# German work permit, But the contract is with the UK headquarter



## Summer Lee (Feb 2, 2021)

Hi, I am in a unique situation, and your advice will be greatly appreciated.
I am a non-EU citizen, currently working for a UK company in the UK. But, for a personal reason, I decided to move to Germany this year.
My boss didn't want to let me go, hence, the company offered to hire me as a full-time in our German office instead, Work-permit application submitted to the German embassy in the UK.

But, there is a fundamental problem.

It is obvious that my company is hiring me in a German branch, moving me to German payroll and set me as a German taxpayer just like a normal German employee.
However, in this company, all HR-related matters - including job contract proposal - are centralized in the UK office (Headquarter). For other EU offices, we just have external accounting and legal advisers as they are still small. As such, *whilst my job contract's body contents are legitimately about the German branch, the contract offering party itself is 'UK headquarter'. The embassy is arguing 'If the German branch exists, why are giving us a UK job contract?' and not proceeding with my application.*

My employer says all employees in Europe (including Germany) has the same contract format (with the UK HQ), hence, wary of making it an exception only for me. Instead, they are preparing an official company's clarification letter about this situation and proving documents of the relationship between UK HQ and the German branch to demonstrate it's the same company.

Do you think this problem could be solved by providing such a letter?
The easiest solution would be to change the contracting party to the German office, but the company is quite firm that they should keep the consistency with contracts... 

Help me, please. Share your thoughts for me!


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

Summer Lee said:


> Do you think this problem could be solved by providing such a letter?


Unlikely. 

Does your UK employer have other employees working in Germany who are not EU citizens?


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## Summer Lee (Feb 2, 2021)

Hi, no, I am the first non-EU citizen they are moving to. 
hmm. I am thinking just to go with ICT (Intra company transfer) route then rather than just a ordinary work permit. do you think that would have a better chance?


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

Summer Lee said:


> I am a non-EU citizen, currently working for a UK company in the UK. But, for a personal reason, I decided to move to Germany this year.


What's your ultimate goal? Just living in Germany for a couple of years or settlement?


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## Summer Lee (Feb 2, 2021)

ALKB said:


> What's your ultimate goal? Just living in Germany for a couple of years or settlement?


I want to settle there, ideally.


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

Summer Lee said:


> Hi, no, I am the first non-EU citizen they are moving to.
> hmm. I am thinking just to go with ICT (Intra company transfer) route then rather than just a ordinary work permit. do you think that would have a better chance?


There is no one size fits all answer, but rather depends on the job and salary on one hand and your citizenship and qualifications on the other.


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## Summer Lee (Feb 2, 2021)

*Sunshine* said:


> There is no one size fits all answer, but rather depends on the job and salary on one hand and your citizenship and qualifications on the other.


I see, other than the job contracting party, my job is director level that cannot be easily replaced by European (Korean and Japanese speaking and 8 year in business development experience required) and salary is way above the blue card salary, university degree equivalent to German one.
Only problem is that contracting party,, and unfortunately, this seems like a difficult issue to solve


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

Summer Lee said:


> I want to settle there, ideally.


Is there a partnership among those personal reasons? Might you be getting married to a German person/someone settled in Germany in the future?

ICT is only for a maximum of three years.



https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/EN/MigrationAufenthalt/ICTKarte/flyer-ict-card.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=6


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