Jean-Philippe Labbé's webpage - Sociology

How to leave a life in Germany in a few sadistic steps

2021-09-22T09:42:00+02:00

Between October 1, 2016 and October 2021, I lived in Berlin and worked as a postdoctoral researcher. You may like to read how to first get a life in Germany in my previous post.

A few lessons I learned

Again this time, speaking (even better German) and having taken notes last time, I knew that writing notes this time would help me as well. I also learned a lot in the last year about immigration to Germany and I gathered a few tips.

Before I start here are a few tips for Germany:

As a postdoc arriving to Germany, you do not always think about, or want to think about, how life is going to be in the 5 to 10 years window. Fair enough. But it might be worth taking a look at the fast-track EU Blaue-karte. To get this type of residence card, you need:

Hold a university degree

Earn 56.800EUR/YEAR (Brutto) (but only 44.304EUR for jobs in need such as Medical doctors, Engineers, Scientists, Mathematicians and IT). The annual Brutto salary 56.800EUR is more or less what a postdoc earns in the TV-L13 scheme with level 3, which is reached after 3 years of contiguous work at a same employer in a related field (don't get me started on the Einstufung, see instead Amy's Adventures). In any case, it doesn't matter if you are a scientist since the level 1 already gives around 50.700EUR.

You say: but why care?. Well, let's hear from the Auswärtiges Amt themselves:

Die Blaue Karte EU bietet zahlreiche Privilegien für den Zuwanderer und seine Familie. So ermöglicht z. B. ein frühzeitiges Daueraufenthaltsrecht potentiellen Bewerbern, ihre Zukunft in Deutschland langfristig zu planen: Schon nach einem Aufenthalt von 33 Monaten kann eine unbefristete Niederlassungserlaubnis erlangt werden. Soweit Deutschkenntnisse auf der Stufe B1 nachgewiesen werden können, wird die Niederlassungserlaubnis sogar bereits nach 21 Monaten erteilt.

After 2 years and 9 months you can apply for permanent residence. And if you are not linguistically challenged (i.e. you reached a B1 German level), you can apply after 1 years and 9 months. SO, essentially DURING A 2 YEARS POSTDOC if ONLY you KNEW GERMAN! Did I know about this: NO. Was I informed about this? NO. Did I apply to way to many visas and went to the Ausländerbehörde (Oops, Landesamt für Einwanderung, bitte, Political Correctness arrived somewhere after 2016 on the shores of German bureaucracy)? Yes, I went there way too many times and noticed my privileged consideration due to the color of my skin, my sex, and the fact that I speak German. This experience has gifted me a much greater sense of humility and conscience of the ease of the whole process I'm actually talking about. Bear in mind in the rest of this text that failure at each step is part of the process and that these steps may be repeated several times for every imaginable and non-imaginable reasons. Anyways, Ausländerbehörde experiences would deserve a complete blog on its own (in any country, not necessarily Germany).

TL;DR: Using this Blaue karte, you have access to an early eligibility to plan your long-term future in Germany.

So yeah. You're a postdoc moving to Germany for 2 years? LEARN GERMAN!. I see tons of benefits, but let me say two: unemployment benefits for 9 months (no, not 12! 12 is only for Europeans) and STABILITY. If you are given a permanent residence without much hassle, would you take it? Well, it's your choice, but it is good to know you have that choice!

