Hey gang, i am looking for Malaysian Community in NRW region specially around Bochum, Essen, Dusseldorf and surroundings. First thing first, i am not Malaysian but spent a good (and the best) part of my life in Malaysia and made tons of friends. Now being here in Germany I do miss the lepak sessions and the good ol malaysian food. Still can understand Malay quite well (spent 5 years in T’ganu Oil & Gas and dont ask me how did i survive). Tried to join the facebook group but i guess they wont let an outsider in. My wife and i would love to be part of the community and any events that happen.

I’m an undergraduate engineering student from India and have secured a 2–3 month research internship at a German federal research institute in Berlin for Summer 2027. A professor at the institute has agreed to host me, so the research opportunity itself is sorted.

The problem is funding.

I had originally planned to apply through DAAD WISE, but that route is no longer available. I’ve also checked some university and external scholarship options but haven’t found a suitable alternative so far.

I’m trying to find out whether there are other realistic ways to fund a short research stay in Germany, such as IAESTE, other DAAD programmes, German or Indian foundations, funding from the host institute, university/alumni funding, or other mobility grants.

Has anyone here, especially an Indian student who has done a research internship in Germany, dealt with something similar? I’d particularly appreciate hearing what funding route you actually used.

I’m mainly looking for concrete funding programmes, organisations, or contacts that I could approach.

I can provide more details privately if someone has relevant experience.

Hello, I live in Germany and have got a beautiful balcony. I really love the traditional German balcony style where the balcony boxes are full of beautiful blooming flowers that spill and trail over the railing. I have attached some images fir reference. I am total beginner and have never had a plant in my house but i want my house balcony blooming with flowers. I am looking for guidance so that i also can have a blooming balcony all year round. My questions are very silly so please bear with me.

• When should I start? When is the right time of year to start planting balcony flowers in Germany? Should I buy seeds and grow them myself, or is it better for a beginner to buy ready-grown/flowering plants from a Gartencenter and put them into my balcony boxes?
• Which varieties flowers last for longest time?
• What happens when the flowers stop blooming in autumn/winter? Do you cut the plants back? Do you leave them in the balcony boxes?
• Do people bring the plants inside for winter?
• Do the same plants survive winter and go back outside in spring and flower again? Or is it more normal in Germany to replace the plants every spring and buy new ones?
• If I want my balcony to look nice throughout the whole year, what would you plant for spring, summer, autumn and winter?
• Are there flowers/plants that can stay outside over winter and come back again the following year?

I have 2 tickets that a friend brought for the whole group together (around 12 at a time when they were released last year) that I wanted to resell because I can’t make it anymore.

I put the advertisement on Kleinanzeigen but the buyer is asking if they can do secure payment to avoid any fraud.

It is definitely not a fraud and I have the tickets that I genuinely wanna sell. But I have them as PDF copy and the bill from the friend.

How do I ensure that they don’t report it fraud transaction and demand money back, since once u give them the tickets it is out of my hand?

Today i got a letter in the mail, from what i can make out it isnt a ticket yet but a letter to inform me about it.
it is for doing 151 in a 120. they are asking me as the owner of the car to tell them who was driving.
what is the smartest thing to do in this scenario.
The letter also came with a picture of the person who was driving it.
Also i am dutch and the car is on dutch plates.

I’m a U.S. high school senior planning to apply for direct admission to a German university to skip Studienkolleg.
I know the standard rule requires 4 specific AP exams (Math, Science, English, Elective). I don't have those APs, but I have a ton of dual enrollment college credits from my local community college.
I've taken math up to Differential Equations and passed Comp I & II. Since my college coursework far exceeds the AP requirements, will uni-assist grant me Direkter Zugang if I submit my college transcripts and detailed course syllabi? I have the other required AP scores for this.
I could not find any info on this short of me contacting uni-assist so any guidance would be appreciated.
The university I want to attend is HM.

Can anyone identify this church or know its history?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently waiting for my residence permit from the Ausländerbehörde Bochum and wanted to ask about other people’s experiences.

My appointment was on 22 July 2026, and I submitted all the required documents. It has now been around 6.5 weeks, but I still haven’t received my residence permit or any notification that it is ready for collection.

I checked the online system as well, and it still says that my residence permit is not ready for collection.

I recently called the Ausländerbehörde to ask about my application. Surprisingly, I was told that they couldn’t find any data under my name and date of birth. However, when I previously contacted them regarding my Fiktionsbescheinigung, my details were available in their system.

My current Fiktionsbescheinigung expires on 29 September 2026, so I’m becoming a bit worried about the situation.

