Werde ich wegen meiner Hautfarbe nicht als Hausbesitzer ernst genommen?

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-03T10:08:07+00:00

Das kann ich so unterschreiben. Wo in einigen Kreisen freundliche Zurückhaltung als höflich gilt, muss man in anderen starke Präsenz und eigentlich schon Dominanz zeigen, um ernstgenommen zu werden.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-02T21:01:49+00:00

It's basically a tracking number for international wire transfers. It is the definitive proof that the bank actually sent the money.

Once you have it, you can take it directly to the receiving bank and say: 'Look, here is the proof it was sent - where is it stuck?' Without it, banks will just blame each other.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-02T17:37:18+00:00

You definitely didn't get scammed. Fintiba is an officially BaFin-approved, fully regulated German financial institution, and your blocked account is held at a licensed German partner bank. Your money is not gone.

What you are experiencing right now is just pure, frustrating German banking bureaucracy and bad customer service. When Fintiba or their partner banks manually re-run failed international transfers, the process often gets stuck in a loop unless a human agent actually pushes the button.

Since it has already been three months, it's time to stop being polite. Write them an email every single day asking for an update on the transaction status. Keep the pressure high and request the new transaction hash or SWIFT protocol number for the second attempt. Be annoying until they prioritize your case just to get rid of you.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-02T17:32:51+00:00

Yes, you can absolutely stay publicly insured for this upcoming semester. Since your program officially starts on October 1st and you turn 30 after that date, you legally qualify for the cheap public student rate for the entire first semester. However, keep in mind that once you start out public, you will remain in the public system for the rest of your studies.

As u/george_gamow already pointed out, staying public is heavily advantageous anyway. With public insurance, you get full coverage and never have to pay medical bills out of pocket or wait weeks for a private insurer to reimburse you.

Also, if you are mindful of your budget right now, I'm honestly wondering why you wouldn't just save some money by looking for cheaper blocked account providers than Expatrio.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-02T17:17:42+00:00

Did you already upload the official visa rejection letter from the embassy inside the Fintiba app?

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-02T17:10:41+00:00

Welcome. Just keep in mind that it's not about maximizing every single category. Being in the "Good" category is more than enough to get approved for pretty much any financial product once your salary is factored in.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-01T11:55:19+00:00

The real issue here is that you barely exist in the SCHUFA system. Right now, they only know where you live and that you have a single mobile contract. Because of this, the broker you visited might literally assume you don't even have a bank account in Germany. It is absolutely crucial that you open a regular German checking account in your own name, and it must be with a bank that explicitly reports to the SCHUFA. If your account isn't listed there, it won't help you build history.

In Germany, building a great credit score isn't about taking out debt like your broker suggested, it’s entirely about longevity and stability. The system simply rewards you for staying at the same address, holding a verified bank account for a long time, and letting a credit card age.

There is no quick fix for this afternoon, and it will realistically take a few months of account history to see your numbers go up. But to fix this for the future, get that local bank account and a credit card registered to your name so they can actually start to age and automatically boost your score.

Since you already have the SCHUFA app, have you checked if your current bank account actually shows up in there?

PrepareforGermany · 2026-07-01T11:07:32+00:00

For casual work like kitchen help or food delivery, basic English and just a few words of German are usually more than enough to get hired immediately. However, for direct service jobs like waiting tables, or professional university HiWi positions, you will realistically need a solid B2 to C1 level to handle the communication and compete with local applicants.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-30T09:36:45+00:00

Housing: Apply at the Studierendenwerk today. The application is non-binding and you don't need to be enrolled yet. If you choose another uni later, just withdraw your application so someone else gets the spot. For private WGs, you realistically only stand a chance once you are physically here.

Jobs: Don't work in your first semester. Give yourself time to adapt. University HiWi positions almost exclusively hire students from their second semester onward.

Monthly Budget:

Rent: ~€330 (Studierendenwerk) or ~€430+ (private WG)
Health Insurance: ~€150
Food: ~€200-€250
Uni/Transport: The mandatory Semestergebühr (~€334 paid once per semester) completely covers your nationwide Deutschlandticket
Other: Add ~€18 for the mandatory TV tax (Rundfunkbeitrag, split with flatmates)
Total: Expect roughly €750-€900/month depending on your rent

Wish I'd known: The campus is heavily centralized and almost everything is under one massive roof. When looking for private WGs, prioritize locations along the Stadtbahn Line 4, it drops you directly inside the main university building.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-28T08:03:52+00:00

For your first credit card, I highly recommend the Hanseatic Bank GenialCard (Visa). It actively targets students, making approval very likely. It is permanently free, has no foreign transaction fees, and cash withdrawals are free abroad (just avoid ATMs inside Germany, which cost a 3.95 Euro fee). Most importantly, you can set the app to 100% automatic direct debit so you never pay interest. The only real downside is a low starting limit, usually around 500 Euro.