When you arrive in Germany, you have to get tons of insurrance. Health insurance, Responsability insurance (Haftpflichtversicherung, I just wanted to point out that "ftpfl" and "chtv" isn't really easier to pronounce than the French word ouaouaron (a giant toad in Québec). Yeah it has only 2 consonants, deal with it.), Retirement insurance. Ohhh!!! Retirement insurance! Definitely something that you want to think about when you never really had a stable life yet. Well, let me break it down for you. Public sector employees participate in the VBL insurance and they have a supplement on the usual retirement fund, for which you have to participate 60 months before you are allowed to get any money. So what's in for 2 years postdocs? That's a good question my friend. Well, by losing a lot of time, you figure out that there is something for you there: VBL for scientists. The key words to google are VBLextra and VBLspezial which offer more flexibility for scientists. Was I offered this information while getting a job here? NO. Well, you my dear reader now knows about this! I have heard that if you didn't hear about these two special things and worked less than 60 months and you leave Germany, there is some kind of possibility to get some money back. I haven't dug deep into this rabbit hole, but I'm sure that there is a form somewhere that you can fill out in this regard. Thankfully, I managed, due to worldwide pandemic circumstances, to reach 60 months of service. Merci Angèle! Ich meine es ganz herzlich.

Go with the flow

So, apart saying goodbye to your favorite döner place, u-bahn junkies, and destroyed shared-bikes laying around, you still need to go through this butt-plug-removal that is letting go of your life here via burocracy. It was also hard and uncomfortable to get there, but after settling in, hopefully it felt better and maybe even nice at time. But now, it's time to move on with withdrawal and the pain associated to it.

Here's a figure which shows some of the hierarchy involved. Each arrow provoked a pain-inducing realization which led to a repetition of the seeked step. Once the figure realized, it seems easy, but getting this order from chaos is rather annoying and sometimes stressful.

After that, you have to hire a moving company, send your Kündigung for your apartment, get a visit from an electrician to check if you didn't mess up the electricity for the next tenant(!), then transmit your internet subscription to your friend moving in (a huge pain even nowadays). Then, you should tell GEMA that you are moving away to stop paying the TV-tax, then, unregister your Bahnkarte/BVG subscription, clean your office, return the key. You might also want to forward your mail at the Deutsche Post to get the important burocracy (taxes, and this golden universal I-left-your-country-stop-harassing-me card: the Abmeldung). Then, if you receive a pension, tell the VBL that you moved abroad (you'll want your money in 35 years!).

Then... you should be more or less done with ONE side of the burocracy. Good luck! Have fun!

Article du Devoir -- Thème Coronavirus

2020-05-17T11:00:00+02:00

Durant 2020, plusieurs bons articles touchant le coronavirus directement ou indirectement ont été publiés dans le Devoir.

En voici quelques-uns qui ont attiré mon attention.

COVID-19, Chine, Walmart et centre d’achats des Colocs

La crise démontre la faiblesse du tissu économique dans les régions. "À l'échelle planétaire, la Chine est le Walmart de l'humanité." Les Walmart et Costco sont resté ouverts durant la crise, mais pas les petits magasins. La conclusion ironique est très bonne.

Sur la cote R au collégial

Il y a eu un débat intéressant concernant la cote R au collégial. Voici donc quelques articles qui en débattent.

Niveler par le bas: Éditorial de Bryan Miles

Il fallait suspendre le calcul de la cote R: Réponse de 150 enseignant(e)s

Ne pas se concentrer uniquement sur la cote R: Réponse de 3 médecins universitaires

Les GAFA doivent payer, croit Jean-Michel Jarre

La démocratie a besoin de la culture, rappelle le compositeur. C’est bien la raison pour laquelle les dictatures s’en méfient.

État d’urgence et État de droit

Les idées d'un constitutionaliste concernant certaines mesures, pouvant être considérées comme anticonstitutionelles, prisent par le gouvernement. Donnant l'exemple sur le droit à l'anonymité dans la charte des droits et libertés.

Sur notre difficile souveraineté alimentaire

Une réflexion intéressante concernant la souveraineté alimentaire du Québec. Il mentionne plusieurs aspects comme la dépendance à l'exportation, par exemple dans l'industrie du porc.

Le corona trauma

Une réflexion sur l'impact psychologique du coronavirus et le confinement. J'ai trouvé très intéressante la réflexion qui mérite d'être cité:

Puis le virus est arrivé et, sous prétexte de le contrer, nous avons fait ce que nous souhaitions faire depuis longtemps. Nous avons stoppé toutes nos activités. Certes, en plus intense qu’on ne l’aurait souhaité. Mais, pour vaincre la frénésie du progrès, il fallait toute la force de l’inquiétude, et tant pis si cette force dépassait un peu la mesure.

