Personal experience of receiving the Blue Card in Germany 2015-2016. Part 1: Job Search
Hello. In this article I want to share my experience in obtaining a blue EU card. I always had ideas about emigration; I constantly looked at information about existing programs and options to leave the expanses of our country. The reasons for my impulses are purely personal and I don’t want to impose them on anyone.
It so happened that at school I studied German, and I always thought that it would absolutely not be useful to me in life. Therefore I taught him without enthusiasm.
In 2012, I got married, and my wife and I decided to come to grips with English. At that time I was in graduate school and worked as a programmer. My professional field seemed to us very attractive for emigration because “programmers are valued everywhere”. At that time we did not set any specific goals, the task was simple - we are improving English, and then we will see. We successfully improved English, and in the meantime I gained important professional experience and prepared my dissertation for defense. I thought that for successful emigration, you need five years of professional experience + good spoken English. The first country to which we paid attention was Canada. In the opinion of people (we took English lessons on Skype with Canadians), we were all happy. Further followed: New Zealand, Australia and the USA. An interesting fact is that we have never even looked at Germany. Although visited her, and we liked her very much. Just at that moment I completely missed the information about the Blue Card. It always seemed to us that it was impossible to leave for Germany.
')
But it turned out that Canada did not work out. This is a completely different story, but I would say that in 2015 it turned out that federal programs do not guarantee absolutely nothing and the application review process is stretched over the year (s). Such a picture did not suit us at all. It was June 2015 in the yard, I already defended my dissertation, I had the desired 5 years of experience and good spoken English. We were ready to "tear the claws." A little upset by the information that it is not so easy to leave for English-speaking countries, we began to actively google. We found information on Norway and other countries. Stumbled upon the Blue Card.
The conditions looked great:
- Higher education
- Contract for amounts above a certain level (depending on the country)
There was only one snag - all countries of the agreement speak their own languages. After reading the stories of other people, we realized that you can find a job with English. Well, our choice fell on Germany, because in our understanding it is the best country in Europe (our opinion is subjective, we do not impose it on anyone).
For a couple of weeks I prepared a good summary in English. I approached this issue very carefully and even turned to an English-speaking recruiter for help. For a couple of paid Skype interviews, we polished my resume. It's time to look for jobs. To search, I used the site monster.de and linkedin.com. He responded to all the relevant Senior .Net Developer jobs, even if they were in German. Within two weeks I received only negative answers, but I was not upset. I understood that this process was not fast, and the lack of German language lowered my chances (oh school the school, how stupid I was).
I will give the exact horology of the events at the end of the article, for I was recording everything.
On June 25th, I received the first phone call from Europe. It was a recruiter who said that for me there is a suitable vacancy in a town 100 km from Hamburg. I knew what Germany was, so the small town did not frighten me at all (and even attracted me). We talked for about 15-20 minutes, basically the answers I had already prepared, for I spent a lot of time preparing for the interview. He said that he would send my resume to the company, and if they like it, there will be a Skype interview. The next day, he said that he liked the resume, and the head of the company wants to talk to me on Skype. The interview was scheduled for June 29th. I think you can not tell how it was all exciting. Regardless of experience and confident in technical knowledge, I was still nervous.
On June 29, I was sitting at the computer with a sheet of paper and a pen, and was ready to solve logical and other problems. The interview took place, but, to my surprise, there were neither logical nor technical tasks in it. We talked for about an hour with a company manager named Rainer. We discussed my experience in which projects I took part. Talked about the technology that I own. We discussed real examples of where, what and how I applied. Rainer was interested in my education and the topic of my dissertation. I kept confidently, probably therefore it was not necessary to go into details. He spoke about his projects (he is very well kodit by the way) and the structure of the company. Then he asked where we have the nearest airport and how soon I can fly for an interview in Hamburg. Then I was just a little surprised (everything went too sweet). I said that to prepare a visa I need an invitation and 3 weeks time. We marked the date of the face-to-face interview on July 23, and he said that the HR manager would contact me later, with whom I would solve all organizational issues. The first stage is completed.
