Why some skilled immigrants are leaving Germany | DW News

The German government says skilled immigrants could help the country fill its labor shortage. But while laws have changed to make the country more welcoming, the reality is that skilled immigrants are struggling to make it in the country. And some are even choosing to leave.

00:00 Is Germany attractive enough?
02:41 Bureaucracy struggles
04:40 Language barrier
06:13 Worker shortage
10:41 EU Blue Card
12:00 Career opportunities
13:09 Taxation
15:30 Recommendations

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[Celoxocis]

More skilled labors will be leaving Germany. My brother a senior softwares engineer already decided to leave Germany due to unbearable high cost for living and unable to afford a house for his wife and two daughters working overtime. IT companies in Germany do NOT pay US IT salary jobs. Me and my wife also decided for the sake of our daughters future to leave Germany for Poland in the next years. Poland has a bright future ahead and has become a central IT hub for US and Europe. Germany has nothing left to offer but high taxes, high cost of living, a bad and outdated retirement system, analog burocracy, no digital progress. I could go on and on. If you think to come to Germany as a skilled worked, DON'T, there are better alternative countries to choose from!

[KarolyHeinrich]

high taxes, unbearable housing costs, low salaries and the people… so no surprise

[rytiss.]

Wages are low, living cost are high. It's as simple as that.

[AdnanIB]

Germany dont have any facilities for Skilled People, after working for 3.5 years in a good position, Finally I'm moving out next month.
German system is build for unskilled asylum seekers (both legal and illegal ones)

[TheShawMustGoOn]

1. German companies expect people to speak C1 Deutsch out of college. Which is not only unreasonable but also impossible unless a student only studied German and not their subject matter.
2. The companies are still milking COVID and the war in Ukraine as excuses to not hire enough people while the pool of recent graduates is increasing.
3. People with specialised degrees are unemployed.

Germany doesn't need immigration for skilled labour. It needs to change it's corporate mindset and be more welcoming and understanding of the non-Germans. Sure people need to learn your language but that doesn't mean that they'll land here, eat currywurst and immidiately start speaking the local dialect. You've to be patient and give them time, which they simply don't want to give.

And don't get me started on the meagre salary. It's insulting.

[davidmaisel]

Hi Germany, please stop putting advertisements for trained medical staff in Brazil. We have critical staff shortages here, and your nation doesn't provide security for our nationals and their families.

[buddy]

There is no skilled labour shortage in Europe, there is a shortage of skilled labour willing to work for little money.
Companies are pressuring governments to bring in cheaper labour to decrease wages (and increase unemployment but companies don't care about that)

[slowmotion]

it's a lie, Germany doesn't need any workers because there are no jobs to begin with. yes there are few jobs but they expect you to speak fluent German even if it's an IT job, and the salaries are miserable too, on top of that you will be taxed at 40% or even 45%

[tondazu]

1. People are not so nice
2. Housing costs are high
3. Services are of poor quality but expensive
4. Burocracy
5. In Germany everyday life can be boring

[Beast-rtjc]

The title should be "Skilled Immigrants to help keep German wages low?"

I don't understand, just train your own people in your country. Give your people something to work towards, 2nd lowest homeownership rate in Europe.

[EnterSpacebar]

I left Germany after 5 long years. Despite having a Blau Karte, a salary of €86, 000 and eligibility for the EU long term residence permit, I just couldn't stand the retarded bureaucracy, extremely inefficient systems, long waiting times for everything, the refusal of many businesses and service providers to even adopt English as an option, the dull cities, crazy real estate prices and a lot more. People were generally nice, but it wasn't too difficult to come across the nasty ones, especially in the service sector. Service, even with high prices, absolutely sucks in Germany, like the complete opposite of Asia.

I didn't even apply for the EU residence permit because I couldn't bother with German B1. I speak 6 languages, so learning isn't an issue for me. My heart was just never in Germany, and it never felt like home at all.

In Germany, there's a shortage of everything, except attitude.

[sebastianyepes]

I have been living in Germany since 6 years and so far I have 1 German friend 😂, probably I'll get a new one in the next six years

[ashwath]

I just moved back to the US after 2 years in Berlin.

I spoke a little German, did my best to integrate into the city culture and gave it my best shot.

Berlin is very interesting, food scene and summer scene is great! We loved the city.

We left because all the “free” services were extremely inconvenient to access, housing is very difficult and very expensive for new immigrants, I experienced quite a bit of racism.

Overall I have lived and worked in several cities in several countries, Germany did not feel friendly towards me in spite of my best efforts. I had the privilege of choice so I left.

[TheAdriZam]

This is all politcally driven. There are actually very few jobs available. There are hundred of applications at very job ad posted by all the companies I know. I keep asking HR people, where are all these advertised jobs in channels like this? Can DW actually make a study on this? I literally know also many German students who struggle on getting their first jobs, taking up to 1 year.. DW please explain this huge discrepancy

[davidgarcia]

We are needed but not wanted. As easy as that.

[eliotness]

I have the same salary in Poland as in Germany. work the same. company the same. salary the same. but cost of living in Germany much much more. the same food in Poland in Lidl cheaper than in Germany for 15-20%. so why to go in Germany? no reason

[Andrew-qsfw]

My fellow non-Germans….Don’t make the mistake of coming to Germany right now. The country will sooner or later have a crisis due to its politics and their companies falling behind in competitiveness due to incompetence and arrogance. Instead of blaming themselves, they will blame immigrants, including you. Also, if you are a qualified foreigner, you will have to come to terms with being a second class resident, watching how natives enjoy their life and expect you to do their work. Only “luxury jobs” with a strong union like IG Metall will ensure you a fair treatment. But most of these jobs are occupied by 55+ yo people that are waiting for retirement without innovating or contributing absolutely nothing to their company.
The woman in the video is happy because she married a local (for love of course). With her low salary as a nurse she would be absolutely miserable and lonely. The Indian guy has a family, and well, he comes from India.

[bifdiogo]

I am a senior developer from Brazil living in Berlin since 2022, I have lots of friends from other countries too and the most frequent complainings are about the inflation on living costs, mainly about how hard and expensive it is to get a decent place here. There is a feeling that people are not feeling that safe here too, but still safer than most of other countries around the world.
At the end, money talks louder. If you are having a good life and are being able to save something you feel great, if you are just living to cover the expenses the small things starts to feel bigger than they are.

[cw_edits]

But you need to speak the language and you need to be a rocket scientist for them to even consider your application.

[raymond]

All the concerns and problems addressed in the video are very legit and true. The root of them is that german government just simply don't care how immigrants feel and they don't appreciate how diversity could benefit the country. There's a template-like-german-way is expected everyone should be alike in that way. Somehow they still don't see the issues and super proud of their approach.