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Canadian wanting to move to Germany

Roubafouz

Hi, as a Canadian can I work for foreign company out of Germany and be considered for the citizenship after some time and of course pay local taxes?

See also

The Working Holiday Visa for GermanyWork visas for GermanyAdvice from people who applied for German freelancer visaNon-EU citizen moving from another Schengen country to GermanyPerson on non-German EU dependent visa applying for German visit visa
beppi

A non-EU-citizen can work in Germany if he/she gets a work visa first.

Getting one is much easier with a job offer by a Germany-registered company (foreign-owned or not).

If by "foreign company" you mean one without a legal presence in Germany, then you'd be classified as self-employed. Getting a work visa as self-employed is much harder - and the formal requirements for registration/licensing, accountancy and taxation when working here are also complex (and potentially costly, if you have to engage local expet for it, due to non-fluency in buerocratic German). You should read related discussions on this forum!

W48SRQ

@Roubafouz To obtain German citizenship, you must live in Germany for at least eight years, as a registered resident, with a valid residence permit. So the answer to your question is: no. You must move to Germany for that.

beppi

@W48SRQ Imust admit that Roubafouz's message above isn't entirely clear about it, but I assumed he wants to live in Germany and work for a non-German employer. In that case he can become citizen after 8 years (or less if he shows good integration - or if the rules change, which is in discussion).

But if your interpretation is correct and he wants to workabroad for a company "based out of Germany", then you are correct: This gives no benefits whatsoever for German citizenship (and there is alsono German taxation for this)!


@Roubafouz Could you please clarify your intentions?

W48SRQ

@beppi Yes, it seems I was wrong, he's asking whether he can live in Germany and work for a foreign company. In that case I don't see why he couldn't obtain citizenship after 8 years.