The next day, the manager wrote to me, and asked me to indicate what format the invitation should be. Having rummaged through the Internet, I realized that a sufficiently scanned copy of the invitation + a copy of the passports of the persons who signed it. In the invitation, it is advisable not to indicate that the purpose of the trip is an interview. I was told that I was invited to the conference. The scans of invitations and passports were in my hands and I ran to the nearest agency to get a visa, because I didn’t want to go to Moscow myself. While waiting for a visa, HR bought me air tickets and Voronezh to Hamburg. We decided that one day was enough. I flew at 11 am, and was sent back already at 7 pm. So ten days later my visa was ready, the tickets were booked and life was beautiful.
July 23, I was overwhelmed with emotions, woke up at 4 am and went to the airport. Arrived in Hamburg, passed passport control and went to the lobby of the airport. There Rainer met me. We got into his car and drove to their office in Hamburg, or rather, the first item on our program was lunch with an HR manager at a cafe. Even in the car began to discuss the professional aspects, again touched my experience. I described in detail what and how I did, what technologies I own, where and why I applied them. In the cafe, we were met by a friendly HR-manager, we ordered lunch, and then the standard interview with HR began. Typical kind of questions about which written many thematic articles. She was mainly interested in my personality, motivation and in general tried to understand whether I fit them as a person. After lunch, we went to the office where we discussed my projects and knowledge in more detail. We also discussed their projects in detail, which were demonstrated to me both externally and internally. In general, I liked everything, both people and projects. The interview took place in a pleasant atmosphere, with smiles and jokes. I even told Rainer that I was preparing to meet a bunch of technical issues, repeating data structures and algorithms. To which he laughed and said: "According to your answers, it is so clear that the materiel is in order, and even if something is missing, you will learn."
Everyone was happy, and Reiner and I retired to discuss the details of my contract. I understandably cannot divulge them, but I can only say that I was pleased. Naturally, before sending out a resume, I studied the information regarding wages and expenses in Germany and clearly knew how much I needed. Meanwhile, our time was coming to an end, and the time of departure was approaching. Rainer told the HR manager the details of the contract and said that after a while they would contact me. We decided that taking into account the preparation and transfer of the original contract, the time of receipt of the Blue Card and other points, the estimated date of commencement of work will be October 1. At that time I was 99% sure that everything was fine. Rainer drove me back to the airport, where I, happy and happy, began my pre-flight preparation. I came home after midnight and absolutely exhausted, I went to bed and could not understand - was it real?
A week later I was sent an electronic version of the contract for review. Everything was fine and they sent me the original via DHL. By that time, I had already started preparing documents for the Blue Card. A week later I received a contract and began to apply for a visa. But this will be a separate article.
So the promised chronology of events:
Collecting things
Continued here
It so happened that at school I studied German, and I always thought that it would absolutely not be useful to me in life. Therefore I taught him without enthusiasm.
In 2012, I got married, and my wife and I decided to come to grips with English. At that time I was in graduate school and worked as a programmer. My professional field seemed to us very attractive for emigration because “programmers are valued everywhere”. At that time we did not set any specific goals, the task was simple - we are improving English, and then we will see. We successfully improved English, and in the meantime I gained important professional experience and prepared my dissertation for defense. I thought that for successful emigration, you need five years of professional experience + good spoken English. The first country to which we paid attention was Canada. In the opinion of people (we took English lessons on Skype with Canadians), we were all happy. Further followed: New Zealand, Australia and the USA. An interesting fact is that we have never even looked at Germany. Although visited her, and we liked her very much. Just at that moment I completely missed the information about the Blue Card. It always seemed to us that it was impossible to leave for Germany.
