# Berlin Architecture Jobs Expats



## dalvares

Hi All,*
My fiance and are moving over to Europe from Australia and are deciding between somewhere in the UK or Germany (in particular Berlin, because we love that city). *My fiance is a graduate architect (not registered) with 3 years experience using Vector Works in a small architecture firm. She speaks a bit of German but is no where near fluent. *Just wondering if anyone can provide some insights at the moment based on the industry in Germany/Berlin on these questions we had.*
Is is essential to speak German working as an*architect*in Berlin? If not can you suggest any firms that employ*English*speaking architects?*
Is there a chance of an smaller firms focused on residential architecture that would employ expat?*
What are the expected salaries for someone with her experience and language shortfalls?*
What is the job market like currently?*
I myself am a research engineer (biomedical) *engineer so I confident language wont be much of an issue (socially though I am sure it would).*
Thanks any feedback or suggestions would be great.*
Daz


----------



## The_Okie

Well in order to obtain a residence permit she'll have to pass about an 8-month integrations course which goes through everything about German culture, law and language. The only way she'd be excluded from that requirement is if she showed exceptional German skills or if she would be receiving employment in a very high-demand field such as research and development, brain surgeon...that sort of stuff. You yourself might be exempt, but I don't think an architect would be included in that category.


----------



## ALKB

The_Okie said:


> Well in order to obtain a residence permit she'll have to pass about an 8-month integrations course which goes through everything about German culture, law and language. The only way she'd be excluded from that requirement is if she showed exceptional German skills or if she would be receiving employment in a very high-demand field such as research and development, brain surgeon...that sort of stuff. You yourself might be exempt, but I don't think an architect would be included in that category.


Not really.

That would entirely depend on the immigration status of her husband. Depending on that, she might not even be eligible for an intigration course.


----------



## ALKB

dalvares said:


> Hi All,*
> My fiance and are moving over to Europe from Australia and are deciding between somewhere in the UK or Germany (in particular Berlin, because we love that city). *My fiance is a graduate architect (not registered) with 3 years experience using Vector Works in a small architecture firm. She speaks a bit of German but is no where near fluent. *Just wondering if anyone can provide some insights at the moment based on the industry in Germany/Berlin on these questions we had.*
> Is is essential to speak German working as an*architect*in Berlin? If not can you suggest any firms that employ*English*speaking architects?*
> Is there a chance of an smaller firms focused on residential architecture that would employ expat?*
> What are the expected salaries for someone with her experience and language shortfalls?*
> What is the job market like currently?*
> I myself am a research engineer (biomedical) *engineer so I confident language wont be much of an issue (socially though I am sure it would).*
> Thanks any feedback or suggestions would be great.*
> Daz



How are you moving over to Europe? Will you be married by the time you move?

Do you have dual citizenship with an EU country?

Will you be employer-sponsored? If so, will you get a BlueCard?

Depending on all this, your wife might not even get instant access to the job market. (If you get a BlueCard, no problem on the work permit side of things.)

She will first of all have to check whether her specific degree is recognised in Germany - building rules and regulations can be very different from country to country.

The architecture job market in Berlin is not great at the moment (my cousin's husband is an architect and he has been trying to find a job in his field desperately for years and years). I doubt that it will be possible without at least intermediate German.

Smaller firms might be even more difficult than bigger ones, as the architects will have to deal a lot with the clients (average German families aspiring to build their forever home - we don't do property ladder in Germany) so excellent communication skills would be even more vital than when building huge commercial buildings dealing with international companies and such.


----------



## Nononymous

It was a few years back, but one summer I swear every second Berliner I met was an unemployed freelance documentary filmmaker who'd trained as an architect.


----------