[...]

Dans le cadre de mon travail de psychologue, je rencontre fréquemment ce genre de situation. Une personne n’est pas capable de modérer sa quantité de travail parce qu’elle en tire trop de profits; pas nécessairement en matière financière, mais plutôt en reconnaissance sociale ou familiale. Cette personne va abuser d’elle-même en travaillant de plus en plus longtemps ou dans des situations de plus en plus risquées. Sans prendre garde à l’usure que cet abus va imprimer dans son corps ou dans ses capacités d’attention. Tant et si bien que l’accident va survenir pour mettre un terme à cette dérive. Le corps est devenu plus fragile, l’attention s’est émoussée et ne protège plus du risque. L’accident est presque inéluctable.

Et cependant utile, surtout s’il n’est pas trop grave. Il va permettre à cette personne d’interrompre son travail « malgré elle ». Le trauma va s’installer un certain temps, jusqu’à ce qu’il soit métabolisé ou assumé par la personne.

Poisson d’avril

Quand le discours militant prend le pas sur le débat intellectuel. Chronique de Christian Rioux. Un point de vue intéressant sur la critique du Washington Post de la législation française.

Le premier valedictorian noir de Princeton vient du Québec

Voici les article dans Le Devoir et The Hill relatant cette première historique..

How Similar Are Québec French and Metropolitan French?

2019-01-27T14:10:00+01:00

Here are two good videos about the difference between Québec French and Metropolitan French.

Here is a video in English explaining the differences quite well:

An one in French:

L'avenir des université

2019-01-27T14:00:00+01:00

Voici un bon texte sur l'éducation écrit par Luc-Alain Giraldeau, directeur général de l'Institut national de la recherche scientifique.

L’avenir des universités passe par un système d’éducation fort

My reasons why I am not using Netflix

2019-01-27T14:00:00+01:00

Netflix became a big player in the movie and series industry. But at which price?

Artists in Québec are still waiting for the promised investment

The canadian government agreed to waved the canadian Goods and Services Tax for Netflix while Netflix promises to invest 500M$ in Canada (how much in the francophone industry?) This deal created an uproar against the government.

Netflix productions made use of pictures of my home town burning after the infamous train derailment outside of its context. In the movie Bird Box, they use the pictures while saying that some nuclear accident happened in the London area. These pictures are real pictures of devastation and live people dying that is put in an entertainment context, completely out of context. This shows an outrageous lack of humanity and respect for the victims of the worst ecologic desaster in the History of Canada and the worst train derailment, while destroying completely the center of a town. Further, the series "Travelers" also made use of these pictures. The Quebec Minister of Culture wrote publicly to Netflix to denounce this disgracious act. While Netflix replied Sorry-not-sorry.

Netflix revenues are not taxed in Canada while they are recorded elsewhere.

Meanwhile Netflix is mort de rire and refused to remove the pictures.

Droit de votes des expatriés canadiens

2019-01-27T13:00:00+01:00

Le 11 janvier 2019, la Cour Suprême du Canada a enteriné la nouvelle loi canadienne qui redonne le droit de vote aux citoyens expatriés:

Frank c. Canada.

Auparavant la Cour de l'Ontario avait maintenu les restrictions sur le droit de vote des expatriés.

Cette restriction apparaissait à la Section 11 de la loi électorale du Canada et date de 1993.

Voici comment la nouvelle a été rapporté dans Le Devoir et un article d'opinion.

Voici un article en anglais dans le Huffington Post.

Le Devoir -- Les archives sont disponibles

2017-07-30T20:00:00+02:00

Depuis un certain temps, les archives du devoir sont disponibles en ligne sur le site de la Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec ici.

