go?

Answer 1

I will talk about the practical and not the tourist stuff.

Depending on where you are living the Germans in southern Germany (south of Frankfurt) are very used to Americans due to the millions of Americans who were stationed here with the military for the last 60 years.   You will not have a problem finding an English speaking doctor.   Your company will probably ship your car over here and if is not a US model you should have no problems getting repairs.   The only problem is traffic laws and signs that you can study ahead of time.   Germany is great in that you or your wife can get around without a car.  The cities are designed so you can walk to a store and also have easy access to public transportation.   As your child gets a little older and ready for preschool the German kindergartens are great in getting the kids to do stuff for themselves.   What else, the crime rate is MUCH lower.

You will need to consider the exchange rate in your salary negotiations.   1 Euro = $1.50,  roughly.   Gas is $7.50 a gallon so your really need a salary increase or cost of living bonus.  On the other hand you will pay no income tax on the first $84,000 you make and you can deduct housing costs to keep you below that $84000 limit.

Any anti-Americanism rumors are based on current politics and be prepared to have the guy at the car wash want to talk politics with you.  But otherwise the Germans are fascinated and generally like Americans.  

All in all I love Europe for the smaller distances and the somewhat slower pace of life.

Answer 2

My husband works with a German company and we moved to Germany in the summer of 2005. At the time, our daughters were 1, 9, 13, and 15 years old. Is your wife comfortable with learning to speak German? As the trailing spouse, expat life will be hardest on her. Since you would be working, she will likely have to deal with all the service people for your residence. Depending on the size of the town you decide to move to, the level of English speaking people around you can vary greatly. My local doctor speaks very good English, but the staff in the office speaks only German. I also found that most every pharmacy has at least one person who speaks excellent English. The German language is very difficult to learn, especially for Americans who may have had no formal language training. I had to re-learn grammatical terms in English before I could really start to learn German. The biggest hurdle I had in the first six months was getting our basic needs met (i.e. grocery shopping) and the complete culture shock of living in another country. It still really irritates my husband and I that businesses are closed on Sundays. It makes for very activity-filled Saturdays. Do you consider your marriage a strong one? Any problems you have will be magnified considerably while learning to live in another country. As others have suggested, make sure of the details of your financial situation. It is extremely expensive to live here in comparison to the US and our German company is awful about explaining financial deductions from my husband's paycheck. It took us more than two years to adjust to the fact that all our bills (gas and power utilities, car payments, telephone, German credit card) are paid automatically through our German bank account without our direct say-so.  It is nice once you get used to it, but can be a shock if there is an unplanned expense or higher than expected bill once in a while. If you are the type of person who keeps two to three months salary in your bank account as a cushion, you will do fine here. German life is very ordered and often planned very far ahead. For instance, getting your car's oil changed takes making an appointment (even if you use the equivalent of a Jiffy Lube-type place) and costs quite a bit more than in the US. It is also not uncommon to ask to set up some service or other (such as cable or satellite television, or service on an appliance) and the typical response is that it will take six to eight weeks to arrange for this type of appointment. Take a look at what is most important in your life and do your research to see if any of these things can be done in Germany. If you have a strong interest in joining into German culture and don't feel daunted by the language, you will do fine over here. Good Luck and Congratulations on the birth of your baby!

Answer 3

of course!  What a great opportunity

Answer 4

YES YES YES. I SPENT 12 YEARSin Germany and so much enjoyed the entire cultural experience that I almost stayed over there to become a german politzei

Answer 5

I am stationed in Wiesbaden, GE for over three years.  My wife and I are ready to come back to the United States. The culture and activities associated with life are fine but it's very expensive due to the dollar and EURO conversion rates.

Germany is a foreign country but it is not mars. The Germans have very sophisticated services no different than the US.  The language is your strongest barrier.  In most developed areas, quite a few Germans speak very good English some are better than our own Americans.  

