# Residency



## BiotechAbroad (Jan 11, 2012)

So I was reading this:

*Citizens of the United States of America*, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, as well as EU citizens *may apply for their residence permit for work purposes after entering Germany without a visa.* Citizens of other countries are required to apply and obtain a visa for work purposes prior to entry (an option also open to US citizens) at the German Embassy in Washington, the Consulates in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York or San Francisco.

On the German Embassy website.

Is anyone familiar with what it means? Does it mean that I could, in theory, go there for a few months as a tourist, look for a job, find one, and then apply for a residence permit for work purposes before my three months as a tourist are up? I'm asking because I'm getting a decent stipend as a grad student. ~3K per year so 6K by the time I graduate. was thinking I could save that money and use it to rent a flat and live, if that was the case. 

Also, I saw that I could apply for a residency permit here in DC before I even leave. Does that require a job offer first?


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## vronchen (Jan 26, 2012)

BiotechAbroad said:


> So I was reading this:
> 
> *Citizens of the United States of America*, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, as well as EU citizens *may apply for their residence permit for work purposes after entering Germany without a visa.* Citizens of other countries are required to apply and obtain a visa for work purposes prior to entry (an option also open to US citizens) at the German Embassy in Washington, the Consulates in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York or San Francisco.
> 
> ...


Yes, but I am not sure what happens if you are apply for the permit before your 90 day visa-waiver expires but the permit is not approved before the 90 days are up. You should figure out if you would need to leave the Schengen area in that case.



BiotechAbroad said:


> Also, I saw that I could apply for a residency permit here in DC before I even leave. Does that require a job offer first?


As far as I know you need a job offer.


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