Reason for Residence: Entrepreneurship

I want to start a business in Germany and while doing so; I want to live here, too. How can I do that?

With the new law of 2005, there is (finally the long needed) explicit regulation on the working migration of self-employed persons to Germany. Generally, you will need to show, for a successful application, the following details:

• Germany’s higher economic interest or Germany’s special regional need for your project,
• the expectation of positive effects of your business on the economy,
• the security of the financing of the intention through equity or a credit promise of a domestic bank,
• no damage to Germany’s overall economic interests is to be expected.
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Oh, come on. Do I have to go through all that red tape even though I want to invest € 250k and hire five employees?

Bingo! By fulfilling these prerequisites, as a rule, it will be presumed that you have met the requirements for commercial migration and Germany will roll out the red carpet for you and your dependents. But sorry, you always have to show up with a business plan.
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Give in! My name is not Bill Gates. I don’t have so much and I do not want to wait until I hit the jackpot in the lottery. Does that mean I will not get a residency permit?

Don’t be so outraged! You still can get a permit even if you are not Bill Gates or Rockefeller. You will now have to show the superior economic interest with more scrutiny. The basic idea is to show the workability of your business. Don’t get it wrong, but Germany neither wants nor needs not more bankruptcies. Therefore, the authorities will test your case. Perfect criteria are if you:

• will create “many” jobs (not counting your own),
• and you have “only few” competitors on the market.

But who is perfect?

Nobody. So, let me give you an example or two. If you want to open a new hamburger flipping store, forget it unless your first name is Ronald. If you want to open a boutique for the latest Indian fashion in an industrialized quarter: forget it. But if yow want to open the Indian fashion store on Ku’damm, great idea. In the last case, you now will only have to show sufficient equity to start the business and will not depend on welfare.
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How will they test the workability?

You will have to hand in a business plan. Based upon that plan, the authorities will test your case. Count on this taking a couple of month’s time. But don’t forget the office will also consider the possibility of your business failing. If you want to speed up the assessment then prior to applying get in contact with the relevant trade bodies, i.e. Industrie- und Handelskammer (www.IHK.de), professional chambers (for handcrafts, attorneys, physicians, architects, &c.) They will test your idea based upon:

• your experience as an entrepreneur,
• the level of capital you are investing,
• the effects on the employment and the training situation, and
• the contribution you have made to innovation and research.
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I’m a senior business woman of 45 years old with 20 years of professional experience. I don’t want all of that greenhorn stuff of business plans. In respect with my outstanding experience that will surely make things easier for me, or?

Sorry, your experience does not at all relieve you of the formal prerequisites! You still must hand in a business plan. They only advantage you will have is that after recognizing your decades of experience the authorities might even agree more quickly. But there is also a catch: §21 IV AufenthG requires that you a reasonable pension plan for retirement at old-age.
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But all this seems to get me all wound up in red tape, where is the advantage of opening a business in Germany and not coming as an employee?

Alas, you shall be, well maybe not pampered, but favorably treated. After successfully running your business for three years, you will receive the permanent residency permit and not, as otherwise, after five years. How does that grab you??
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But what if my plan fails? Will they kick me out immediately?

Relax. Plans can change – for good or for worse. Latest when the extension is due, you will have to as a minimum break even and have enough assets to finance yourself for another year – in spite of your business losses.
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