Another thing to consider is Germany apartments are much smaller than American apartments.  I would recommend leasing a house over an apartment.  Even with a house, our large American furniture may not fit through European size doors.  Leave all 110v electrical appliances behind, for example..washer, dryer, microwave, clocks, power tools, because all power is 220v.  Make sure your computer and television is dual voltage.

Don't pass up a lifetime experience, take a leap of faith and ask for a sponsor to help you out.

Answer 6

would be a great opportunity, why not?!?

Answer 7

You and your family will thrive!

Take it from a Brit, who met his wife, married and had kids there!

It is my second home!

Most Canadians tend to be just East of  Strasbourg , just on the western edge of the Yank zone.

Answer 8

The bloke at the carwash wanting to talk politics the foothurting guy mentioned above may well be a student earning his living, so don't be surprised to find young, well educated people in all kinds of jobs, especially in cities where there's a university. And I agree, you should take your family with you. Might be a bit of language chaos in the beginning, as children (especially when they go to kindergarten) adopt new languages much faster than we adults can. They don't have so many inhibitions, I suppose, and aren't afraid of making mistakes.

Answer 9

I would definitely recomend going. It should not be a problem for your wife to find a female OB/GYN that speaks English. Female OB/GYNs are really very common, and due to the educational system here in Germany, everybody has learned English (with a varying degree of success, you have to keep in mind). Depending on where you go (the city itself) I would recommend asking in the various forums here on YA. There were so many people stationed here in Germany, I'm sure you'll get a recommandation or two.

I would also recommend you leave your car behind if it is a very "thirsty" one and check out a "European" car for their gas mileage, just to save you some money. A 20-gallon tank each week will get you close to wellfare over here. I don't know if you will than have to have a German driving license in order to register the car, but I think so. I do believe your insurance would be cheaper. Mine for my American car was insane! (I'm German, had a car in the US while I was there).

Anyway. The crime rate, as the others said before, is very much lower than in the US, people are friendly, like kids (most of them),...

The only thing that I could think of that you need not forget: Look in advance for stuff you're wife can do. Will she be allowed to look for a job? Will she want to do that? If not, look for something where she can meat people. You said your baby was very young, so maybe a "Krabbelgruppe" ("crawling group" for very small kids) at the local church would get her some new friends and advice or she could check out a local "Volkshochschule" (Kind of like evening college) for an English conversation class. That way, she would make sure that people there are at least willing to understand her and have a certain amount of knowldge of the English language. Those classes are also often tought by English/American people, who you might be able to ask for advice if you run into problems. And of course the both of you should visit a German class. You'll meet a lot of people from a lot of places there, which will be very interesting.

You don't need to be afraid of Germany. I promise, we don't bite! ;))

Answer 10

You have some great answers , but I just wanted to add a few from my experiances. Basically in the cities anywhere in Germany all the doctors speak english, in fact ... I would go so far as to say that my experiances of pedatricians is that german pedatricians are acutally better at getting to the root of problems and not giving up and saying stuff like "he'll grow out of it". However, they don't tend to give antibiotics as fast and they don't have child cold medicine here - but they deal with colds and flus differently ... and it works. they are more likely to try a natural approach and even though they don't have the lovely bed side manner that my American pedatrican had, I haven't really missed it.

The only thing you really will miss is family. That part is continually hard for us. We have been here nearly 10 years and our kids are 3 and 7 ( both born here with no problems). Our kids are bi lingual fluently.

You will find that your wife will make a whole net work of friends here as other mothers are really attracted to English speaking mothers, they love the idea of there kids playing or visiting english speaking families.

It will be a sacrifice - but an awesome experience.

Answer 11

If you have an italian passport, it might be an andvantage even for your wife, because you are EU-Citizien then. I do not know exactly, but it could raise chances for your wife to work here

Answer 12

Do it. Don't worry about the doctors in Germany most the people speaking English so there will be any problems. We are from the military and staying right now in Germany, and we are oft visiting German doctors at the economy. We don't have any problems. Good luck.... this is a nice opportunity.

