Caregivers from South America negotiate Germany’s jungle of red tape | DW Documentary

Germany is reliant on skilled labor from other countries. But German bureaucracy makes it difficult for people like Yanileidy. She came from Colombia to work as a nurse. The original plan — to put her family life on hold — ultimately broke her family up.

“German bureaucracy really isn’t kind,” says Yanileidy. The Colombian pediatric nurse left her two small children at home in the hope of being able to lead a better life as a nurse in Germany. The plan was that after her first few months, her family would follow her. But bureaucratic hurdles turned those months into years. In the end, her marriage didn’t survive the long wait.

“We can’t afford such complicated bureaucracy,” says Isabell Halletz, head of the German Employers’ Association of Care Providers. Nursing staff are already dropping out in droves and choosing to go to the US or Canada.

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I read that Germany is very
safe… and that we would earn more! Hello…
Everything OK? We are now in a situation where we
depend on people wanting to work here. German recruitment agencies are luring
nursing staff from all over the world. With the support of
German politicians. We can’t just bureaucratically accept
immigration, we have to want it. The Bundestag passed
a new law in 2023 to encourage skilled
workers to immigrate. I find it unacceptable that we now
need to file for 17 different things if you want to bring in
a nurse from abroad. This has to end,
ladies and gentlemen! And when the
skilled workers arrive, they must also have the
feeling that they are welcome! But do they? German bureaucracy is
really not very welcoming. That’s why I think
Germany is not prepared for a massive
influx of foreigners! We set out to find
out if this is true. How could Germany make it
easier for foreign nursing staff to live and work
in the country? We will follow a care worker on her
journey to Germany from Colombia. And get to
know two women who have been trying to work as
care personnel in Germany for years. First we meet 31-year-old
Adriana and her husband in the Colombian
capital of Bogotá. She wants to show us where she comes
from and takes us to visit her family. We’re going to
Guateque, Boyaca! No one in her family – not even
Adriana – has ever left Colombia. The house where she was born
is in a remote mountain range and can only be reached
by a narrow footpath. They prepare sancocho, chicken
soup. The whole family helps. Everyone is proud of
Adriana for going to Europe. She dreams of a
better future there. In Colombia you earn a
maximum of 1,300 euros a month. In Germany,
I’ve heard, it’s 2,900 before your
qualifications are recognized. After that, it increases
by 1,000 euros. Adriana is a trained
surgical assistant. She wants to make it
her career in Germany. You have a lot
of technology! Aren’t you afraid that you
may not be familiar with it? Yes, of course I’m a bit nervous, but
I’m a person who learns very quickly! We’re now at the
University Hospital in Munich. Sabine is a 33-year-old Chilean who
also thought she could learn quickly. She came to
Germany in early 2023 and works on a ward for people with
blood cancer. But only as an assistant. She earns around 1,000
euros less than a specialist nurse even though she studied
nursing science in Chile. That’s a degree there…
as a nurse, a specialist. And after I finished training, I
immediately went to Germany. Then first the
hand disinfection. The work she can do is limited unless
Germany recognizes her Chilean degree. Hello Mr. Westermeier.
I’m Sabine Wendler. I would like to change the
piccline bandage for you. 18 nurses from 11 different
countries work on this ward. Even with just 22 patients, working on
a multinational team is a challenge. It sounds nice
at first, that’s true. But you have to remember:
Someone is always on vacation. Someone’s
on night duty. But the key is to have
time for the patient, to alleviate their fear and provide
support. And you need staff for that. And not only on this ward.
Based on data from 2019, the Federal Statistical
Office estimates that Germany had as many as
130,000 too few nurses in 2024. That could rise to almost
700,000 by mid-century. Sabine first has to pass a nursing
exam before she can help fill the gap. But she can only
register for the exam once she passes the
B2 German language test, which is equivalent to around
600 hours of German lessons. Only B1 German is required
for her visa… about 400 hours, but it’s insufficient for everyday
nursing care on an oncology ward. If everyone only had B1 on an
international team, that would be fatal. Especially when it
comes to handovers, when patient information is being
passed from one person to the next or when medical orders
need to be carried out. So many mistakes
can happen. Sabine has to
prepare for two exams while working full-time
in a foreign country and getting used to the
hospital’s own bureaucracy. Katrin, may I have
a word with you? Sure. Let’s go to
the conference room… I’m not sleeping
well, unfortunately. There’s so much
pressure, things on my mind. I have to pass
the B2 exam first and then, if I pass, I can take
my nursing exam after that. That’s why there’s
a lot of pressure. If I don’t pass it, I won’t
be able to stay in Germany. I totally understand.