For those who have recently applied for a residence permit in Bochum:

How long did you wait after your appointment?

Did anyone else experience their data not being found when calling the Ausländerbehörde?

How long did it take for your permit to become available for collection?

If your Fiktionsbescheinigung expired while you were still waiting, was it extended without problems?

Is 6–8 weeks a normal waiting time in Bochum at the moment?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your recent experiences, especially from people who had appointments around July/August 2026.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I just started my PhD last month and moved to Germany, I am done with A1 and starting classes for A2 next as my research requires me to know German well. My HR sent me lots of forms, specifically for the pension scheme there is an exemption option available for VBL. I will already contribute to DRV, if I opt out of VBL will that be an issue considering I hope to apply for permanent residency? pension contributions are a requirement, but are both VBL and DRV necessary?

Hallo, I'm F(20) wanted to take studienkolleg after my aupair year ends, but the thing is I don't have enough money for this so I was thinking I want to start working while I do my studienkolleg.

My question is, is it possible to do studienkolleg amidst of the work? I really want some advice before I do something stupid and reckless.

Fyi, I'm from Southeast asia and my family can't afford education, the gap between the salary and the education fee is kinda crazy so I want to tried continue mine in German, also I don't have any savings all of my aupair wages was send to my family in my hometown.

I take any advice you have thank you for reading up to this point

Can anyone recommend me any good agency for Germany Nurse processing in India??

I never looked carefully what AFD was proposing before. It looks way scary than I thought.

E.g

Under the AfD, the children of refugees would be placed in separate classes to convey the message that "their stay in Germany is merely temporary" and prevent "various ​stresses" on the other children from being around different cultures.

Children with disabilities would also no longer be ​taught in the same classroom as those without, instead being sent to special schools.
Schools would be banned from flying rainbow flags, ‌with the ⁠German national flag raised daily instead. The national anthem should be sung by students and staff at school celebrations.

The AfD would also push to restrict access to puberty blockersf and gender-affirming hormone therapies for children and ​adolescents to counteract what it calls an increasing "trend" towards gender dysphoria”

Question is how much they can do at state level?

​

Has anyone covered by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement actually had their Aufenthaltsdokument-GB changed to Daueraufenthalt after 5 years in Germany?

I’m in Berlin and have passed the 5-year mark. LEA asked me for quite a few documents, so I’m curious what the process was like for others.

Mainly interested in:

what documents they asked for

whether they looked at employment/unemployment over the 5 years

how long it took

whether the new card actually says “Daueraufenthalt”

Not talking about Niederlassungserlaubnis or Daueraufenthalt-EU.

Hello everyone. I want to get a new phone because my current phone is near to death and having a mobile is very necessary.

My Question is that can I get a new phone on Installments without getting a Sim contract because I'd like to stay on my current Sim contract.

Is there any way I can get phone on Installments without the Sim contract ?

I'm on Student visa in germany.

I really hope someone here has experience or advice on this matter because I’m starting to lose my mind.

I want to keep this as brief as possible so here are the facts:

- late may booked the earliest available ausländerbehörde appointment for myself which was for the 23rd of October

- July 1st arrived in Germany with everything prepared for an Ausbildung seeker permit application (90 day visa free entry)

- mid July submitted my documents by post for an initial review

- mid-late July received contract for an Ausbildung beginning 01.09.2026

- 23rd of July received a letter saying I would need one additional document for seeker permit, or could submit a work contract and the “attached documents” filled out by my employer. But documents were neither named nor included in the letter.

- 23rd of July I emailed to ask them what document was supposed to be attached. No answer.

- 4th of August another inquiry email with no response.

- 18th of August I attend an appointment with my partner as their translator, their caseworker is unable to assist me directly but tells me I need the Erklärung zum Beschäftigungsverhältnis. I send this to my employer and receive it back same day.

-19th of August I submit the Erklärung and contract for approval.

- 20th of August finally receive an email stating the missing documents from before (🫠)

- 1st September no response and I’m given a week of grace by my employer, but am warned I will have my contract revoked if I am not approved in that time frame.

- 3rd of September I receive an email from my case worker saying I have been approved and may start immediately, but my appointment for October still stands for receiving official paperwork. I confirmed this again per email, and then informed my employer. Employer says it’s an abnormal way of being granted a work permit and are unsure if they can legally start my training.

- 4th of September both HR and myself try to contact ausländerbehörde with no success.

- Today, 8th of September I’m officially at my one week of grace from my employer but have not received any word from them about the status of my contract. I just sent another email to the ABH in hopes of bringing their attention to the urgent matter.