English in Montreal : a distinct society

2017-02-05T16:50:00+01:00

Recently, I read the article:

Stuck in the Middle avec moi: Anglo Montreal really is a distinct society

Some quotes:

"The real reason we’re different is because we live in a French country. Oops, I mean province. But let’s face it. It is like another country. When I go to Toronto, a city I actually kind of like, I feel like I’m a tourist in a place that’s so different from home."

"It is a little bizarre that my community hasn’t the slightest idea about what’s going on in the culture around them."

This is really interesting to read, when according to my experience, most people that did not learn or immersed themselves in the German culture were coming from English speaking countries...

Who are Quebecers? Le film "Empreinte" -- "Footprint"

2016-12-04T21:00:00+01:00

Un documentaire à voir absolument: l'Empreinte de Carole Poliquin et Yvan Dubuc. Il y a longtemps que je lis sur l'histoire du Québec et ce film apporte beaucoup de faits souvent laissés de côté par l'Histoire. Je me fais souvent demander d'où je viens... et je me demande souvent quel héritage de mon peuple je porte avec moi. Ce documentaire porte à réflexion sur cette question.

L'entrevue de Roy Dupuis à Tout Le Monde En Parle est aussi très intéressante.

There is a documentary which is a MUST-SEE to anyone that wants to understand Quebec's culture: Footprint of Carole Poliquin et Yvan Dubuc. I have been reading for a while on the history of Québec and this film brought a lot of facts often left aside in Québec's History. I am often asked where I am from... and I often ask myself what is the heritage of my people in me. This documentary brought a lot of light about this question.

The interview (subtitled) of Roy Dupuis at Tout Le Monde En Parle is also very interesting.

This week (December 4th 2016), there was a column in French in the French webpage of the national Canadian TV (CBC or SRC) Les Siciliens, eux, ne se posent jamais de questions sur leur identité.

Bureaucracy: get a life in Germany vs Israel as a Postdoc

2016-12-04T13:30:00+01:00

Since October 1, 2016, I am a postdoctoral researcher in Berlin, Germany. Nevertheless, I had to go through the German bureaucracy way before that date. I was lucky to have some experience with it and to know German. Once the process started I immediately thought to write down the steps and then compare with the process I went through in Jerusalem, Israel.

Before I start here are a few tips for Germany:

Everything is written down: read everything and bring everything to every appointment. They love paper.

If you do not know the language, try to at least use basics to show your interests in learning it. This will ease the communication (was useful when I arrived in Germany)

Always plan for the worse: when you think it is going to be settled after the appointment, it has a high chance of not being the case. This is not always your fault: a server breakdown, a faulty waiting number distributor, the employee is sick, etc.

Get many many passport pictures in many different formats.

Get a German friend to host you for the first few weeks this will ease the process by far. Hosting in the 'loose' sense: crashing on the couch, getting a mailing address, etc.

So, here is the list of things (with long names) to do in order to get a life in Germany as a postdoc:

Amtliche Meldebescheinigung für die Anmeldung: Registration at the mayor's office: you need your passport, the rental agreement and now another form signed by the landlord stating that you arrived in the apartment. Go at 6-7 am to wait in line as soon as you can. Nothing is possible without that paper.

Führungszeugnis: At the same time that you get the Anmeldung, you should order an extended police certificate that proves that you did not commit any offense in Germany before. This costs 13 euros and takes two weeks to get to the university.

Register to a Health Care insurance (needs a mailing address to receive documents and card). This will give you a Social Insurance number if you never had one in Germany.

Get a Tax Payer Number at a Finanzamt if it is the first time that you have a job in Germany. This is usually an easy step, you should bring the job offer and your Anmeldung.

Open a Bank Account: You need your passport, your Anmeldung, an Address and have some persuasive arguments to tell them that you are going to get a visa soon, but you need a bank account soon (otherwise entering an vicious bureaucracy circle). While you are at it, you should get a "Haftpflicht insurance" which insures you against damage that you can eventually cause others (breaking washing machine that destroys your neighbors apartment).

