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I have this freelance job by a company which is not registered in Germany and I am going to Germany on study visa. Study visa allows me to work 20 hours/week. My company will wire money to my home country and not to Germany. Can I work on this job while I don't get paid in Germany and can I work more than 20 hours a week? To be precise, I am working in Germany on Study visa while getting paid in my home country.

Umair A.
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  • Hey NEO, can you clarify this just a bit further. Where are you going to be physically? Can you use letter designations to denote job 1 and job 2 and indicate which is the freelancing company allowing you 20 hours per week? As it stands, this is slightly confusing and possibly too broad for our questions and answers format. – jmort253 Mar 10 '14 at 01:34
  • I will be in Germany physically but will work remotely. There's not job1 and job2. I am a game developer and can do it anywhere. – Umair A. Mar 10 '14 at 07:15
  • So the money, will it be in your home country when you're back? Hopefully, it's not going to the void. :) BTW this is much clearer thanks for the edits. – jmort253 Mar 10 '14 at 07:31
  • No problem. Yes it will be in my home country and I will probably return after a year or two. – Umair A. Mar 10 '14 at 08:02
  • How should German authorities get the information about the numbers you are working as freelancer? – Christian Mar 10 '14 at 09:09
  • I don't think they can get this information because the employer is not registered in Germany. – Umair A. Mar 10 '14 at 09:21
  • @Christian: Quite simple actually. They will demand proof of where your income came from to buy things like ... food, pay rent. What are you going to tell them if not lying? Keep in mind that not paying the taxes properly defeats the very system (being a student in a nother country). German universities (usually) don't charge fees except for private ones which are actually very rare here... – serverhorror Mar 10 '14 at 20:15
  • I have blocked account there in Germany which has enough money to support me for a year and after that I will be back my home country. So that's the money I am using to live there. It's a standard procedure for all students to deposit living expenses of at least a year in advance. – Umair A. Mar 11 '14 at 09:11

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If you are not being paid in Germany, not paying German taxes, and it is not affecting your school work, then I think you can. So long as you keep your grades up the German government will not know that you work more than 20 hours a week as a freelancer. If they ask, I would state that you work for the company, but stretch the truth that you work no more than 20 hours a week.

It is important to know though, that if they catch you lying on this paperwork, that you can get in trouble. It varies on how much trouble, but it is a possibility. (In the US not abiding by your agreement while on Visa status can get your visa revoked) however as a freelancer it's a lot harder for them to track down exactly how much you've worked.

Hope this helps.

kittenchops
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    Hey kittenchops, welcome to Freelancing SE and thanks for weighing in. One concern I have is the "I think you can" in the first sentence. As a Stack Exchange Q&A site, we're looking for definitive answers to questions supported by facts, references, or even experiences that happened to you personally. If you're sure this is correct and factual, please consider editing to include some references for further reading. Hope this helps and thanks again! – jmort253 Jul 07 '14 at 01:34
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    I do not see, why the german government should be interested in your grades. – Daniel Nov 04 '14 at 22:39