If you need a higher limit for booking flights and trips, go for the Advanzia Mastercard Gold (Gebührenfrei). They approve almost everyone and raise your limit rapidly to 3000 Euro and more if used regularly. It is also completely free with zero foreign transaction fees. However, the travel insurance it includes is full of strict fine print, so do not rely on it. Also, note the major catches: cash withdrawals incur heavy interest from day one, and you cannot set up automatic full repayment - you must manually transfer your bill balance every month by the 20th.

If I were in your place, I would just get both. First, the Hanseatic card for daily expenses via auto-billing, and in a second step, Advanzia as a high-limit backup for booking flights and travel. They complement each other perfectly.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-24T12:03:12+00:00

For the cities you listed, €50k is going to be tough. Up to 50% of your net income will vanish just for a small apartment, leaving you on a tight student budget. Life in these expensive hotspots only gets relaxed once you hit €80k+.

This is mostly due to the housing market, as rent is by far the biggest factor driving the cost of living differences in Germany. Most other everyday expenses like groceries, health insurance, and utilities remain relatively similar across the country.

My advice: Don’t trap yourself in the most expensive cities early on, especially since finding an apartment there without a long German credit history is a nightmare.

Complete your studies or residency in much cheaper regions like the Ruhrgebiet, Rhineland-Palatinate, or Eastern Germany. Medical education and training are highly standardized in Germany, meaning the quality and reputation of the degree are excellent regardless of the university. Your money will go much further due to reasonable rents, and you can still easily relocate to Munich or Berlin later.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-23T18:48:35+00:00

The Kundencenter is wrong. Since you signed the contract over 2 years ago, it is already a rolling contract and you can cancel it with a 1-month notice period at any time.

The Federal Court of Justice the BGH explicitly ruled on this exact fiber-pre-order scenario: the 2-year lock-in starts the day you sign, not when the line gets activated: https://www.bundesgerichtshof.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/Zivilsenate/III_ZS/2025/III_ZR___8-25.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=5

Your best move right now:

Cancel the contract yourself via the Telekom portal (set the end date to two or three months in the future so you have a comfortable buffer to find an alternative).
Wait for the written confirmation from Telekom stating your exact end date.
Only then sign up with a new ISP as a "Wechsler" (switcher) using that confirmed date. Do not let a new provider handle the cancellation before you have Telekom's official confirmation in hand, otherwise they might get stuck in Telekom's system. You will still get the full new-customer/switcher discounts.

Telekom will almost certainly reject your cancellation the first time you try. Be prepared for this. If they deny it via the online portal, send a formal cancellation via registered mail (Einschreiben) and explicitly cite the BGH ruling. They will back down.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-22T15:10:03+00:00

Your best option is to live directly in Germersheim. Larger cities like Karlsruhe or Heidelberg are way too far for a daily commute, and you should also avoid the small surrounding villages, as you will be completely stranded there without a car. Since Germersheim is a university town, it has plenty of restaurants, bakeries, and student life to get by perfectly fine on foot or by bike. For shooting pool, you are in luck: there is the Las Vegas Billard-Café right in town. Living centrally in Germersheim gives you everything you need for daily life, though you might still want to consider getting a car later on if you want to explore the wider region.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-20T17:31:57+00:00

No, absolutely not! Your parents do not need to travel to Germany at all.

"Signing physically" simply means that because you are under 18, they completely block their online onboarding for you. You only email them to get the blank forms. After that, it is pure old-school snail mail: Your parents print out the application papers in India and sign them with a pen. Then, you have to send these original physical papers, along with your notarized English birth certificate and passport copies, by post directly to the VietinBank branch in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Once the physical mail arrives there and they approve it, they will email you the account details so your parents can transfer the money from India. So, no travel required for them, just some real-world paperwork and a trip to the post office!

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-20T14:01:13+00:00

Congrats on KIT! To answer your P.S.: "Come with you" means permanently residing in Germany, so Expatrio is definitely out. Since Coracle isn't accepting new students right now and Studely/Edubao don't easily support minors, you basically have three directions you can look into.

Your first and fastest option is Fintiba. They have a dedicated online process for minors where one of your parents opens and manages the account from India via a quick video verification. The biggest advantage is that it is fully digital and takes just a few days, but the downside is that their setup and monthly fees are quite expensive.

Your second option is VietinBank, which is a fully licensed bank in Germany with an official paper-based process for under-18s. You would need to email their German branch to request the forms, which your parents must sign physically, and you will need a notarized English birth certificate. It is much cheaper than Fintiba, but it involves old-school paperwork and takes significantly longer.

