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How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

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Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#311

Post by ProjectArcturis »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #231
dpeckett wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm that moving out into the bacon belt of Brandenburg drastically improved the quality of my public services interactions (as an immigrant). Getting an anmeldung done didn't require a 3 hour ordeal and the local Ausländerbehörde answers their emails. My favorite Berlin anecdote is when my wife (then girlfriend) and I first arrived in Germany, she was unemployed for the better part of a year as no-one would…

> My favorite Berlin anecdote is when my wife (then girlfriend) and I first arrived in Germany, she was unemployed for the better part of a year as no-one would give her a chance. She actually got quite depressed about it, and reached out about state sponsored integration courses as the language lessons she was taking were expensive and she wanted to do something more holistic. The authorities told her in no uncertai…

If that was the good side, I certainly don't want to see the bad side. Maybe they gave her an honest answer, but the better answer would have been to help her learn the language.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#312

Post by thsksbd »

callalex wrote: post #235
hariharan_uno wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. I have been living here for 8 years, and recently applied for a permanent settlement permit. My application went into a blackhole for more than 4 months, while my existing permit expired, essentially making me a prisoner here (I can stay and work in Germany but if I travel internationally, I won't be allowed entry back). Meanwhile, my applications for a temporary travel permit were unanswered for…

From a USA perspective, I find that usually when a bureaucratic process is hopelessly broken, it is because a small portion of the population actively hates the people that would benefit from the process and want to harm them. However they cannot legally or popularly discriminate against them so instead they destroy the processes that benefit the hated group. Do you get that impression where you are too?

If foreigners are in of the hated groups, my personally lived experience serves a counter point.

During my naturalization I was caught by surprise by how quickly my application had been handled. The agent giving me the exam winked and said: "it's election season".

Whatever that means.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#313

Post by ProjectArcturis »

freyfogle wrote: post #139
twixfel wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK but how is it that other countries get by without them for founding LLCs? Are there countless scams going on in the UK surrounding limited company for example since you don't need a notary there? There's often lots of post hoc justifications in Germany for "why it is that way" (and has to be that way). But nobody ever seems to stop and think: ok but the rest of the world seems to get by OK without these reams and…

I now have a German GmbH and had a UK Ltd in the past for 10 years. Definitely there is more seriousness/trustworthiness to a GmbH. I am not sure there are "countless" scams in the UK, but yes, in 10 years of commercial operation did come across a few oddities. Example - a customer (UK Ltd) who declared bankruptcy owing us a money and then then next day founded a new Ltd company and tried to act like he didn't owe us…

> a customer (UK Ltd) who declared bankruptcy owing us a money and then then next day founded a new Ltd company and tried to act like he didn't owe us the money because it was a new entity.

That is... how bankruptcy works? He literally didn't owe you money anymore. Obviously you shouldn't extend his new company credit, but extinguishing old debts is the exact purpose of bankruptcy.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#314

Post by a_bonobo »

ab_testing wrote: post #295
hariharan_uno wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. I have been living here for 8 years, and recently applied for a permanent settlement permit. My application went into a blackhole for more than 4 months, while my existing permit expired, essentially making me a prisoner here (I can stay and work in Germany but if I travel internationally, I won't be allowed entry back). Meanwhile, my applications for a temporary travel permit were unanswered for…

Not saying Germany is slow, but that is one area where US is far behind. 21 Months - This is the current processing time for a green card after you have sent in all the paperwork to the USCIS for processing. During that time, you get no updates and of-course if you leave the country without AP, your application is considered to be abandoned. https://imgur.com/a/t8rYOjv

It's the same in Australia; when you apply for permanent residency your application goes into a black hole. I wanted to learn more about my status and all I got back from the immigration people was 'the agent processing your application will contact you. We do not give out contact details for your agent. You will have to wait'. It took about 8 months.

Once your 'regular' visa expires you go onto a bridging visa which same, you can't really leave the country.

