Posted on 04/03/2010 11:43 am

Internship visa/work permit for Germany

Hi folks, hope you are all well.

Ok, so I am a south african citizen studying here in london england towards my first degree. it is possible that i could be offered an internship for 3 months in the summer.

Now ive been looking all over the place for the procedures to obtain the necessary visa/work permit. And i am yet to find any helpful information, not even on the london german embassy website.

i believe there are some genius here that were in the same situation, i.e. non-EU citizen doing an internship in germany. could you please elaborate on the formalities that you and/or your employer had to undergo. I have a few assumptions, please let me know if they are feasible or else correct me. big thanks in advance!

1. Could I travel to germany on a schengen visa first and obtain/adjust my immigration status to work permit once im there? if so, what documents would i need from myself and my employer?

2. alternatively if i choose to apply for the work permit here in london before travelling to germany, what documents do I need and how long might the processing time be?

also, the internship will be paid so I suppose my employer would need approval from the federal employment agency before a work permit may be issued to me. is this correct?

sorry for the lengthy post, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

take care

Alan