The miserable life living in Germany that

you need to know about

The line outside the German visa office at 3am. Only walk-in appointments due to the super
high-tech appointment website in 2015.

Never in my life had I imagined I’d live in Europe. But in trying to escape living with my
abusive hoarder dad, being told all my life that Malaysia is a hell hole that I needed to
escape from in general, and being tired of the US immigration system’s difficulty, I found
myself living in Germany for a good amount of time. Since the early 2010’s, it has
actually been incredibly easy to enter Germany, either as a student or worker, and
attain German permanent residence shortly after. As I later would discover, there’s good
reason why Germany doesn’t have skilled immigrants lining up at its door…

I could literally write a book about this but here are the points in brief. The gist of it, or
TL;DR, is if Germany (and really, Europe in general) is somehow on your radar as a
place to move to, seriously reconsider your options.

July 2020 / Page 1

BS you'll hear about Germany
1. Everyone speaks English: You'll hear that Germans are all taught English as a
second or third language in school and it's hard to learn German on arrival
because everyone will want to speak with you in English. Coming from Malaysia,
a country which makes white people ask "so where'd you learn how to speak
English?", I can say a LOT more Malaysians speak English, and at a better level
while at it, than Germans.
2. You only need English to get around: This is like the "free giveaway" shops
sell you on in their flyers, only for you to go there and find out "free" isn't really
free but requires a minimum purchase before you qualify. People in major
restaurants and retail shops are the only guaranteed English speakers. For the
rest of daily life, it's a hit or miss (mostly miss - no English for you). Including but
not limited to landlords, government service officials (including the immigration
office that issues visas to foreigners), service people you deal with (such as
banks/credit card companies, dry cleaners, apartment maintenance, customer
support from online shops, etc), basically everything else that isn't a major
restaurant or shop.
3. Lots of job opportunities: There's some truth to this if you're in the narrow
group of people with 2 to 10 years of working experience, so you're neither
competing with the swarm of fresh local graduates nor excluded from super high-
level positions because you're not white and/or German/European. This is
because:
o About all entry-level jobs require fluent German, especially office jobs that
pay a decent salary (35,000 EUR and above before taxes). You stand no
chance if you're a non-EU foreigner who graduated outside of Germany
for these kinds of jobs because priority is given to local Germans, local
Europeans, and international students who graduated with a German
degree.
o With 2 to 10 years of working experience, one can kinda by-pass the
German language requirement for a job and likely qualify for an EU Blue
Card visa, based on a minimum salary, so parity with local candidates is
less of an issue. However, it is still not a walk in the park.
o The job hunt in Germany at any level for someone who wants to work in
English is frustrating because there are lots of job ads that are written
entirely in English, and you spend the time clicking and skimming through
it, only to find a point buried at the end that says "fluent or close to native
German required".
o Foreigners tend to hit a hard ceiling in their career in Germany as early as
40 years old. High-level jobs that pay 100k to 150k EUR are difficult to get
but still possible, but to break into upper management and above is just
about impossible (especially relative to the US and Asia, which have tons
of Indian C-levels and white C-levels respectively). Those positions and
their 150k EUR or higher salaries are reserved almost exclusively for
Germans (and to a lesser extent, other Europeans. Seems some