It's expensive as hell too: I think in the end I had a total cost of $7,000, just in application fees. Sounds like immigration is horrible everywhere.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#315

Post by ProjectArcturis »

namaria wrote: post #30
morkalork wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow and I thought realtors getting a % cut on sales was a scam, at least in NA when you get to the notary, it's a flat fee.

In Brazil notaries get a cut of real estate deed transfers, and the position was hereditary until the 1990s.

In Italy, getting something notarized costs $1-2k. As far as I know, the position is still passed down from parents to children.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#316

Post by thsksbd »

dgfitz wrote: post #301
roenxi wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This perspective remains kinda crazy. Why do US people keep trying to route control of major parts of their life through a system where they believe people who "actively hates the people who would benefit from the process" have significant influence? People come up with this from time to time but the logical conclusion is small governments. It has been a few centuries now and there hasn't been any progress in improvi…

Being a white, middle-aged, middle-class male in America I can say I have no productive things to say about how my local, state, or federal government has benefitted myself or my family beyond the things everyone else also benefits from. I don’t get assistance for anything, I don’t get breaks on anything, no free services, etc. If your first reaction to this is “well you don’t need anything!” you must be one of the p…

Furthermore, I pay for services I don't avail myself of (my kids go to parochial schools). And since I don't live in the city, but a rich suburb, it means that Im subsidizing my neighbor's BMW.

I dont even mind school taxes, actually. I just believe that the monies should follow the student and not the school district.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#317

Post by [deleted] »

tdullien wrote: post #46

I have founded a company in Germany in 2004 and sold it to Google in 2011. I started an AG in Switzerland in 2019 and organized a Delaware-Flip therafter. Most of the described steps are also necessary for a Delaware incorporation, and I found the process of incorporating a nothingburger. 1) The choice between a limited liability construct or a pass-through construct exists everywhere. My advice was always: Separate…

[deleted]

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#318

Post by [deleted] »

thsksbd wrote: post #312
callalex wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a USA perspective, I find that usually when a bureaucratic process is hopelessly broken, it is because a small portion of the population actively hates the people that would benefit from the process and want to harm them. However they cannot legally or popularly discriminate against them so instead they destroy the processes that benefit the hated group. Do you get that impression where you are too?

If foreigners are in of the hated groups, my personally lived experience serves a counter point. During my naturalization I was caught by surprise by how quickly my application had been handled. The agent giving me the exam winked and said: "it's election season". Whatever that means.

[deleted]

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#319

Post by croes »

fleshmonad wrote: post #184
whalesalad wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the redeeming qualities of Germany?

Note that I am a German. I would say there are few. Bad education, especially in schools, a broken railway and public transport system, as well as incredibly high taxes. You may say "free healthcare" and a point can be made here, but when you take a look at the high taxes you have to pay, it's not worth it, if your income is above average. All in all it's a mess and I haven't even begun speaking about German people a…

Incredibly high taxes? Denmark has higher taxes.

And don't forget Germany has one of the lowest annual working hours in the world

https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#320

Post by emmelaich »

callalex wrote: post #235
hariharan_uno wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. I have been living here for 8 years, and recently applied for a permanent settlement permit. My application went into a blackhole for more than 4 months, while my existing permit expired, essentially making me a prisoner here (I can stay and work in Germany but if I travel internationally, I won't be allowed entry back). Meanwhile, my applications for a temporary travel permit were unanswered for…

From a USA perspective, I find that usually when a bureaucratic process is hopelessly broken, it is because a small portion of the population actively hates the people that would benefit from the process and want to harm them. However they cannot legally or popularly discriminate against them so instead they destroy the processes that benefit the hated group. Do you get that impression where you are too?

I love this comment because it's such a Rorschach blot, to be read any way you want.

To properly read this in your intended meaning, do we need to find the political and ethnic makeup of the immigration department? Or society at large?

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