My suggestion would be: Take your language test now in peace
and quiet, so that you get the B2, and we try to contact the school
where you are doing the nursing test, to possibly
postpone it. The clinic tries
to support her, but after a year and
a half as an assistant, Sabine is getting
discouraged. She blames the placement agency that
brought her to Berlin in early 2023. This agency is called German Dream Job.
Yes… German Dream Job, just like that! The agency not only
advertises a dream job, but also free online
German courses. Learn German
with us… I had no idea that wouldn’t be enough.
When I arrived here, the agency told me: No problem, with A2, B1
you can work somewhere. It’s okay! We’ll support
you, it’s all good. It wasn’t like that when I arrived.
I didn’t understand anything. Sabine was quickly disappointed with
the agency after her arrival in Germany. I was at the airport
when he told me, ‘Ah, we don’t have an
apartment for you, but no problem, I’ve spoken to a friend,
and you can rent from her. No one picked you
up from the airport? No, nobody. They found a
basement apartment for me. I didn’t have a toilet, I
didn’t have a kitchen either. I was supposed to pay 720
euros for the basement unit, without a shower or
anything! I had nothing. And it got worse. The agency had promised her a job as a
registered nurse, in a hospital setting, but she discovered she’d been enrolled
in a preparatory course and exam to be recognized as a geriatric
nurse, for work in a nursing home. And I read that and
something inside me thought, that’s not what we were promised.
That’s why I didn’t want to sign it. We went to Oberlausitz, Germany
to find out what went wrong. “German Dream Job” is now
called “Enjoy Your School” and the boss wants to show us
the company’s new Welcome Center. Nursing staff have just 12 weeks
to prepare for their exam here. Only then are they
supposed to start working. Eduard Becker says he’s
learned from past difficulties. Does he
remember Sabine? I remember
one recruit. I don’t know, we
probably had 30 or 40, and one participant was
actually in a home for the blind. It was a complete disaster for
that person. We did a lot for her. We also paid a lot,
including the trip to Germany and we took care of an apartment in
Berlin for her, which is not so easy. Employers pay between 7,000 and 25,000
euros for a care worker placement. Agencies, in return, cover
the cost of language courses and the flight, and
other incidentals. They also arrange accommodation,
depending on the agreement. But why was Sabine suddenly
signed up to become a geriatric nurse, even though she planned
on work as a registered nurse? I remember that well. The
hospital made a mistake. Because the participant was registered
initially in a different state. Yes, they were originally supposed
to go to a different hospital, but then they
went to Berlin, and on the form for Berlin the
box for geriatric care was ticked. The hospital says Sabine
could have simply switched to registered nursing after being
recognized as a geriatric nurse. But that felt too
uncertain to her. I remember very clearly
the secretary shouting at me that the company had
spent a lot of money to bring me here and
that I should just sign. ‘Or else you can just go
back to your country,’ she said. Sabine didn’t sign
and she was fired. Without a job, she lost
her basement apartment. She was homeless after
just a few weeks in Germany. Panicked, she turned to
recruiter, Borja López de Castro. He helped her
find a job in Munich. He has the document
that clearly shows that the original recruitment
agency had initially applied for her to be recognized as a registered
nurse. Sabine had relied on it. When someone has to make
such an important decision, that they decide to
leave their own country for a new future
in another country without knowing anyone
in that new country… They don’t know
where they will work. They need to be informed
in their own language. Attempts to place foreign nursing
staff in geriatric care often go wrong, says Isabell Halletz from the
nursing employers’ association. In many countries, the
job is completely unknown. Elder care is often
provided by family members. If the German structure
isn’t clearly communicated – that it’s not a worse
position in Germany – then of course nurses
are disappointed because they thought they
would be working in a hospital. To help applicants avoid exploitation,
the German Ministry of Health launched the “Fair Recruitment for Nursing Care
in Germany” seal of approval in 2022. But the certification
is voluntary. There is no
regulation. Theoretically anyone and everyone can
call themselves a recruitment agency. Over the years, around 290
agencies have registered with us. But just 51 had received the seal
of approval through January 2025. Part of the seal means ensuring care
workers won’t incur any extra costs when emigrating. A second thing would be for
the applicant to be fully informed about what the nursing profession
in Germany actually looks like. What would the
individual journey from the A1 language course
to entry into Germany look like. This needs
to be clear and there should be no surprises
awaiting nursing professionals. Does emigration work
better with a certified agency? We accompany an agency with the seal
of approval on a recruitment trip. Today we are flying to
different cities in Colombia. We are looking for young people