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 companies like to have a token Italian or French senior manager to show
"diversity!!!!")
4. Come for the free education, in English! I noticed that European countries
have doubled down their efforts at recruiting international students since the early
2010's. Germany has been touting free education for international students in all
but one state (and even then, 1.5k EUR per semester tuition is still dirt cheap
versus the typical 15 to 30k figures in the US, UK and Australia). They also boast
about various programs and their classes being available in mostly or entirely
English. Here's what they don't tell you (disclaimer: I did my bachelor's in the US,
but this is what I've gathered and verified through multiple international students
in Germany who were doing their bachelor's):
o There is no obligation to offer all the classes, let alone in English, every
semester. So if a class that fulfills a graduation requirement is offered in
English only once a year and you missed it, too bad for you. You either
have to take an equivalent class in German (too bad for you if your
German isn't at that level) or delay your graduation until you can take the
class offered in English (too bad for you)
o The "not my problem" culture is hugely prevalent in society but particularly
the university system because nobody is paying the university on an
individual level (unlike in the US, UK and Australia where students get to
complain and be heard occasionally because they're "paying customers").
The above point is an illustration of just one example.
o If you're doing a bachelor's degree, you most likely don't have any work
experience or other higher education, then the unseen cost is time. You
WILL have to learn German to get a job because, as mentioned above, an
overwhelming majority of fresh grad jobs require German at a near-native
fluent level (learning the language to that level is typically a 2 year task on
its own).
5. Great work-life balance. This is absolutely true if you land a job at the right
company, with sane management that focuses on work done over time spent at
office. However, this is also a feature in every single country, including those with
nasty workaholic reputations like the US and Singapore! On the flip side of the
table, there are plenty of terrible jobs that work you like a dog and expect unpaid
overtime in Germany. But of course, most people will never tell you that!
o Most foreigners will work in more "diverse" companies for a variety of
reasons (e.g. tendency to move to the main cities, language, etc) which
means either multinational corporations or startups.
o I can tell you there's a lot of companies, particularly in startups, in
Germany that are terrible and have toxicity that's on par with the
"Chinaman companies" in Malaysia/Singapore. One particular company I
worked for (a 15-year-old "startup" of 300 employees) matched the
description of a stereotypical Chinaman company above, point for point.
And yes, it was 100% German - a German company, founded by
Germans, all-German senior management (because I've been asked
before if it was an Asian company or run by Asians that happened to be in
Germany).

July 2020 / Page 3

 o Despite touting excellent employee rights, many of these toxic companies
have a "hire and fire" culture anyway and break a lot of laws (and get
away with it... so much for the "rule based society" eh?). They thrive on
taking advantage of young and naive people, especially foreigners from
outside the EU, who usually have no clue about their rights and/or are
afraid of losing their visa status.
o Describing said crappy companies requires at least another 10,000 words
(I'm not joking) but my personal experience is I've been let go from 2
companies in Germany before and, to their surprise because I'm young
AND non-EU, I sued them in court for unfair dismissal.
o I won both times but it has not deterred either company from continuing
the same practices till today (based on what I hear from ex-colleagues
who are still at the companies). After all, the chances of someone suing
them is low - usually people chicken out when they're brought into the
meeting room with HR in it and sign away their rights in the "mutual
dismissal agreement" sheet in return for 1 or 2 months' pay. Even if they're
sued, they don't lose a lot of money - I estimate each company that I sued
was out 15-25k EUR maximum, including settlement payment, lawyer and
court fees.
6. Lots of bureaucracy... and that's good because there's a process for
everything (as the shills will try to argue). No, it's actually bad because first off,
many rules are severely outdated (conceived as long as over 100 years ago!)
and for most part, they serve as guidelines.
o Germans typically use "but it says so in some obscure part of the rules
that are dozens of pages long" as a get-out-of-jail-free card to shrug it off
as "your problem" for not following the rules.
o The reality is the rules really are bendable but it depends on the person's
face (basically, just like Malaysia). If the person serving you likes your face
(better to be white, sometimes they make a pass if you're Asian because
of "hardworking" stereotypes, but almost no chance for those with darker
skin), then there may be a chance they'll let things slide or go easy on you
if you forget a requirement or two.
o Nearly everything has to be done in-person and on paper. Forget about
getting much or anything done online!
o Back when I was applying for grad school in Germany in 2014, the
process I had to go through on "Uni Assist" (a central application website
for many German universities) was fill up and submit the online form,
receive a "summary" of everything I had just submitted and had to print
out everything (yes, literally print out... onto paper) and then physically
mail the results of what I had just filled AND SUBMITTED on the website
to Germany. Rinse and repeat for each and every application to a different
university. I spent about 1,000 MYR (~250 USD at the time) on FedEx
alone! In hindsight, I was very stupid to not see this as a massive red flag
on how Germany actually works compared to the nice and pretty picture
everyone loves to paint about it online.

