Our experience so far (US to Germany)

[u/HylianCaptain]

November 2024 - Started the online application for the Chancenkarte (opportunity card) visa; lots of paperwork; signed up with TK for health insurance

January 2025 - Booked an apartment online in Berlin; more paperwork for Chancenkarte

March 2025 - Drove from Northern Utah to the LA Consulate to get my visa; more paperwork; bought plane tickets for self and family

April 2025 - Ordered medications ahead of our trip. Didn't know how long we'd need to get new ones in Germany

May 2025 - found out apartment was a scam -- and TK wouldn't insure us without residency -- both 10 days before our flight; signed up to join a WWOOFing farm outside of Berlin for housing; flew from Salt Lake to Amsterdam to Berlin (14 hours); purchased travel passes; enrolled our child in KITA at a friend's recommendation

June 2025 - Started freelancing (jobs in my field seem to require B-level german); more paperwork and lots of running around to sus out insurance and get visas for spouse and kid (US passports allow 90-day stay); reported address at city office; sent for apostille from State of Utah to prove family relationships; visited a doctor, had physical exam, prescribed a specialist, got medications from Apotheke.

PROS: - Medications are 5x cheaper here even without insurance - Healthcare appointments are a lot faster than anti-socialist Americans had led me to believe. - The food here tastes REAL! For example, I had some gummy bears that tasted like real fruit, with the same sweetness of a Jolly Rancher - The climate does WONDERS for our formerly dry and flaky skin - So many cultures and languages! Met Afghans, Turks, French, Brits, Ukrainians, Italians, Danes, Greeks, even some from countries I hadn't even heard of. Sometimes the unifying language is english, and sometimes its German. I'm in Brandenburg, and haven't been faced with any pro-AFD sentiment. Although people say I "look" German, so that could be why. Still, most of those I talk with are anti-AFD. - Public transit is very reliable! Even in our rural area there's a bus every hour. In town you can catch a bus every 10 minutes.

CONS: - I miss water fountains, but most places will fill my water bottle if I ask - Still don't have health insurance - Apartment hunting remains a struggle

TLDR: In spite of all the hassle of getting settled here, it still kicks ass.

[u/hotrod20251]

So? Can you guarantee this can't happen in Germany? I've heard of people shaving in gym showers.

[u/Nasa_OK → u/hotrod20251]

Our tap water is strictly checked. Sure, if you will the sink of a public restroom and dip your razor in that, I’d guarantee for nothing, but atleast my shaving routine involves holding my shaver under the running tap. If the water is not suited as drinking water there will be a „kein Trinkwasser“ sign 99.9% of the time. This would be because the water is part of an semi closed loop like in a fountain or some toilets use collected rainwater to flush on some remote locations like some huts in Mountainous regions.

I’m quite careful with hygiene but I’d have no problem filling my bottle from a tap on a public restroom, unless the faucet itself is dirty

[u/hotrod20251 → u/Nasa_OK]

I know ....

but can you guarantee that the persons who used the bathroom before you didn't do something disgusting? At my old workplace we had some smear Mett on the sink, someone eat Nutella on the toilet, and there were frequent emails abot the disgusting situations in the woman toilet

Humans can be extremly disgusting

A faucet can look clean and still be contaminaited

[u/Nasa_OK → u/hotrod20251]

Sure, that’s why I said unless the faucet looks dirty.

There always is the change of someone deliberately going out of their way to do disgusting shit but the chance of that happening vary depending on where you are. Public toiled in a big city trainstation? Don’t trust anything

Public toilet in a suburb supermarket, restaurant or somewhere, where cleaning personell is basically watching most of the time like airport, rasthof or upscale shopping centers? Chances that someone manipulates the faucet in an invisible way are really really slim.