Get an appointment for a medical exam at the Personal hiring department of the nearest Hospital. Go there and fill 2-3 forms and give a urine probe.

Fill in the following forms and send it to the correct person: Erklärung und Begründung zur wissenschaftlichen Qualifikationsgelegenheit im Rahmen des Beschäftigungsverhältnisses als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter, Erklärung über Promotionszeiten und Beschäftigungsverhältnisse, Erklärung über Vorbeschäftigungszeiten an der Freie Universität Berlin, Erklärungsbogen zur Stufenfeststellung, Personal Fragebogen, Erklärung über Pflichtversicherungszeiten in der Zusatzversorgunggemäß, Erklärung zur immatrikulation und Berufsausbildung, Erklärung auf Verurteilung 2, Neuantrag auf Überweisung der Dienstbezüge, Erklärung über anhängige Verfahren, VBL-Erklärung, Registration for Public transportation.

Go to the Personal Hiring Office to sign your contract (after making an appointment) with the following documents IN ORIGINAL: birth certificate, wedding/divorce certificate and kid birth certificates (if applicable), all university diplomas (of course in original), all other working contracts (in original), Anmeldung, TaxNumber, Bank coordinates, proof of medical exam appointment, proof of ordering of Führungszeugnis, Social number, and the tax certificates of previous jobs in Germany (if applicable). Oh! And the contract should be signed in the month previous to your employment, otherwise making it impossible to hire you for the present month.

Apply to get the University keys and go get it 1 week later.

Get a university server account

Once these things are done, wake up again at 6 am, this time to get an appointment online at the Ausländerbehörde within the first 90 days of your stay to get a visa so that your pay does not get cancelled due to your then illegal length of stay without a visa.

Make sure your passport is valid long enough so that you do not need to renew it while you work: otherwise you have to got again at the mayor's office and transfer your visa (costing money and time). Then renew your passport: go to the Canadian Ambassy for the renewal, and wait 2 weeks where you can not travel or get the appointment for the visa.

Carry the proof of appointment along with your old passport when going out of Schengen in order to avoid getting further interrogation at going out and coming in.

Show the proof of appointment to your institution so that they can emit a new working contract that lasts more that 90 days.

At the Ausländerbehörde, bring passport, recent passport picture, proof of prolongation of contract, proof of health insurance, EC Karte (no payment in cash), Anmeldung and visa-formular filled.

The next day, phone the administration and go to the hiring office to sign your official contract and make a copy of your visa.

Congratulations! You have obtained a German Visa to work as a postdoc! After 2 months of constant care and preparation.

After that, you can look for an apartment in Berlin, (good luck!). For this you will need (at least, and may vary): proof of income of the last 3 months (well, you realize you won't get an apartment within the first 3 months, do you?), Schufa-Auskunft (a proof that you do not owe money to banks), Proof that you not owe money to your last landlord, Copy of Passport and visa, Formular of interest in the apartment.

Now, let's compare with the bureaucracy in Israel. You will receive a letter of invitation from your institution. This is a master key.

Bring the application form for visa, Invitation letter, passport pictures, proof of finance (in the invitation letter), passport and money to the Israel ambassy and get a visa within 30 minutes for 1 year.

Once in Israel, find an apartment, sign the lease. (Lasted 1 week for me as I got the apartment before-hand)

Go to a bank and open a bank account with your passport and visa. (Took 30 minutes)

Get a simcard for your cell phone. (Took 20 minutes)

With your passport, visa and bank account in hand, go to the university and register with your secretary and register for an health insurance, you will get a computer account, student card and your next pay in 15 days. (Took 30 minutes)

Once a year, you receive the municipality tax that you go pay at the post office.

Congratulations, with 5 working days, you could start working in Jerusalem as a mathematician and do all this speaking French. Yes, indeed, I could do all these things with french-speaking secretaries, seller, bankers, etc. I have to say that renewing your visa is a bit more of a struggle but goes smoothly nevertheless.

