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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

#331

Post by Archelaos »

fleshmonad wrote: post #212
chironjit wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best I'd say is a sense of collectiveness that is somewhat higher than other countries. It's not nationalism. Rather, there is some amount of willingness to give up personal comfort for some sort of general/societal greater good. This is really something I've noticed compared to say the UK, Australia, certain asian countries, etc. Not sure why it hasn't translated to improving bureaucracy.

Can you provide some examples of what germans bind together for the "greater good"? I seem to have missed it.

Almost one million volunteer firefighters (Freiwillige Feuerwehr). These are 96.95 % of all firefighters. (For comparison: the UK quota is 2.31%.)[1] Very popular to participate especially in many rural parts of Germany.

[1] Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiwillige_Feuerwehr#Deutschl... (in German)

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

#332

Post by ulfw »

fleshmonad wrote: post #212
chironjit wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best I'd say is a sense of collectiveness that is somewhat higher than other countries. It's not nationalism. Rather, there is some amount of willingness to give up personal comfort for some sort of general/societal greater good. This is really something I've noticed compared to say the UK, Australia, certain asian countries, etc. Not sure why it hasn't translated to improving bureaucracy.

Can you provide some examples of what germans bind together for the "greater good"? I seem to have missed it.

Following and make the most pedantic rules. Germans loooooove setting rules and expect everyone to follow or else they rat you or or sue you even. (see neighbour conflicts about hedges growing too far etc)

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

#333

Post by nicbou »

philsnow wrote: post #253
physhster wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the amount of immigrants in Europe in general and in Germany in particular, I don't think they are trying to deter people. Or if they are trying it's not working. The incompetence is not confined to immigration, it's pretty much everywhere. Same goes for France actually.

The impression I got from the last time I was in Germany (some ~7 years ago), there's a going concern among at least some people that a certain ethnicity of immigrants is "taking over". This might be a pearl-clutching minority, or I may have completely misread the situation.

There seems to be a growing frustration about asylum seekers who moved to Germany and did not adopt German values, a theme you will find in every country.

It's scary because the party that complains the most about it is gaining traction, and it convinces centrist parties to change their stance on immigration. It's not a pearl-clutching minority anymore, but a politically advantageous position.

As an immigrant, I feel like we're about to live a variation of the Niemöller poem. "First they came for the asylum seekers..."

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

#334

Post by mb_72 »

a_bonobo wrote: post #314
ab_testing wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

8 months is not that long; these days the wait is longer. However, you are aware of how long the wait will be, there information is right there on the Australian Immigration website: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-pr...

Providing updates to everyone waiting simply wastes time and resources; again, you know roughly how long it's going to take as the estimated times are provided. Hassling the agent on your case is unnecessary.

Regarding leaving and returning Australia - Bridging Visa class Bs are made available if you have good reasons to be leaving and coming back.

I can see this from two sides - my (now ex) wife went through getting temporary then permanent residency in Australia; yes, it was a pain and expensive, but Australia has high standards of living etc, which is why lots of people want to come here. The other side is this - immigration is one of the reasons why there are not enough houses to buy or places to rent, making life difficult for citizens or people who have PR or TR. So if the process of having more immigrants who also require housing is expensive or difficult, I think you'll find a lot of people are not particular sympathetic.

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

#335

Post by nicbou »

dpeckett wrote: post #226
twixfel wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's less work, it's less work. And it can take months if one of you is not German.

Yeh two weeks would be very quick for a German marriage involving foreigners, more realistically a few months at-least all things considered.

Two weeks would be quick for anything in Germany. 4 weeks seems like the standard for processes that run smoothly.

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

#336

Post by cldellow »

np- wrote: post #254
dark-star wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fail to imagine a scenario where "getting married fast" is a requirement. I mean you've supposedly been living together for a few years already at that point, so why is 2 weeks too much?

> I fail to imagine a scenario where "getting married fast" is a requirement. This rubs me the wrong way a bit, and it’s because it’s clearly quite obvious there are many reasons you’d want to get married fast (emergency health issues, unplanned pregnancies, visa issues, etc etc. can come up with a million reasons easily). You are really asking in a very ungracious way why doesn’t everyone just simply live like an id…

Me and two of my siblings have had marriages to facilitate work visas, permanent residence and access to health care during a pregnancy. (Also because we liked the other person, but like, we would have kept liking them regardless of whether we got married.)

Most pregnancies take a while, two weeks is plenty of time. Don't even get me started on how long immigration bureaucracy takes -- two weeks is a drop in the bucket.

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

#337

Post by run414 »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #206
mk89 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany and "digital" payments have a history due to old reasons. We don't appreciate its meaning anymore, but cash is literally the only anonymous payment method you can have in this lifetime, and people in Germany tend NOT to trust any entity/company/government holding your data for no particular purpose. The downside of this is the split brain problem that you have with distributed systems: a state knows something…

> We don't appreciate its meaning anymore, but cash is literally the only anonymous payment method you can have in this lifetime, and people in Germany tend NOT to trust any entity/company/government holding your data for no particular purpose. Exactly. This is the eperience from two dicatorships on German soil in the 20th century of which one ended less than 35 years ago (many of its crimes still have not been prose…

Didn't Germany have 3 dictatorships in the 20th century?

East Germany (ended in 1990), Third Reich (ended in 1945), German Monarchy (ended in 1918)

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

#338

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK »

pests wrote: post #238
freyfogle wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah! Americans have to file US tax whether they live in the US or not.

Only for higher income individuals. We get a Foreign Tax Credit for taxes already paid where we live/work. Looks like the limit last year was $120k. Only 17% of Americans make more than $100k/year. Only ~5million Americans living abroad, or 1.5% of the population. I'm sure those numbers are correlated, but I'll bet its under a few hundred thousand of people who are burdened with the tax. Even then, the benefits also…

Most are burdened not so much by the tax itself , but by the complex and costly tax report that should be filed every year.

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

#339

Post by nicbou »

whalesalad wrote: post #170
nicbou wrote: post #114

I document German bureaucracy for a living,[0] and everything is like that. Every life event - immigrating, getting a job, getting married, having a child, buying a car - is mired in slow, paper-based bureaucracy. It is a constant, significant impediment to life in the country. Just last week, I was telling people that the best way to get married in Germany is to get married in Denmark. I cannot overstate how terribl…

What are the redeeming qualities of Germany?

Mild summers, good work-life balance, the European Union, decent healthcare, ease of travel, nature.

Even though I'm currently in a "it's complicated" relationship with Germany, I moved here by choice because I loved the place. These things are still there, but since I'm working so close to Germany's problems, I let it get to me sometimes.

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

#340

Post by nicbou »

mtsr wrote: post #186
nicbou wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germans are anything but efficient. At best, they're methodical. Speaking from experience, that is also a lie.

They’re not know for efficiency or being methodical, but for gründlichkeit - being meticulous. Then again, anything like this is a stereotype.

That is the most accurate term, I agree
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