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Working for a non german company with spouse resident permit

Last activity 17 March 2021 by beppi

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skywalker90

Hello,

I'm currently a non-EU person working in Berlin, Germany for more than 2 years now with an EU blue card. My wife is on a spouse residence permit living with me in Berlin. Recently she got a work-from-home job offer from a Canada-based company, it's an hour-based job with a minimum of 30 hours/week.

Question is: is she allowed to work for such a company under a german residence permit? If it was a general German company I know she would have been allowed but I've no idea for a non-German company.
If yes, what are the next steps? And what about health insurance and tax class?

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to your responses.

beppi

You are asking a number of questions at once:
- Whether she can work depends on her visa - most family reunion ones allow it, so check hers!
- Working for a non-German employer adds the complication of being classed as self-employed. If she's not a near-native speaker, she should engage a startup/accountancy/tax consultant to sort the buerocratic aspects out. In short: Since the employer cannot deduct income tax and social deductions at source and deal with the authorities for these matters, she has to do it herself (and also pay all dues herself, incl. what is normally paid by the employer for health, pension and unemployment insurance) .
- The tax class, which only matters for deduction at source, is irrelevant in this case.
- As an additional aspect, she will also have to register for GST ("MWSt"), even though she might not need to pay it if her only "customer" is outside the EU (the tax consultant will explain this in detail).

bozikely

Hello Skywalker,

I was myself on spouse residence permit once, me as a non EU citizen and my husband a german. The first 3 Years, I was not allowed to work as self-employed, only as an employee.

That said, it was a long time ago (90s), maybe the laws has changed. Then, it was noticed on the Aufenthaltsgenehmigung - Sticker. Just check it first !?

Good luck !

skywalker90

Thank you both for the inputs.
Her Visa sticker says: "AUFENTHALSERLAUBNIS Erwerbstatgkeit gestattet" and the visa is valid till Dec 2022. So I'm assuming she can start self-employment without any waiting period.

beppi

I would assume so, too, as "Erwerbstätigkeit" literally means "activity for financial gain".
But since legalese is sometimes counter-intuitive (and the other poster above hints that it might be otherwise), you could ask the local foreigner authority for confirmation.

summerbreak

Hi skywalker90, i'm now in the same situation like you've been 2months ago. Could you please tell me if you found any relevant information on this topic?

skywalker90

My wife is eligible to work. I talked to the insurance provider (TK in her case), they asked to take separate insurance for her as she is now working and earning > 450 Eur/month. I sent several emails to foreigner authority for confirmation but never got a response. If you are receiving salary in german bank account, you have to take separate insurance and also figure out around taxes (take help of tax consultant)

beppi

skywalker90 wrote:

If you are receiving salary in german bank account, you have to take separate insurance and also figure out around taxes (take help of tax consultant)


This is independent of where and how (German or foreign bank account) you receive the money.

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