who want to make a change, and who also have the
inner strength to succeed. And they also have to be
able to learn a foreign language. And the best way to find out,
is to talk to them personally. Our first stop
is Medellín. Once the most dangerous city in the
world but now popular with tourists. Still, the population
remains poor and almost a quarter of
young people are unemployed. The recruiters will set up an
assessment center in this hotel today. First question: Why does an applicant
even want to leave their country? I want a stable job, I want
to have my own house, perhaps a little
kitten by my side. I want to improve my quality of life,
to improve my family’s quality of life. What do you think could become
a real challenge in Germany? The language is something,
that scares me a little bit, living alone
is also scary, all of my life I have been
living with my whole family. Adriana once sat here
too – more than a year ago. Hello, welcome
to our apartment! She has been learning
German for almost a year now. Little sticky notes with German
vocabulary are all over the apartment. Her husband also wants to
learn German and join her. Lunch. Unlike Sabine, Adriana had to take her
B2 exam before she flew to Germany. It has not been easy, and I’ve
had moments of uncertainty. And many times, I
doubted if I could do it. But nothing has ever
been too much for me in life. When you have discipline and
believe in yourself and your dreams and work every day for
them, you can achieve them. So yes, I feel
proud and happy! She also likely succeeded not
only because took the online course, she also spent seven months full time
here at the agency’s language school preparing for the B2 exam,
as well as life in Germany. But applicants have to quit
their job and live on a small grant. Hard work, even though just
B1 would suffice for the visa. The professional recognition process
doesn’t start without a B2 diploma. We only bring the talent to Germany
once they have the B2 language diploma. You can then start the
recognition process straight away and ensure that it is completed
within the prescribed time frame. If not, the young
jobseekers can be exploited. They end up working as assistant carers
– with a lower pay scale of course – for a very long time and may
even fail to gain recognition and have to return
to their home country. Agencies also need to help
navigating through German bureaucracy to increase the
chances of success. Nurses often need a
year to pass the B2 exam. They also must simultaneously
submit all their certificates, which also have to be
translated and verified, to the relevant regional
German authority. The officials check if the
qualifications lack anything compared to German training.
If so, a deficit notice is issued. The skilled workers need the notice
for recognition and for their visas. The process doesn’t
happen over night. Most applications still have
to be submitted in paper form. That is
time-consuming. You have to know what
documents you need, in what format, how they need
to be translated and how they need to be prepared
so that the process can begin. Unfortunately, depending
on the federal state, it sometimes takes a very
long time, up to nine months. And the problem is that if I
make a mistake in the application, then the whole process starts all over
again and I need another nine months. That’s why it’s so important
to submit it correctly. And to be honest, many
people find that difficult! The process is far too
long and complicated. Politicians agree and
introduced a new immigration law for skilled
workers in 2020. I find it unacceptable that we now
need to file for 17 different things if you want to bring in
a nurse from abroad. This has to end,
ladies and gentlemen! An accelerated skilled worker program
was introduced back in March 2020: Applicants can now pay to receive the
deficit notice within just two months. But that costs an extra
400 euros per person. And even then, it
doesn’t always work. The problem with the
accelerated skilled worker program is that it is very slow, it took us
seven months for two candidates. A good idea,
poorly implemented? In our experience, it often only
makes things easier on paper, because we also have more
and more regional authorities that are not able to do the
accelerated skilled worker program, which we saw as a major breakthrough,
because they just don’t have the staff. It doesn’t help companies if they
can apply for faster processes, but it still
takes months for the individual authorities
to make a decision. Another change was made in
2024: the “recognition partnership”. Care workers can
now enter Germany without either a deficit
notice or a B1 diploma. They can start the
process after arrival. But they tend to arrive with
very poor language skills. Sure, but it’s still
the right decision. German language skills should
be acquired here if the nurse, who is still in the recognition
process, is already working in nursing. There is
absolutely no place where a nurse can
learn German faster and better than if they
are already working. We have to get away from the idea that
we can only teach German in a classroom. Another care
worker contacts us. Her story
makes us doubt whether waiting until after emigrating
to learn German is a good idea. Yanileidy emigrated from
Colombia to Berlin in 2022. Like Sabine, with just B1.