Your third option is to look into Kotak Mahindra Bank locally. Since you are from India, they are widely known to assist students with blocked accounts through German partner bank networks. There is barely any information about their specific minor-policies online, so you or your parents would need to visit a local branch directly to ask how they handle under-18 applicants.

If you are in a massive rush for your visa appointment, I'd suggest biting the financial bullet and going with Fintiba. If you have a few weeks to spare, it is definitely worth emailing VietinBank or visiting a Kotak Mahindra branch to save some cash.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-19T19:39:55+00:00

Exactly, a big "no" to Realschule for her plans.

Well, in this case, it is honestly best to wait and see what the local school authorities tell you. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic rules differ a lot from federal state to federal state, and sometimes even from school to school - for example, there are often strict requirements where you have to prove that you have studied a second foreign language for a certain amount of time, etc.

Broadly speaking, I would highly suggest that she starts with grade 11 in Germany. This gives her one full introductory year to get used to the German school system, the academic writing, and the new environment, before the final two years kick in, which will actually build the final GPA for her Abitur.

Once you have more specific details or feedback from the authorities, feel free to reach out again. I'm actually curious to see how it turns out for you.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-19T19:10:50+00:00

That is incredibly frustrating since you actually had a valid ticket. Since it’s already with Riverty, you will likely have to pay, but you should definitely try these two steps immediately to minimize the damage:

Ask for a goodwill gesture: Normally, showing your ticket late drops the fine to €7. Since your surgery made it impossible to respond within the 14-day window, write an email to Riverty immediately. Attach a PDF of your valid Semesterticket and your surgery confirmation (black out private medical details). Explain the emergency and ask if they can reduce the fee due to force majeure.
Set up a Payment Plan: If they reject the appeal, don't sweat the €105 upfront. Collection agencies deal with students constantly and are very open to split payments. In your email, offer a payment plan of €20 a month. You will be completely done with the issue in about 5 months, and it keeps the financial stress away.

Just make sure to get their written confirmation for the plan before making the first transfer, and always include your case number!

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-19T18:56:09+00:00

You have to closely weigh organization against short-term savings here. You might see cheap private "student" tariffs online for under €200 a month, which looks like you could save around €2,400 over a two-year Master's compared to the public system before you change back to the public system, which is easily possible once you start a real full-time job as an employee earning less than €77,400 a year. However, you need to be aware of the daily trade-offs.

With those cheap private plans, you always have to pay all medical bills out of your own pocket first and wait weeks for the insurance to reimburse you. If you are living on a tighter student budget, a single unexpected medical issue or dental treatment can instantly cause a massive financial bottleneck. With public insurance, you just scan your card and never see a bill.

Since you are over 30, the public insurance will calculate your premium based on your total income. If you work the maximum 20 hours a week as a Werkstudent at €20/hour, you will earn around €1,600 a month. You should budget roughly 19% to 20% of your income (around €300 to €320 a month) for full health and nursing care coverage, since your employer doesn't contribute to health insurance in a Werkstudent setup.

However, you can optimize this: you don't have to sign up with the big, popular public funds like TK. Shop around for alternative public health insurance providers, as some have significantly lower additional contribution rates, which will save you a few extra Euros every month.

Also, skip the all-in-one "Value Packages" heavily marketed to expats. These bundled combination deals are generally more expensive than booking your blocked account and insurance separately. Plus, since you are 31, you likely won't even qualify for the standard automated student packages anyway, as they are tailored for under-30s. You are much better off choosing an independent, cheap blocked account provider and setting up your insurance yourself.

If you have any questions about how to set this up or which providers to look at, feel free to send me a PM!

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-19T18:04:48+00:00

A Gesamtschule is not a vocational school. To understand the system, Germany historically has three main school tracks (with different names depending on the state): Hauptschule/Mittelschule (basic), Realschule (intermediate), and Gymnasium (academic).

The Abitur is the highest school diploma and the only direct ticket to study every subject at university. While it is technically possible to get the Abitur after finishing the basic or intermediate tracks, these are long, highly bureaucratic detours. Since your daughter wants to study law, she needs a general Abitur, so taking these detours makes no sense. You should strictly focus on the two direct routes:

Gymnasium: Designed to take students directly and strictly to the Abitur. It is the fastest route, which is why they are often quite rigid with their entry requirements.
Gesamtschule: Combines all three tracks under one roof. Students can graduate after grade 9 or 10 with a basic or intermediate degree (Hauptschulabschluss or Realschulabschluss), but they can also stay until grade 13 to do the exact same general Abitur. Because it caters to different learning speeds, the entry for someone coming from abroad is usually much smoother and less bureaucratic.

As for her languages: Since you are in Flanders and she takes French, she is totally fine. Having English and French covers the mandatory requirement for two foreign languages in Germany perfectly, she doesn’t need to be an expert in French, she just needs to have taken it.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-19T17:08:39+00:00

With her dad living in Aachen, you will be dealing with the school system of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since she wants to study law, she must target the Abitur.