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 7. Free healthcare, free education, free free free! Absolute bullshit because none
of that is really free, but baked into the taxes. That's why when your pre-tax
salary is 60,000 EUR a year or 5,000 EUR a month, the amount that goes into
your bank account (post-tax) is 2,9xx EUR! A whopping 40% chopped right off.
The "free healthcare" parroting really triggers me in particular because there is
literally a (mandatory and around 7-8% of your salary) health insurance payment
stated on everyone's payslip (denoted as "KV" on the payslip, which stands for
Krankenversicherung, which is "health insurance" in German). Why is
misinformation like this so widespread? It's as if all the people saying it have
never worked a single day in their lives and therefore have never seen a payslip
before.

I don't have an issue with Germany having downsides in daily life because every
country has its own set of problems. What's really appalling is the massive push of
misinformation that only highlights the positives of a country and just outright burying
the downsides (not even downplaying).

6 of the 7 points above were exactly what sold me on moving to Germany in 2014. I'm
the type of person who likes doing a lot of research and frankly I could barely find any
"negative reviews" of Germany and could only find upsides. And I'll openly admit it once
again - moving to Germany was the biggest mistake and waste of my life I have ever
made so far (though I'm not that old) and by writing my honest review, I hope to help
save someone else the trouble and misery I had gone through.

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General life in Germany
Also, have a few facts about how life actually is.

1. Massive dating racism: Since I'm an Asian guy, the first thing I need to warn
you if you're also a minority dude reading this is that the dating life is absolutely
MISERABLE in Germany. If you're single upon arrival to Germany/Europe, the
chances are high that you'll stay that way until you leave. This is a big issue and
actually a primary motivator for me to leave. People have tried to gaslight me into
believing I just needed to write my profile better, put better photos of myself or
partake in more activities in-person... until I tried putting my profile up in SEA
where I had matches rolling in every 3-4 days, while I could go for MONTHS in
Germany without a single match.
2. Backward and monotonous: Locals like to call it "relaxing and cultured"
especially in comparison to those boorish Americans, but if you come from the
competitive, big city life of America or Asia, it's horribly boring and backwards.
Many establishments are cash only. Everything closes around 8pm +/- 1 hour in
the city areas, can't imagine what life in a small town is like. Nightlife is
exclusively drinking and smoking (with majority of bars allowing smoking indoors,
very nice!)
3. Home of the world's rudest customer service: To add to the above, there's a
non-insignificant number of Germans who are an absolutely miserable bunch
(the German friends I have concur) - and you'll find many of them working in the
businesses that you will patronize in daily life. They're spiteful, rude and honestly
just give off the feeling that they hate their job and the customers they're
supposed to serve to the deepest level. If you hate your job and/or dealing with
people so much, then just quit. But they won't. In Germany, customer service
scolds YOU.
4. Scams all around: While Europeans are quick to boast about the lack of guns
and shootings (Wow, how amazing...not. As a paranoid person, I lived for years
in America just fine, without the fear of getting shot ever on my mind), they rarely
tell you about the petty crime that's rampant on their own continent and arguably
even more irritating. And I'm not talking about just pickpockets, beggars and
small timers - I have been scammed more times by businesses in Germany more
than I ever have living in Malaysia which, remember, has Le 3rd World
Stereotype and is supposed to be worse.
o Again I'll need a lot more words and will go into the details in a separate
article, but I've been accused of damaging items and therefore denied to
return them for a refund (one was a clothing article, the other was an
electronic item), scammed by a car dealer (false accusation of damaging a
rim during a test drive) and car rental company (car was vandalized in the
parking lot after return but somehow that still was 'my fault' because I was
the last person who rented the vehicle)
5. Visa office: As a foreigner in Germany, you will have to deal with the
immigration office quite a bit and it's a load of fun! (Wow am I glad I don't have to
deal with that crap any more!)