Answer 13

GO.  This is a perfect time, the child is so young that you don't have to worry about schools and stuff yet.  MEdical care is better in Germany than in the US, and yes 95% of people that have advanced degrees speak english quite well, and if they can't one of their staff will.

This might be a once in a lifetime chance, and 3 years isn't much - time will go fast, just do it.

The hurt foot guy forgot to mention that although you don't have to pay US taxes, you will have to pay German tax, which is just a completly normal thing to pay tax where you live.

Answer 14

Yes you would be silly not too, at first it might be a little hard on your wife. Having a new baby and being away from all the grandparents, but your both love and enjoy it there. There is so much to do and see, both in the winter and summer. Christmas is a true delight, the shop are full of wonderful things and most towns have their Christmas market from late Nov- Dec 23rd. If your going to be close to Augsburg, Munich or Nuremberg you must check out there Christmas market. And in the summer you can go to one of the many Beer gardens (one doesn't have to drink, in order to go) you can enjoy a cool soda/pop, they offer a great wurst salad (sausage salad). Also you can travel to Switzerland and Austria as they are close and then you can go to other parts of Europe. If you decide to go you can look up, fun things you can do while your over there in and around the town your be living in. The people are friendly ( a lot of Germans are very friendly towards Americans). And a lot of Germans do speak English, over there you can pick up some British T.V shows on Sky T.V and you can still rent dvd's as they will play in German, French or English so don't think your be stuck having to listen to German all the time.....lol

Same goes with the radio ( some think they only play german songs on there). Stop off at one of the many beerfest that they have in the summer, nothing beats getting up in the morning and buying fresh rolls or bread from the bakers in the moring. Or going for a Sunday walk ( many Germans like to go in to town, Sunday afternoon) to window shop and then stop off for coffee and cake in one of the local coffee shops.

Answer 15

I have two words for you and i live in germany........STAY HOME.......we dont want you here.......kinda disrespectful in the sense we have the best doctors in the world not to mention the scientest and computer wizzes........so no, dont come and dont bring your family......oh and by the way......just pick a nationality where YOU were born.....and thats your nationality.....you can only have one.......

Answer 16

I'm Canadian-American, my husband is American, and we have just made our third temporary move to Germany with all our kids.  I highly recommend it IF you and your wife BOTH have a positive attitude and some willingness to be flexible, to do things in different ways than you are used to, and especially to learn the language.  Think of it this way:  When something goes wrong because you didn't know how it worked in Germany, will you laugh and say, "It's part of the adventure," or will you cry and say "What a stupid country this is"? If the second, stay home!

Your wife may not be allowed (by the terms of her residence permit) to hold a job, so make sure that possibility is OK with her.  Germany has three years of maternity leave, so there are lots of other mothers at home with small children, and lots of playgroups, organized activities, classes, etc.  Any doctor trained in the FRG probably speaks English; those trained in the former DDR might not.

In large cities there are often lots of other English-speaking foreigners who organize activities for themselves.  I'd caution against staying isolated in the expat bubble, though.  Make the acquaintance of your German colleagues, get to know the local customs with them.  The more integrated you can get, the more you'll enjoy your time there, and the more point there is to having made the trip.

Your company may pay for a relocation specialist to help you deal with the practical matters such as signing a lease, getting a radio/TV licence, applying for your residence permit, etc.  (If your wife is an Italian citizen, different rules will apply to her than to you.)  I'd leave your car in the US or sell it before you go; in many cities you won't need it to get around town because public transit is so good, intercity train travel is fun and pretty cheap, and gas is horrendously expensive.  

Also check out the Yahoo group called german-way, which has lots of helpful people.

Let me emphasize again the importance of a positive attitude.  There is no question that moving to a foreign country brings stress (both good and bad), and that can be very bad for your marriage if one of you is only there reluctantly.  If you are both keen, moving overseas can be a wonderful adventure, and one that brings your family closer together.