She still struggles in German. A small
cappuccino please. Anything else? I was not at all prepared
to come to Germany. My language skills
were practically zero. Her employer,
a Berlin hospital, was obviously just as
overwhelmed by the situation as the new group
imported of care workers. I think it was as big a shock
for them as it was for us. I have 17, 18 years of
experience as a nurse and to suddenly feel
like a trainee again, like someone who has
just started, was terrible. I felt useless, frustrated, like a
fool, like I didn’t know anything. She still had to study
for the B2 language exam and the recognition
test while working. Meanwhile at
home in Colombia, her husband, who
is also a nurse, is waiting with their two
children to be allowed to join her. Her youngest was just 10
months old when she emigrated. When I came here, the
head of the agency told me: You can bring your family
here in three months. But then my husband’s
visa was refused on the grounds that we hadn’t
been married for two years. But we have a six-year-old
son, that’s absurd! Three-month wait turned
into more than two years. When I realized how difficult it
really was to get them here quickly, it became really
awful for me. The stress
became so great that I started to get headaches
more and more often, migraine attacks, to the point
where I suddenly couldn’t see anything and I had to be admitted to a hospital
for three days because of the stress. After two years in Germany, Yanileidy
recently passed the nursing exam. She hopes this will increase her
chances of reuniting her family. Is it really a good idea
to bring skilled workers with even less German
language into the country? Former Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is
asking for more patience with the new laws. I believe that much of what we
are doing here not only sounds good, but also
works well. And we can see this,
among other things, in the fact that the program is growing
so rapidly, from 22,000 to over 30,000. 50% growth in the
program. That is a success. I would be very reluctant
to put this program, which we built up in this legislative
period, up for debate again. More and more nursing staff
are emigrating to Germany,. But not just since the introduction
of the Skilled Immigration Act. But the figures say nothing
about how long the program takes… or how many drop
out beforehand. We also see this in the feedback
from recruitment companies that work in
other countries. Candidates keep dropping
out and going to other countries, because they
are much faster, have lower immigration hurdles,
the US or Canada, for example. They offer very high entry bonuses,
sometimes up to 15,000 US dollars. We could become an even more
attractive employer in Germany, we would just have to lower
our bureaucratic hurdles and switch from a bureaucratic
culture to a welcoming culture. The German government itself is
also trying to recruit nursing staff. Around 5,400 nurses have
come to Germany since 2013 through the state recruitment
program called, Triple Win. The Federal Agency started
recruiting in July 2023 in Colombia where the program is called FIT for the
German Labour Market, or FIMA for short. Our goal is to establish and test
the sustainable and fair recruitment of nursing staff abroad, especially
in countries outside the EU, and to be something of a role
model for others in this field. But a recruitment agreement
with Brazil recently failed. Hubertus Heil, the then
Federal Minister of Labor, traveled to Brazil in
2023 with ambitious goals. Imagine we have an
excellent recruitment campaign and a lot of people come to Germany
but they are immediately put off again because the bureaucracy takes
too long. We can’t afford that. But that is exactly what
seems to have happened: Less than 12 months
after the ministers’ visit, Brazil revoked its agreement to
send care workers to Germany. The Brazilian nursing union
said its nurses complained that the qualification
process was too lengthy and that there was not enough
support for nurses in Germany. Another attempt. This time in Colombia.
