I am a manufacturer and supplier of leather products. I want to open my own shop or warehouse in Germany and I will import my own products from India. Can you please tell me what will be the place to do a leather business in Germany? What will be the requirements of setting up business and expenses?
If you are not citizen of the EU, in order to set up a business in Germany, you will need a residence permit for the purpose of self-employment (“Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Ausübung einer selbständigen Tätigkeit”). As you are not yet living in Germany, you need to apply for a visa for the purpose of self-employed occupation at the competent German Mission in your current country of residence. You will find the local contact here. General information on visa process is available on “Make it in Germany”: www.make-it-in-germany.com.
Please note that there a several criteria which need to be fulfilled in order to obtain the residence permit for the purpose of self-employment. This depends on whether you work as a freelancer (“Freiberufler”) or set up a business as a self-employed entrepreneur (“Gewerbe”). If you would like to set up a business as a self-employed entrepreneur (in your case: to open a leather warehouse), you will need to apply for a residence permit for the purpose of self-employment. To obtain this permit, you will need to fulfil a number of general criteria and some additional requirements, which you should ideally cover convincingly in your business plan. A Residence permit will cost you a maximum of 140 Euros, while a settlement permit will cost 260 Euros at most. As a rule, the fee for visas is 60 Euros.
For further questions regarding the visa process please contact the German Mission in your country of residence - especially for questions concerning the required documents.
There are many ways of setting up your business. You can set up a business by yourself, do it in a team up with others or acquire an existing company. Here you will find first information on the different forms of setting up a business. Furthermore you will find helpful advices on financing and funding on “Make it in Germany”: www.make-it-in-germany.com.
Step by step information regarding setting up a business in Germany is available on the website "Make it in Germany": www.make-it-in-germany.com.
Keep in mind, as you are operating in Germany, a good command of German is important. Even as you prepare your business, you will find that many official documents are available in German only. If your German isn’t good enough yet, you should make sure to take a language course before you set up your business (www.make-it-in-germany.com). Some advanced courses have a special focus on the business world.
* Please note:
The information presented here is a general service offering. Only the German missions and the foreigners’ authorities are responsible for the issuance of visa resp. residence permits. For further questions, please contact directly the respective authority.
We wish you all the best.
Source: Justina Alichniewicz
Projekt „Make it in Germany“
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln e.V.
Juni 2017
