Getting my SO to Germany

[Anoulie]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping you might have some advice for us. My SO and I want to close the distance in a year or two and are wondering how to make that work without getting married right before his 90-day tourist visa expires. He's an American and I'm German. One option I've found is enrolling him in college here, which would be kinda hard to do (he'd have to be fairly good at German, take the SAT and/or ACT... besides, he's not super keen on it anyway) but it would get him a visa. Germans are generally really eager to acquire more STEM people (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but unfortunately, none of those fields interest him (he's more into art/music), so that would be difficult as well.
Does anyone have any experience with getting an American person a visa? Was it difficult/how did you do it/what other options would there be? Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you! Katie

P.S. My SO has an account on here, too, so: Hi!

[snow_girl]

He could be an au pair, that would get him a year visa.

[Tooki]

He could be an au pair, that would get him a year visa.

That's the first thing that came to my mind. I would also look into volunteering programs. They will cost your SO some money upfront but he will get free accommodation/food and he may even enjoy the experience.

[mllebamako]

What about teaching English? I don't know if the government has any sort of programs for that (like the French) or he could do a TEFL course and find a job through a school in your town.

[Anoulie]

That sounds good; I hadn't even thought about that! Not sure if he would like to do that, but it's definitely a possibility. The thing's just that it'd have to be close to my city and he should have enough free time to hang out with me (boy, am I needy or what ) so we can see if getting married would be feasible. I'll link him to this thread. Thanks, guys! If anyone else has anything to say, go ahead

EDIT: Not sure about teaching English; the market for English teachers is really oversaturated here. He might be able to be a teaching assistant, though -- I've heard of people doing that. He might need qualifications... I'll have to Google that.

[snow_girl]

EDIT: Not sure about teaching English; the market for English teachers is really oversaturated here. He might be able to be a teaching assistant, though -- I've heard of people doing that. He might need qualifications... I'll have to Google that.

Everyone learns English in school anyway now don't they?

[Anoulie]

Yes. And people enjoying learning English in school, so they want to teach it, so there's hardly any jobs for English teachers anymore. And SO never went to college, so that doesn't help either. Anyway, I'll talk to him whenever he's back online.

[snow]

If not in school, try an english kindergarten/pre school!
A friend of mine brought her SO from scotland to Austria and he found a job at an english kindergarten within a month and when he quit there he found another one right away.
Atleast in Austria native speakers are very welcome in schools (however they require you to learn german on your own in paig programs!)

[Kiyama]

I know a few Americans/Canadians who work as freelance English teachers. There are many language schools that always look for native speakers (who never taught before). A freelance visa isn't too difficult to get as long as you can prove that you will earn enough with your courses.

[Jay Tholen]

Hello! I'm the SO. Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm definitely doing what I can to learn the language before heading abroad.

I know a few Americans/Canadians who work as freelance English teachers. There are many language schools that always look for native speakers (who never taught before). A freelance visa isn't too difficult to get as long as you can prove that you will earn enough with your courses.

A freelance visa seems like the way to go since my short term plans involve taking more contract/freelance work anyway.

[LDLovebird]

HI. Interesting topic. I thought a visitor visa would last for three months. Isn´t it possible to marry right away or in the USA maybe even and then he could move back with you? I will have the same issue next year. But I hope my SO will find a job with a workrelated visa, because we cannot get married right away unfortunately.