Will it work better than in Brazil? We travel to Bogotá and talk to the director of the
Colombian vocational training service. We have enough nurses in this country
and often not all of them find a job! This is a great
opportunity for them. Not only to get a good job, but
also to improve their prospects, broaden their
horizons and, of course, their families here in Colombia
will also benefit from their income. Being paid in Euros
is very important and at the same time it is also an
opportunity to develop professionally! The authorities in Colmbia are
happy to cooperate with Germany. But participants in
the state program only receive an online language
course at the Goethe-Institut, and usually only
up to the B1 level. What benefit does the federal
recruitment program offer? There are reservations for
appointments at embassies so that visas can be
issued more quickly. I would say that the fast
tracked state program is also desirable because one stands
out from the private sector recruitment. It’s quicker and… cheaper
for employers, says Halletz. For comparison: a hospital pays around
10,000 euros for a foreign nurse through a
state program. With a private agency with
a comprehensive service, it can cost more
than twice as much. However, privately recruited
nurses usually speak better German and are closely
supervised. More than 90% of hospitals
recruit through private companies because the government program’s
services are heavily regulated and a lot of responsibility
is shifted to the employers. Back in Colombia. Adriana doesn’t yet know that
without the government fast track, she may have to wait many
more months for her visa. But she is ready, trying to spend as
much time with her family as possible. Her mother’s heart
is already heavy: My daughter! Aren’t you going to
miss your daughter? Yes, I will! Adriana’s husband
paid for her studies. He is a mechanical engineer and
wants to join her as soon as possible. We’ve done a lot of
research on Germany. Our dreams of making it as a
couple in Germany are very big, hopefully they are bigger
than the difficulties that await us. Fears and doubts are
best dispelled with music. The next week,
the time will come. Adriana will finally have her
appointment at the embassy. She’s waited two months. All the
necessary documents are ready… Her German employment
contract with a hospital in Bielefeld and her
deficit notice. She hopes the visa can
now be issued quickly. But embassies are another
bottleneck. Depending on the country, it can take anywhere from a few
weeks to many months to get a visa. The process is supposed
to get faster in Bogotá. We are getting support insofar as we
are now part of an outsourcing process. We can hand in
visas for processing to our subordinate Federal
Office for Foreign Affairs. There doesn’t necessarily have
to be someone here to process it once everything has
been recorded and entered. Adriana’s visa application will be
sent to the new outsourcing center at the Federal Office for Foreign
Affairs. Let’s see if it goes faster. Five months after our first shoot with
Sabine, we meet up with her again. Not in Munich, but in
Grimma near Leipzig. She has moved in
with her boyfriend and quit her job at
Munich University Hospital. I decided to leave because things weren’t working
out well for me on the team. And it was
very stressful. She’s looking
for a new job. Although she has now
passed her B2 exam, she is still not recognized
as a nursing specialist. She believes that she would
have been spared the trouble if she had worked
for another agency that had better prepared
her for life in Germany, both linguistically and practically.
She’d like to see more accountability. I wish the companies that bring people
from abroad were checked very carefully. Because there are a
thousand possibilities, but you don’t know exactly
which one will support you well or if someone will cheat you
or even if it’s a real company. So that you don’t end up in a
basement somewhere, like I did. Sabine found her
agency on Instagram. At that time, the seal of approval
that certifies agencies didn’t exist. Does the seal help nurses
choosing their agencies today? How many of you
have heard of the “Fair Recruitment for Nursing
Care in Germany” seal of approval? Excuse me?
Nobody knows it! This is a certificate: a seal
of approval! A certificate. Never heard of it? A survey of 227 nurses shows that
more than 90% have never heard of it. What use is a seal that
nobody abroad knows about? We can never ensure that our
certificates are known worldwide. I’m not aware of any
advertising budget and I don’t think it’s
absolutely necessary as long as the companies,
those that are active here, actually know
about the certificates. That means that it’s actually a
seal of approval for the employers, who can then be more confident
of getting well-prepared specialists. Unlike what happened at the hospital
in Berlin where Yanileidy was placed. The seal didn’t
exist back then. I think at some point
the hospital asked itself: What should
we do with them? It wasn’t just me, we were a
large group of foreign nursing staff. They assigned a
person especially for us. An integration officer who dealt
exclusively with foreign nursing staff. He called an emergency
meeting and called in an interpreter. He acted as a mediator between
us and all the ward managers, the hospital
management also took part and I remember I told them not to see
us as a problem, but as a resource. The hospital then helped
her find a bigger apartment. But she had to organize a new residence