')
But it turned out that Canada did not work out. This is a completely different story, but I would say that in 2015 it turned out that federal programs do not guarantee absolutely nothing and the application review process is stretched over the year (s). Such a picture did not suit us at all. It was June 2015 in the yard, I already defended my dissertation, I had the desired 5 years of experience and good spoken English. We were ready to "tear the claws." A little upset by the information that it is not so easy to leave for English-speaking countries, we began to actively google. We found information on Norway and other countries. Stumbled upon the Blue Card.
The conditions looked great:
- Higher education
- Contract for amounts above a certain level (depending on the country)
There was only one snag - all countries of the agreement speak their own languages. After reading the stories of other people, we realized that you can find a job with English. Well, our choice fell on Germany, because in our understanding it is the best country in Europe (our opinion is subjective, we do not impose it on anyone).
For a couple of weeks I prepared a good summary in English. I approached this issue very carefully and even turned to an English-speaking recruiter for help. For a couple of paid Skype interviews, we polished my resume. It's time to look for jobs. To search, I used the site monster.de and linkedin.com. He responded to all the relevant Senior .Net Developer jobs, even if they were in German. Within two weeks I received only negative answers, but I was not upset. I understood that this process was not fast, and the lack of German language lowered my chances (oh school the school, how stupid I was).
I will give the exact horology of the events at the end of the article, for I was recording everything.
On June 25th, I received the first phone call from Europe. It was a recruiter who said that for me there is a suitable vacancy in a town 100 km from Hamburg. I knew what Germany was, so the small town did not frighten me at all (and even attracted me). We talked for about 15-20 minutes, basically the answers I had already prepared, for I spent a lot of time preparing for the interview. He said that he would send my resume to the company, and if they like it, there will be a Skype interview. The next day, he said that he liked the resume, and the head of the company wants to talk to me on Skype. The interview was scheduled for June 29th. I think you can not tell how it was all exciting. Regardless of experience and confident in technical knowledge, I was still nervous.
On June 29, I was sitting at the computer with a sheet of paper and a pen, and was ready to solve logical and other problems. The interview took place, but, to my surprise, there were neither logical nor technical tasks in it. We talked for about an hour with a company manager named Rainer. We discussed my experience in which projects I took part. Talked about the technology that I own. We discussed real examples of where, what and how I applied. Rainer was interested in my education and the topic of my dissertation. I kept confidently, probably therefore it was not necessary to go into details. He spoke about his projects (he is very well kodit by the way) and the structure of the company. Then he asked where we have the nearest airport and how soon I can fly for an interview in Hamburg. Then I was just a little surprised (everything went too sweet). I said that to prepare a visa I need an invitation and 3 weeks time. We marked the date of the face-to-face interview on July 23, and he said that the HR manager would contact me later, with whom I would solve all organizational issues. The first stage is completed.
The next day, the manager wrote to me, and asked me to indicate what format the invitation should be. Having rummaged through the Internet, I realized that a sufficiently scanned copy of the invitation + a copy of the passports of the persons who signed it. In the invitation, it is advisable not to indicate that the purpose of the trip is an interview. I was told that I was invited to the conference. The scans of invitations and passports were in my hands and I ran to the nearest agency to get a visa, because I didn’t want to go to Moscow myself. While waiting for a visa, HR bought me air tickets and Voronezh to Hamburg. We decided that one day was enough. I flew at 11 am, and was sent back already at 7 pm. So ten days later my visa was ready, the tickets were booked and life was beautiful.
