Motivation
I’ve lived in Hungary / Budapest, relocated to work in Luxembourg, and possibly live in Germany, near Trier, or somewhere else. In the meantime, there was some confusing things, but thanks to my colleges, I got many helpful information which you may find useful, so I’ve decided to share it
If you come by plane
- sometimes, a 2 way ticket is less expensive than one way, even the return trip is months away.
- If your plane is late and you miss the connection because of that, Lufthansa will rebook you to the next plane without problems. they even gave me a 10EUR vocheur
- (might be outdated info, need to re-check) It’s much cheaper to fly to Brussels and then go to LUX by transport, but takes ~10+ hour and requires more planning.
Salary
After you know your gross salary, you can calculate the taxation in https://www.calculatrice.lu/calculator — but !
- Marriage doesn’t matter until your wife lives in the same address as you, from where you come to work.
- same thing with child, same household matters
Tax stuff
- Non resident taxplayer registration - 164 NR (german / french version)
- If unsure, there are companies who can help with this tax stuff, for example; https://www.analietax.com/ - They offer consulting, creating the papers, knowing who needs which document, etc..
Language
- My experience is, in Germany, most of the times, English is enough; you can do all the things. In Luxembourg, without French, it can be tough. It was much easier to do things in Germany with English than in LUX.
Temporary accomodation, while looking for a rent
- cheap/acceptable hotel: http://www.zewener-hof.de/
- booking.com can also be a good solution.
- AirBNB
- In most cases, 2-4 weeks should be enough to find a rent and move in.
Healthcare (should be extended)
- Ask for the social security card from CNS you will need it, especially if you travel abroad (valid in EU as well)
- Check with CNS, request a form from them to prove you’re insured in LUX, choose an insurance company in Germany, show them the form, and you’ll be insured both in LUX and Germany with no additional cost.
- If you go to a doctor in LUX, you have to pay, and CNS will reinburse fully or partially or none, depending on the case. In Germany, you don’t have to pay, insurance companies will take care of it. IDK why, but “this is the way”.
Rent
- Good rents in germany (near LUX) used to be available for ~1-5 days, so you should only ask for appointment a few days before you can actually go there to check.
- Owners used to ask 2-3 month of cold rent as a security deposit, and the first month’s hot rent. Hot rent = include stuff like heating, cold rent = just the rent.
- some links to look for a rent: https://www.immowelt.de/ https://www.athome.de/ https://www.immotop.lu/ https://www.immobilienscout24.de/ https://www.immonet.de/
- see https://www.check24.de/ to see what kind of internet connection / provider is available at the address
- If you don’t want to buy a kitchen separately (sink, furniture, etc), make sure it’s included (Einbaukuche/EBK).
- Don’t apply too much filter, because Owners can be lazy, they don’t always add every detail.
Shopping
- good and cheap shop for furniture. https://www.poco.de - watch for actions, 20-40% difference is not rare.
- Bit more expensive, but better IKEA
Buying a car
- mobile.de: the best.
Phone
- one of the ~easiest provider is lebara, you can order the sim online, and then activate it. It may take time as their support is not very fast.
Bank account
- There are a lots of options, for example, N26, which is online, you don’t ever have to go to the bank. You have to have an address in germany or other “supported” countries.
Spending money
- If you have a 3D-mastercard, it’s cheaper to use it to buy stuff, than buying EUR
- Some shops, especially in Germany only accept cash; best to have 1-200 EUR.
Transportation
- Bus ticket prices: https://www.mobiliteit.lu/se-deplacer/titres-de-transport/tickets-transfrontaliers
- Regions per city https://www.mobiliteit.lu/se-deplacer/titres-de-transport/tickets-transfrontaliers/regiozone - it has multiple pages (pagination) and a search function in the top of the table
- These bus lines are operated by LUX, so holidays in Germany doesn’t apply.
Finally
Finally, if you find something which is no longer valid, or a mistake, or you have something to add, just contact me and we can make this page better. If it happens multiple times, I’ll create a wiki for that :)