permit and the German courses herself. All of which
took time. If I had known
this beforehand, I wouldn’t have come to Germany,
because of the time it takes. I told myself beforehand,
come on, one year, you can do it. Now it’s already two and
I’ve done everything now, I’ve passed all the
exams, I’ve done it all. She finally got her German
professional certificate. She hopes that it will now be
easier for her family to join her as a recognized
skilled worker. If the application for family
reunification is rejected again, she wants to
return to Colombia. We drive to the Bethel
clinic in Bielefeld. Adriana will soon
be working here. The clinic has been waiting for
months for Adriana to get her visa. The new outsourcing center was
supposed to make things faster. No, I don’t have the impression
that anything has changed. We pay a
lot of money and of course we expect the
specialists and then it doesn’t work! And then it
finally does work. In September 2024, three months
after she applied for her visa, Adriana is allowed
to leave for Germany! The agency staff wait at the airport
to greet her and another care worker. Adriana is excited. It’s her
first time in a foreign country. I’m happy, a little sad
too, but I’m very happy! Tomorrow we’ll start with the
Resident Registration office, and opening a
bank account. Getting a tax payer ID is also
very important in Germany, so you can get
your salary on time. And then the handover to the employer,
so that everything runs smoothly. The hospital found them an
apartment in a nurses’ residence. The two integration managers, Saskia
and Vicky, welcome the new arrivals. They are there to help the foreign
nursing staff adapt and adjust. The biggest question is
always: Where will I work? Who are my colleagues? Who
are the people I have to deal with? And how can I organize
my everyday life here? The first thing on the agenda
is a guided tour of the city. It’s also a kind of “survival”
training. Survival in Germany. These are crosswalks, do you recognize
them? No. This is the cycle path. And you really shouldn’t
walk there as a pedestrian! The two Colombians have
never ridden a subway like this. Then things get serious and
they meet their future boss. Hello, welcome. My name is Rafael
Knossalla. Lovely to have you here! The new recruits soon meet
two colleagues from Chile who have been there for a
while and are encouraging. In the beginning
it was chaos for us and there is also a lot of
bureaucracy here. It was exhausting. Yes, but I don’t think it was that
difficult because we had support and Vicky and Saskia
were always there. Even today! We’ve been here for eight
months, but if we still have problems, for example because we’re looking
for an apartment or something, we can reach out to them,
email or call. They’re always there! It’s always about providing a warm
home. But it’s also very practical. How is my home furnished?
Do I have WIFI? That’s crucial. A typical example: We
fill the fridge beforehand so that they don’t
have to go out and figure out where to
get groceries right away. The clinic’s hope: if
you’re not homesick, you might be able to gain recognition
more quickly and stay for the long term. As a surgical
assistant, Adriana has to learn how to find her
way around the German operating room. Her first
impression: All good, the way the
surgery is performed here is very similar to the
way it’s done in Colombia. It’s all good. If everything goes
according to plan, she will pass the nursing exam a year
and a half after entering the country. Then the whole process of emigration
will have taken two and a half years, despite having a certified
agency and a committed employer. For Yanileidy, it
was almost four. And for Sabine, it’s still not
clear whether she’ll even make it. She is currently looking for a job,
and has to extend her residence permit. But that can only be done in
Munich, where she was last registered. An annoying hassle. I would like to see
a digital Germany. It shouldn’t matter if it’s here or
Bavaria, it’s all the same structure. She’s not the only
one who thinks so. Our demand
is simple: That there is a welcoming authority
in the Federal Republic of Germany, and that it takes care of the
entire administrative process, which may take three
or four hours in total, in a friendly and
courteous manner. And that we are also
competitive with other countries. With the US or Canada, for
example, which also actively recruit. And that we do not
lose out due to a slow, poorly functioning
German bureaucracy. …Just as was almost the case with
Yanileidy. But she has good news: Six months after
our first meeting, the family reunification
is finally successful. Her children are here!
And: she speaks German! Yes, finally here! How long
did it take? Almost three
years or so. Years in which her husband
was alone with the two children. Now they hardly
know their mother. And her marriage did
not survived the long wait. Yanileidy and her children
now have to cope on their own. Does she feel at least
a little welcome here? Not at first. People are a bit
unfriendly, actually, very unfriendly. I survived though, thank God!
With the support of my team. It’s just not possible without
the support of an employer. And even then, Yanileidy wouldn’t
necessarily recommend other nurses to emigrate
to Germany. They need to find
a proper company, arrive here with
good German, that’s very
important. If you are here without the
language and you also have to work, and then after work, go
to school to learn German, your head will
just explode.