I have been a freelance designer throughout. Now I have a concrete job offer from a design firm in Germany, a 2 - year contract with the possibility for a transformation into an unlimited contract afterwards.
Tthe employers have got an approval for 1 year (they are trying for an extension) from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit - BA; i.e. the Federal Employment Agency, the letter in original which they have sent to me. The employers do not have any requirement for me to know the German language, but I will be enrolling for classes soon.
Since I have never travelled out of India, I am pretty stumped with a few doubts, your help and guidance will be really appreciated.

My questions are as under;

1. Do I also need to give my employment contract in original or will the approval letter from the Federal Employment Agency in original suffice?

2. In the application form for National visa; there is a section "Aufenthaltstitel oder gleichwertiges Dokument Nr.Residence permit no." ......what do I write in that

3. They have said not to staple document, and yet we cannot use glue to fix our passport photo(they have wriiten not to use glue)....???? So how do I fix my photo?

4. My employers have asked me to look for a place to stay on my own, so what should I write in the address of "Intended place to stay"

5. Duration of stay....should I write the employment contact period of 2 years or should I write the approved 1 year by the Federal Employment Agency?

6.  For the question;" Do you have health insurance that covers the Federal Republic of Germany" Should I apply for travel health insurance before I take an appointment ? And will it cover that? As the taxes deducted from my salary in Germany has a portion deducted for Health Insurance....will I still need to take travel health insurance?

 7. And where do I need to apply for "Erteilung des Aufenthaltstitels"???

Sorry for the barrage of questions....some of them may seem silly....but as they say "Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches"....and its better to make a fool of myself asking questions here, amongst you good people...rather than making a fool of myself in front of my interviewer

Thank you for reading through...all your suggestions will be of great help....thanks in advance!

Best regards

I can only answer some of your questions.

1. Original documents are always helpful. Get the original contract as well, if you can, together with the BA document.

2. As you are applying, I think you leave that empty. Or write that you are applying for one.

3. I love it when bureaucrats ask for the impossible.

4. Just my suggestion, I'd book a hotel for one month and tell them you will look for a place to stay after that month. You don't have to actually stay in the hotel, but this is common practice and they should accept.

5. I'd write 2 years. It is the "intended duration of stay", what they actually give you interests them. Of course they cannot give more than 1 year at first, because of BA permit.

6. For the visa you'll need a travel visa, I don't think it has anything to do with your insurances regarding your employment. I'm not sure, but to be on the safe side I'd make a travel insurance while you are in India, covering Germany. Some embassy websites provide information about that, which insurance company they accept and what type of insurance.

They are not silly questions, all of them are important and needs to be sorted out. My advice is only an advice and information, I cannot guarantee legal validity.

Good luck, I hope you get your visa swiftly.

Thank you so much Arnhem

HI Misha
Hope things went well for you.
For the  question 'Do you have health insurance that covers the Federal Republic of Germany' what did  you respond and if you responded yes then how did you proceed to obtain the same?

For the photo, just carry it along with you, dont stick it or staple it, they will ask you for the photo and you hand it over to them. Also,just in case make sure you carry extra photographs!

As for medical insurance, I am not sure if travel insurance holds good (pardon my lack of knowledge here), but what i did is i signed up for a policy which covers the period of my intended stay in Germany. And the policy payment is monthly, which means I could cancel this at any time, and once you are in Germany, you would hash out proper medical insurance details with your company; as medical insurance is neccessary to possess.

Hope this helps!

Good luck