Relocate to Berlin?

Question

Hi everyone. I'm a 22 year old finishing college in about another year. I previously visited Berlin this summer and found it to to be the best city ever. Although I don't speak german, how how hard would it be to relocate to another country like germany? Also, I would like to know how hard is it to find a job in Berlin, knowing the unemployment rate?
Thanks!

Answer 1

With just college I think you will find it rather hard to get visa and a work permit. You can try and be lucky but most countries in Europe require that you have a job offer, for a job that can not be filled with either a local or someone else in the European Union. It is not very likely that your college trains you for that.
You can try to get a student visa, this is easier to get, but mostly set up so that you can stay a year and work odd jobs to get money for traveling.
(Each country in Europe still has different laws and rules about visa and work permits and I am not German.)
Work you would get on a student visa is most likely the kind of job you would not accept at home, often low paid, poor hours and short term to the extreme.
Working illegal is worse, then the work often in dirty, dangerous, you would have no way to get money when ill and you would not be able to insure yourself.

Europe is working on a work permit much like the USA Green card for all of the union, (or at least most of it,) called Blue card.
They have published the plans but it still needs to be discussed, voted on, ratified and put in action, so it can still change.
When they mentioned it a few weeks back, you would qualify if your education would bring you twice the local minimum wage in the country where you apply and expect to work for the first period. Each country has different wages but mostly you can say that you need a job training at a high level or university to earn that kind of money as a starter.

So maybe it is better to learn a job or go to university at home and wait for the Blue card to arrive?

Speaking only English is a big drawback, even when all of the people at work speak English they would expect you to understand and speak German in a short time.
(I am Dutch, work in the Netherlands and have a few collegues that do not speak Dutch. The general attitude is negative, they should have learned Dutch better before starting to work.)

Answer 2

The first two responses are very good--I'd just add that you should also look into getting a fellowship to study in Germany. Check out the options from the Fulbright Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, and the Bosch Stiftung. These are very competitive fellowships, though, so you need to have an excellent academic record. Some of their fellowships are also more targeted to graduate students.