Conclusion:

What can we learn from this comparison? I let you draw your own consequences on the amount of stress and efficiency of the first months of employment. I have to say that all this process in both cases went smoothly which was not the case of most of my colleagues in both places. I was very lucky to know how to handle german bureaucracy and language and I had many very helpful colleagues. I decided to write this down in an effort to help others and also to raise consciousness around this cause of stress for academics.

When will I ever use math? What is math good for anyway?

2016-09-05T22:00:00+02:00

As a mathematician, we are often confronted with the question:

Why did you do what? Why do you do math? What is whatever-you-are-doing good for?

Well, the following article was written by a mathematician and I found the treatment of the question quite accurate and interesting to read.

Habits of highly mathematical people

Bernays et les élections américaines 2016

2016-09-03T20:00:00+02:00

Depuis quelques mois, je cherche à comprendre les élections américaines 2016. Force est de constater que les médias de masse y joue un rôle important. J'ai alors voulu voir si des gens avait pensé faire le lien avec les théories de la propagande de Bernays.

Voici un texte de Trent Lapinski sur Medium.com qui parle de l'état de la propagande en 2016.

Eugénie Bouchard, assimilée?

2016-09-03T20:00:00+02:00

Récemment, Mathieu Bock-Cöté a traîté Eugénie Bouchard d'assimilée. Mais, s'attaquer à la coqueluche du Québec au tennis n'est pas gratuit. Voici sa réplique.

Claude Hagège sur l'amour des langues

2016-09-03T20:00:00+02:00

"Les Français, qui sont fascinés par tout ce qui est américain, ne savent même pas qu'il y a 57 pays dans le monde où le Français est la première langue maternelle".

La dernière minute est un bijou en particulier: la principale cause qui menace le français est la désaffection des français eux-même pour leur langue, pas d'autres francophones. [...] Les français sont tellement fascinés par ce qui n'est pas français qu'ils finissent par ne plus aimer leur langue. Et là on arrive à ce paradoxe: le pays où le français est le moins aimé, c'est la France!

La cause de la survie du français est sa diversité. L'anglais est une menace de mort pour la diversité des langues.

Learning to love French

2016-09-03T19:00:00+02:00

“They don’t have very good capillarity,” Olivier said.

It is the story of a French guy and an American woman, and how she learned the language and the subtleties in French language and culture:

Love in Translation

Some citations:

"Like the presenter, I’m impressed. An excellent command of French seems like a superpower, the prerogative of socialites and statesmen."

"It took Olivier three weeks and a working group of twice as many relatives to settle on the French text of our wedding invitation, which read, in its entirety, “Together with our families, we request the pleasure of your company at a wedding lunch.” The ideas of excellence and failure are so intimately linked in French that what passes for a compliment is to say that someone has un français châtié—a well-punished French. Olivier has fond memories of watching the grammarian Bernard Pivot, a national celebrity, administer the Dicos d’Or, a live televised tournament in which contestants vied to transcribe most accurately a dictated text—the Super Bowl of orthography."

John A. Macdonald, tout sauf un démocrate

2016-05-25T18:00:00+02:00

Un court vidéo de l'émission 15-18 de Radio-Canada. John A. Macdonald, tout sauf un démocrate avec plusieurs preuves à l'appuie. Il a toujours été contre le suffrage universel. Une citation célèbre: "Louis Riel sera pendu, même si tous les chiens du Québec aboient en sa faveur" Il a joué un rôle important dans la destruction de la communauté autochtone du Canada.

Mois du Piéton

2015-10-28T10:40:00+01:00

Le mois d'octobre 2015 est le "mois du piéton" au Québec. Je l'ai su en lisant un très bon article d'opinion dans Le Devoir.

Pendant ce temps, le nouveau gouvernement de la ville d'Oslo projette de bannir l'automobile au centre-ville.