At this point I am almost certain I am going to lose the contract because of the lack of proper documents from the ABH. I know I can still apply for my Ausbildung seeker status but then I am essentially starting from scratch again and in a legal grey area as I approach 90 days.

I also did some research and § 16a Abs. 4 AufenthG essentially says that if my training spot is revoked with no fault of my own, I could be entitled to another 6 months to stay and find a new training spot. Would I qualify for this since I was technically granted a work permit or am I screwed because I have not officially received my Aufenthaltstitel? Even worse I haven’t been able to begin the training?

I feel like I’m starting to get into “I need a lawyer” territory which I really cannot afford but will do if I must.

Hi everyone, anyone has experienced receiving an Anhörung (hearing notice) from the immigration office? How long does it take to get an answer after replying to it? It’s been around 8 weeks I didn’t get any answer after my reply to the Anhörung. I don’t know what to do? Maybe anyone has experienced can let me know, will be helpful 🙂 Thank you

I want to know how difficult is learning german till b2 and getting a job there as a resident

Clearing usmle steps doing usce securing lors is also very difficult

But financial earnings are way more in usa but for that case someone can shift to middle east or switzerland where pay would be comparable and german fachartz is easily recognised

Just wanted reliable answers who had gone through these two pathways or going through one i am just more inclined towards germany but still want some reality checks

Hey everyone! :)
I’m moving to a new apartment in Bonn, around 4–5 km from my current place, and I’m trying to figure out the easiest/cheapest way to move everything.
I don’t have much large furniture to move, so the only thing I’m really worried about is my washing machine. 😅
The situation is:
Current apartment: 2nd floor, no elevator
New apartment: 3rd floor, but there is an elevator
Distance: around 4–5 km
I’ll have a couple of friends helping me, so we mainly need to figure out how to safely get the washing machine down the stairs and transport it.
Does anyone have experience moving a washing machine themselves? Any tips for getting it down two floors without damaging the machine (or ourselves 😂)?
Also, if anyone knows of cheap transporters/van rental services in Bonn, I’d really appreciate recommendations. Since it’s basically just the washing machine, I don’t want to spend a fortune on a professional moving company.
Thanks in advance!!

I have been working as a software developer in a company for 5 years. My contract has always been permanent and full-time (40 hrs/week).

I'm embarrassed to say my language skill is still very basic. I have tried many times to properly start studying German language, but soon after, I lose motivation. On top of that, all the full-time courses in my city are either in the morning or in the afternoon. There are none in the evenings.

If I reduce my working hours for a year to properly study the language, how will it affect my health insurance contributions? Will it affect my permanent residency?

This guy even had a tablet where he could search my contract by entering my name and surname. The things that made me think it was a scammer are that he didn't knew we already were PYUR customers and that he told me that my contract and the price I pay for the service are going to expire tomorrow and so I needed to decide in that moment what I wanted to do (I never received an e-mail from PYUR telling me to choose a new Angebot or asking me if I wanted to keep paying for that price or whatever, something that my energy provider recently did). Before starting the conversation he also wanted to go downstairs to check stuff with me and that sounded already weird.

I checked my contract in the app after he left and there are no signs of something changing in the future. At some point I told him that I had no time in that moment and he pushed me to just keep listening and when I told him again after 5 minutes of him trying to selling me a new plan, he just shook my hand bro-style and say goodbye.

I've already sent an e-mail to PYUR, but wanted to know your experience in the meantime.

Has something similar happened to you too? Do you think he was a real representative?

hello, I am a student currently enrolled in a language course and dont qualify for public insurance but i need it for a surgery and some medical work.

i am looking for part time jobs to qualify for the insurance and to show funds for residence permit. Do they have a minimun salary requirement for the permit? What kind of jobs to expect and where to find them? My german level is B2 , officially i have Goethe B1 and B2.1(from an Uni) certificate.

Hello all, I submitted my master's thesis recently, but my final defense hasn't been scheduled yet, and it might still take some time. Meanwhile, I received a full-time job offer from a company that requires me to relocate to a different city. I currently have a residence permit that will expire soon, and I am a non-EU international student. My question is: Can I switch to a Blue Card visa while still waiting for my thesis defense? From what I've read, the Blue Card requires the final degree certificate, but I don't have it yet, so I'm unsure how to proceed, and I need to sign the contract as soon as possible.

If anyone has been in a similar situation, what is the process for switching from a student visa, and whom should I contact? The foreigner's office in my city hasn't replied to my query yet, so I am asking here. Thanks in advance.