Working in Germany, how much does it cost to live and pay taxes?

However, coping with German living does not always coincide with expectations. According to lawyer Rafael Tonde, who for many years helps Albanian citizens with relevant information, many are surprised by costs far more expensive than planned.

“As far as living costs are not low, they are very high especially at first, the beginnings are difficult. Normally, if a minimum or average wage could be at 2000 or 2100 gross net euros would amount to 1400-1600 euros. Even if it looks like a large sum, it's not much, because if you get a flat even the smaller ones start at 500-800 euros a month, in the Bayern area it's up to 1,000 euros. At the end of the day, almost nothing remains”, To and to A2 CNN.

If we compare it to the region, Albania stands last for regular visa migrants, while Serbia leads that ranking. This is because part of Albanians turn to the black market to avoid taxes, which are too high for them.

Maybe they've been informed that the taxes are so high, they've hoped they'd be a little bit more. But if action is done properly, these taxes can be taken back at the end of the year. Getting information into Albanian groups has been almost impossible. Very rarely has information on these subjects been given. Most do not know that with income statements they receive their taxes back”, Tonde says.

But on June 1st of this year, qualified Albanians can travel to Germany even without a working contract.

“A person has the right to come to Germany and look for a job and is not obliged to find it in Albania, if they can stay several months and have a language course, and have the opportunity to find a job contract at the location of”, says Tonde.

According to official German government data, the most required professions currently on the market are doctors and nurses, transport workers, construction workers, but also IT engineers and specialists.