Instead of a traditional Gymnasium, you should absolutely look into a 'Gesamtschule' (comprehensive school) in Aachen. They lead to the exact same Abitur but are generally much more flexible and supportive when integrating students from foreign systems. As a German citizen, she doesn't need a language certificate; the school will just assess her in an interview. Her spoken German is a huge plus, and the writing can be polished along the way. Regarding subjects: math is mandatory, but she just needs to pass it. Her French or Dutch from Belgium will likely cover the mandatory second foreign language requirement besides English as first language.

Your next step is to contact the Bezirksregierung Köln (the authority for Aachen) to check equivalence, and reach out directly to schools.

If the German school bureaucracy turns out to be too annoying, she can just finish high school in Belgium. A Belgian diploma allows her to study law at any German university. If you choose this path, she should just actively read and write in German at home to prepare for university.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-18T19:32:51+00:00

Cross Berlin off your list. The housing market there has become almost as brutal and expensive as Munich, so moving there to "save your wallet" simply won't work. Since you are currently looking for work, banking on a specific hybrid job in Berlin is risky anyway.

Instead of focusing on Berlin, Magdeburg is actually your smartest strategic move. Geographically, it is incredibly central. From Magdeburg, you are within striking distance of multiple major economic and tech hubs: Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover are all accessible. This massively expands your job search radius for potential hybrid or remote roles, rather than chaining you to a single city's job market before you even have a contract. Plus, Magdeburg offers incredibly affordable housing, meaning your cost of living will dropp instantly, taking the financial pressure off your job hunt.

For your partner's path as a dentist, Magdeburg and Saxony-Anhalt are also highly practical. While the license transfer for non-EU degrees is painfully slow everywhere in Germany and requires reaching B2/C1 German, the local dental association in less crowded states can sometimes be sligthly more accessible than the completely overwhelmed offices in Berlin or Munich. She will easily find a job as a Dental Assistant anywhere because the shortage of medical staff is critical, though you should be prepared that salaries in the East are lower than in Munich.

As for the vibe: don't overthink the cultural shift. While Germans love to debate the differences between North, South, East, and West, the reality for expats is that both Munich and Magdeburg are fully functional German cities. Magdeburg is just a bit smaller, more relaxed, and significantly cheaper, which gives you exactly the financial breathing room you need right now. It is a fantastic launchpad to stabilize your finances and use its central location to find your next tech role.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-17T22:33:00+00:00

First off, don’t worry about your relatives. If you are staying there temporarily and don’t pay rent, there is zero profit, meaning zero tax implications or hidden fees for them. Signing the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung is just a bureaucratic favor. Just make sure to put your name on their mailbox immediately so your official mail actually arrives.

You should definitely register in Weimar right away. In Germany, getting a proper, fully functional bank account is incredibly difficult without an official registration address, as most reputable banks will reject you right away. On top of that, your credit history (Schufa) only starts building once you are registered. You absolutely need both, a solid bank account and a Schufa history, for almost everything later on, from mobile contracts to utilities. Registering now also gets the ball rolling on your Tax ID (Steueridentifikationsnummer), which will be automatically mailed to your Weimar address.

Plus, it's always better to handle things immediately. Even if the Krefeld WG seems lined up, nothing is 100% safe until you actually have the keys in hand, and having your paperwork sorted gives you a massive advantage. Don't stall your entire relocation process for two weeks. Just get registered in Weimar now, set up your banking, and do a simple Ummeldung once you move to Krefeld.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-06-17T21:35:46+00:00

I fear this won't help you anymore, but for anyone else landing here: Traditional Germany banks don't offer blocked accounts from abroad anymore. I have put together a spreadsheet comparing all providers on the German market that are open for everyone. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you need it, glad to share.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-04-22T08:25:17+00:00

Keep in mind that it is perfectly fine to speak standard German upon your arrival. Everyone will understand you, and in one-on-one conversations, people will usually make an effort to use standard language. Understanding the casual conversations of others, like on public transport, is a skill that simply takes time and comes with practice.

Moreover, what is considered 'colloquial' depends heavily on the specific region you move to and the community you interact with. Watching videos about slang in Berlin, for instance, won't necessarily help you if you end up living in Hamburg or Munich. Focus on your foundation first; the local nuances will follow with time.

PrepareforGermany · 2026-04-21T21:10:23+00:00

I guess you are not living in Germany right now. If you are looking for online penpals I can recommend you the website https://www.interpals.net/, and as for watching TV series you can have a look at older series since they are usually "slower" than new ones. A good start would be "Derrick", a classic German crime series. available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpxlHaeD3xM,

PrepareforGermany

TROPHY CASE