禁漫天堂

The English word "freelancer" and the German "Freiberufler" are NOT the same - although they are often (wrongly) used interchangeably in translations.

"Freiberufler" applies onlyto a small number of professions, as listed on this page (in German only):

Marketing consultants and similar professions are NOT among them.

All other professions must, if they want to be self-employed, register a business. This is mainly a difference in level of administration and taxation, but also possible.

What all this means for visa purposes is a good question. If you find out more, please post it here, for the benefit of all readers!

However, one warning: Being self-employed (whether freelance or not) in Germany involves a lot of buerocracy, carried out in difficult German language, and errors are penalized heavily.

If you are not fluent in German, you are likely to have to engage professional services for business registration, accountancy and taxation. The associated fees unfortunately make most such ideas unattractive in financial terms. In addition, good German is required for networking and generating business leads. For that reason, there are very few non-EU self-employed people coming here.

Like Beppi mentioned, the German Freiber眉fler does NOT mean freelancer, although many but not all Freiber眉fler are freelancers. Freiber眉fler are specific jobs that are allowed without requiring a commercial license; artists, journalists etc. A marketing consultant will almost certainly not be considered a Freiber眉fler but聽 need a trade license or 鈥淕ewerbeschein鈥�.

Usually one immigrates through getting a job with an employer willing to take the extra risk, cost and effort to recruit someone; only going to happen if they have highly demanded skills and this usually includes a high level of German language.

Being a freelancer basically means starting your own service business. They will want to see a business plan indicating a good chance of success. One should have proper capitalization to acquire any needed office space , equipment, budget for tax and legal services and cover operating expenses 鈥� all of which are usually are more than the initial income in the first couple of years.

But a very high percentage of self-employed or small business owners fail 鈥� and those are locals who speak the language. For a foreigner it is much harder. Do you not only know the business field well but the local conditions and workings? Do you have a command of German and have business connections already? If you think you can show up and do such a business in English then you are mistaken. Having good English and/or other languages is a plus but only in addition, not as an alternative to German. There is no legal requirement to the level of German in marketing as there is in say medical or legal related fields but for all practical purposes one has no chance without it.

And who should your clients be? Most companies needing marketing services have their own marketing departments - or go to big firms with a well-known reputation. They don鈥檛 likely hire a small operation especially one run by a newly arrived foreigner.

Most people hoping to work in this field would first find a job with a marketing firm and possibly after some years of really getting to know the local markets try to go out on their own with a start-up.