July 23, I was overwhelmed with emotions, woke up at 4 am and went to the airport. Arrived in Hamburg, passed passport control and went to the lobby of the airport. There Rainer met me. We got into his car and drove to their office in Hamburg, or rather, the first item on our program was lunch with an HR manager at a cafe. Even in the car began to discuss the professional aspects, again touched my experience. I described in detail what and how I did, what technologies I own, where and why I applied them. In the cafe, we were met by a friendly HR-manager, we ordered lunch, and then the standard interview with HR began. Typical kind of questions about which written many thematic articles. She was mainly interested in my personality, motivation and in general tried to understand whether I fit them as a person. After lunch, we went to the office where we discussed my projects and knowledge in more detail. We also discussed their projects in detail, which were demonstrated to me both externally and internally. In general, I liked everything, both people and projects. The interview took place in a pleasant atmosphere, with smiles and jokes. I even told Rainer that I was preparing to meet a bunch of technical issues, repeating data structures and algorithms. To which he laughed and said: "According to your answers, it is so clear that the materiel is in order, and even if something is missing, you will learn."
Everyone was happy, and Reiner and I retired to discuss the details of my contract. I understandably cannot divulge them, but I can only say that I was pleased. Naturally, before sending out a resume, I studied the information regarding wages and expenses in Germany and clearly knew how much I needed. Meanwhile, our time was coming to an end, and the time of departure was approaching. Rainer told the HR manager the details of the contract and said that after a while they would contact me. We decided that taking into account the preparation and transfer of the original contract, the time of receipt of the Blue Card and other points, the estimated date of commencement of work will be October 1. At that time I was 99% sure that everything was fine. Rainer drove me back to the airport, where I, happy and happy, began my pre-flight preparation. I came home after midnight and absolutely exhausted, I went to bed and could not understand - was it real?
A week later I was sent an electronic version of the contract for review. Everything was fine and they sent me the original via DHL. By that time, I had already started preparing documents for the Blue Card. A week later I received a contract and began to apply for a visa. But this will be a separate article.
So the promised chronology of events:
Beginning of June - make a resume
Mid June - we respond to vacancies
June 25 - recruiter call we assign Skype for June 29
June 29 - Skype and name for an interview
July 23 - interview
August 14 - the contract came
August 25 - the first unsuccessful visit to the embassy, ​​you need to make a confirmation diploma
August 27 - sent documents to kmk
September 1 - sent a receipt for payment, paid on the same day
September 2 - the money reached and they immediately made a paper, sent by mail and sent a scan
September 17 - a successful visit to the embassy with a scan
September 21 - took the visa
September 23 - the original diploma confirmation came
Collecting things
October 1 - Arrival in Germany
October 2 - registration + bank account
October 5 - medical insurance
October 12 - went to the Blue Card (will be ready in 2-3 weeks, call and sign up to receive, happy as elephants)
October 23 - registered in the rented apartment
October 26 - my health insurance card came
October 30 - Sveta Health Insurance Card
November 2 - phoned asked about my card. They said if you do not receive the term by mail in the week, then call the next one. I thought that the term for receiving the card.
November 7th - they sent an envelope from the town hall, I thought the term was that my card was ready. It turned out a bunch of papers and questionnaires.
November 9 - I called on these docks to clarify why they turned out (for family reunification, for marriage for Svetlana visa! And for confirming housing for my card, it turned out that no one took my docks in hand before my call on November 2)
November 11 - sent a scan confirmation of housing by e-mail.
November 12 - Sveta returned to Russia so that the visa would not expire
November 19 - brought all the remaining docks. They said more for Sveta's visa, and my Blue Card is already in print and in 2-3-4 weeks I will receive a letter of its readiness. Again)) Sveta's visa was said to be released as soon as possible.
December 2 - I received a letter that my card is ready.
December 3 - I called and scored a term on the 4th to pick up the map. They said that Sveta's visa should also be ready, at least they finished their part. After lunch, Sveta appeared on the embassy lists.
December 4 - Day X. Pick up the Blue Card. Recorded Sveta on the 17th of December to apply for a residence permit.
December 17 - Sveta filed a residence permit. Said after 6 weeks (ahead of Christmas) will be ready.
January 7 - a letter came - a residence permit is ready
January 14 - took a residence permit for a period of 1.5 years.
Continued here
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/313048/
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