Hello all,

An introduction's in order..

I'm new to the forum. My name's Thomas and I'm an Indonesian.
I'm about to take up an employment in Germany, with a possibility of long-term assignments to France.
My future employers are currently looking into the situation, but I do have some questions which I hope somebody in the forum can answer.

According to the website of the German Embassy in Indonesia there are two kinds of visas: short-stay and long-term.
I read there that a short-stay visa takes roughly 10 days to process, and a long-term visa would take about 3 months.

My situation is, I'm currently in India and my new employers would like me to start about 2 weeks after I get back to my country.

I've been researching on the internet and I've found a scenario like this: get a short-stay visa and once in Germany get the work permit and change the visa into a long-term one.

1. Is this scenario really feasible and legal?
2. With this scenario will it be possible to obtain a residence permit?

Thanks beforehand,
Thomas V

Question is if you can work in Germany with these visas ? I guess not - and for this you need to get a work permit.
You didn't mention what kind of job - if it's IT - you can still get Green Card in a few weeks. If it's not - well, you can basically forget it...

Hi Thomas,

First, you should contact your "future" employer what exactly the job conditions are. They should have applied for work permit if they intend to employ you for long time. You need this letter to apply in German embassy in Jakarta.
There is no possibility to change short term visa (tourist visa?) to long term visa legally, as far as I know. And if you ask about peramnent residence, well, it's hard if you haven't worked in Germany for 5 years and paid social insurance for 60 months. The important thing is: keep in mind, that Germany or other EU countries are NOT USA, German Green Card is not to be compared with US Green Card.

Sampai jumpa,
NN

1. the scenario you mentioned is feasible and legal, it's the way most of GC-Holders (from outside Germany) came here. the short-stay visa is accompanied with a short-term work permit then you are allowed to work base on the first short-stay visa.
2. regarding to the GC-Law 5 years is the limit of staying and working in Germany (I mean base on Germany Green Card program) and afterward some say that the general law for foreigner would be applicable and some other say all the GCs have to leave the Germany! but with the new immigration law it's possible to stay here if you keep your job after finishing first 5 years. however it's not clear yet if GC-Holders can get permanent residency as soon as the new law comes into effect!

by the way the GC-law is for IT-Specialist but the new immigration law covers all professions which are in demand

Hello,

Thanks for your replies.

My field of work is telecommunications. Specifically in the IN with experience in Siemens equipment. My employment will only be for 1 - 2 years (but I won't say no if it'll be extended).

I wasn't specifically asking about green card. Isn't green card different than work permit?

I'm interested in hrk's idea about a short-term visa accompanied by a short-term work permit.
Is this visa the same as business visa?
And I've never heard of a short-term work permit... could somebody explain?

Thanks again,
Thomas V

The short-term work permit is for starting the job and really is to confirm your job offer (for long-term work permit).
In my case (a usual case) after I signed the contract, my company got this confirmation (short-term work permit) and sent to me and according to it I could get a visa for 3 months, after entering to Germany I got my 5 years work permit (Green-Card) and then 5 years residency permit.

in other words, the first short-term residency permit is usually a normal visa for 3 months to let you come here and start the job, afterward you will get the long term residency permit in your pass (Aufenthalterlaubnis).

The above scenario was my case and maybe you can find a more optimal solution for the same purpose!
About other kind of visas(Business, Student and ...) I have no information.

Hello Forum,

I have a question : - I'm a green card holder since 2001
october,my WP valid till the end september 2006.Since i get always
temperory work contracts for a duration of 1 year,my A.E also get extended
according to my Work contract.Now i'm going to complete my 3 year of
work under the same employer.It clearly written in my Work Contract
that i have the right to claim for an umployment benefit in case if i'm not
getting my work contract extended further.
My Question is,if i'm not getting a new contract,Is it
possible to extended my AE as i have a valid WP till end of 2006 and right
to claim for the unemployment benefit ?? Pls do respond if someone has
an idea about it !

Thank you very much in advance !!

Shino

Hi,

Just a comment in addition to hrk reply. The 3 month visa which was issued because of a short term work permit is not a normal visa. In other words it is not the same type like tourist visa although they have the same shape. I also come to Germany using this visa and it took 6 weeks to obtain which is the normal expected time, my employer had to apply for the work permit in parrallel.

Regards.

Hello all,

I guess I can take wael and hrk's advice. I'll apply for a working(or business?) visa that's good for 3 months, and then sort out my residence permit in Germany.

A new question comes though: What kind of documents are needed to apply for this kind of visa? Is an invitation letter from the company enough, or will the company have to send me the work permit?

Thanks again,
Thomas V

as the wael said the first visa looks like a normal visa(for example a tourist visa) but with an extra explanation says the holder of this visa come to Germany according to Green-Card law (german abbreviation: IT-ArGV)!

and your question about the needed documents:
in embassy you will be asked to present 2 main documents from your employer side:
1- Contract
2- short-term work permit (i.e. confirmation of job offer)

In my case I had to present the following:
- A signed contract (they took only a copy).
- Letter from my company saying why they are going to employ me.

The work permit was approved later in Germany, this triggered the a approval for my visa to be sent to the embassy.

By the way it doesn't necessary need to be a green card application. In my case it was a normal aufenhalterlaubnis, I got 1 year then followed by 2 years and another 2 years. After a total of 5 years I beleive I can apply for a permanat one.

W.

Hello all,

Thanks again..

hrk, can you tell me the German name of the visa which you said: "looks like a normal visa(for example a tourist visa) but with an extra explanation says the holder of this visa come to Germany according to Green-Card law (german abbreviation: IT-ArGV)"

I'll keep you all updated about my progress. Maybe this can turn out to be a good example for anyone who's interested...

With regards,
Thomas V

the Visa is a normal Visa (VISUM valid for DEUTSCHLAND, Number of Entries: 1, Duration 3 Months)
but in the next page of passport it's written:

Auflage(n) zum Visum aus Seite ...(Seite des Visums): Arbeitsaufnahme als IT-Fachkraft gem. §11, Abs. 4 DV Ausl. G.

that means:
The condition of visa in page...(page number of passport, where visa is attached): take a job offer as IT-Specialist regarding to part 11, chapter 4 from foriegner law!