Hello,
I read your post about retiring to Berlin and wondered how you are getting on. I would like to retire there as well and wonder how difficult it would be to get residency. I speak basic German, have enough assets and retirement income. I would conclude from reading the German government websites that I would either have to be employed or married to a German to get residency, and I intend to do neither. Is there anyone out there who has successfully gotten residency in Berlin without a German family member or without claiming to be employed?
Appreciate your advice!
Swaney
Is there anyone out there who has successfully got Berlin residency
Swaney
18 January 2014 12:15:04
4
Maximilien
20 January 2014 14:38:18
12633
Hi and welcome on board Swaney 
I have created a new thread as from your post on the Berlin Forum for better visibility and interaction
Thank you
Maximilien
Expat-blog Team
Swaney
31 January 2014 04:43:24
4
It's funny but I can't find this post unless I use search with "Berlin Residency". Couldn't find it among the 46 Berlin Blogs. Am I missing something?
ECS
31 January 2014 09:12:15
1539
who were you talking to when you said "I read your post"?
Swaney
31 January 2014 09:23:02
4
JHowell in "Living Abroad." Maximilien said he created a new thread on the Berlin Forum. That's the one I can't find.
ECS
31 January 2014 10:14:18
1539
he moved your post into the Berlin forum and created a thread from it He's an admin so he has the ability to move posts.
beppi
31 January 2014 10:41:42
14807
You can also marry any other EU citizen and move to Berlin together with him/her.
Sorry, but without any valid (i.e. accepted by the authorities) reason you won't get residency.
Swaney
31 January 2014 12:53:51
4
Beppi,
Thanks, that is what I am afraid of. I could continue working in academia but would rather stay home and do research on my own. I wonder if they would accept that? Appreciate your advice.
Swaney
beppi
31 January 2014 13:00:41
14807
Buerocrats follow rules, and usually have no leeway in their decisions.
Unless you have any of the official grounds for getting residency, I suggest you try in a country with looser rules.
dunkin' berliner
21 July 2014 17:16:37
1
I would suggest trying out the waters here before you choose to retire here. Berlin is constantly changing and is currently undergoing massive gentrification and rent rises. Regarding others' advice here: bureaucrats do not make the rules and they very rarely follow the letter of the law. Most of the time they are simply getting off on their own personal power trip. Many of them simply enjoy saying 'no' to foreigners.
Having said that, I ask: how then are so many unemployed hipsters and jobless 'artists' accepted in Berlin? It may simply be about trust funds and money. EU citizens get the fast track; they just show up and Germany can't stop them. Americans have a tougher slippery slope to climb. Perhaps you have enough to buy property here?
Don't let bureaucracy be a deterrent to your dreams. Keep in mind that rich countries have a vested interest in deterring immigrants (Germany and UK have the worst bureaucracies I can think of, having lived in both countries). Come here (you have 3 months without any restrictions), try it out, then decide what you will do next.
Or retire to an island somewhere. What's wrong with you? 
db
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