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 o At the time, I had gone to Germany just at the start of their 2015 refugee
crisis, the website constantly showed no free appointment slots for
everyone (back then, some said it was due to the overload caused by the
refugees, some said it was because the website was functionally broken
to begin with).
o Because you had to get a "proper" student visa after arrival in Germany
(this can only be done in-person, in Germany... which is the opposite of
US, Canada, Australia, etc which tend to expect you to get a visa from
their embassies BEFORE arriving in the country) and by a certain
timeframe (even if there was no deadline, it was hard to get anything done
like get an apartment rental contract), the only thing my friends and I could
do was go to the visa office at 3 am (there were already 11 people ahead
of us at 3am...) and queue up until the office opened at 7 or 8 am.
o For a government office that deals exclusively with FOREIGNERS, you'd
think the staff would speak at least English. But no, most of them only
spoke German and some of them gave my friends a VERY hard time (not
just because they didn't speak the language, but apparently also because
"oh look, more immigrants entering the country"). I was lucky enough to
have gotten a friendly lady and all the required docs ready, so there were
very few words that needed to be exchanged.
o Referring back to point 6 of the previous section, Germans love to tout
how there are rules for everything but funny enough, you're welcomed with
a prime example of "face judging" early on in the visa office. My friends
and I found it really weird that we all brought the same documents, had
the same "blocked account" deposit amount (proof of being able to pay for
cost of living), were studying at the same university, for the exact same
program at the same time... yet me as a Malaysian and a girl from Hong
Kong received visas valid for over a year (!) after the month we would
graduate, while the Indians and South Americans received visas that were
valid only until the month of graduation itself (we can only guess what the
variable is here...)

Europeans get defensive

Almost every single time I've made the facts above known, any European who hears it
will immediately jump to refute the claims. And literally every single time, their counter is
an ad hominem - which isn't even a counter-argument.

Their "comebacks" don't attack my points (or even bother to address them really) but
just jump right to a false conclusion and attack me as a person. Here are some
examples:

• I am German and have never heard of such experiences ever, therefore what
you're saying must be false and doesn't exist.

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 • Obviously you are the troublemaker, that's why you got scammed/dismissed/etc.
• That is just your experience and it doesn't happen to anyone else.
• It works differently in America (for some reason, people always assume you're
American on the internet if you're critical of Europe) so your expectations cannot
be the same while in Germany (oh so it's unrealistic expectations to NOT get
scammed or calling out the blatantly false lies about how fantastic
Germany/Europe is that are spread across the Internet?)
• Spin doctor statement of highlighting the positive things about Europe and
chalking up said incidents to be a way that life works. For instance, if you were to
point out how backwards the cash only culture is, the spin doctors will tell you
that Germans value privacy so much (yeah I'm sure they do, since many of them
share their full birthdate and entire history down to which kindergarten they went
to on Xing, the German alternative to LinkedIn!) that they refuse to be tracked via
their purchases they put on a credit card or debit card. And the "cash only"
culture definitely has nothing to do with tax avoidance and money laundering -
especially not with the income taxes taking anywhere from a third to half of your
income away. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with that!

My advice
Since my target audience are Malaysians, Singaporeans and other Asians who have
been ingrained with "Western countries = more betterer and developed" perception, my
advice is to seriously reconsider if you are thinking of moving to Germany or Europe for
a "better life".

Seriously, I grew up being told for over 20 years that Malaysia is a third-world,
developing trash country that I needed to escape from, only to discover that Germany is
far worse!

And really that isn't my gripe with Germany and Europe at all - there is no perfect
country and every country has its flaws. By moving, you're just trading one set of
problems for another. The real issue I have is the massive push of a false narrative
that it's oh-so-much-better-in-Europe combined with the active denial of flaws
when they're pointed out.

More people need to come out with the truth of what Europe really is like, because the
praises of perfection are just too good to be true. You frequently read about the bad
things in America (guns and violence, healthcare that makes you go bankrupt, no
workers rights, no days off, at-will employment!), Asia (overcrowded cities, expensive
property, scammers and gold diggers, workaholic culture!) and Australia (expensive, far
away from the world and boring, skin cancer, red necks!)... but isn't is suspicious when
you look for the downsides of Europe and you're met with "it's fantastic, nothing bad
really". Even the refugee problem has already been swiftly swept under the rug and you
rarely hear about it in mainstream media.

July 2020 / Page 8