Am I allowed to work as self-employed right away?

Question

Since when on am I able to work as self-employed?

Answer 1

Hi,

As soon as you are allowed to work you can become self-employed. Therefore you need a Gewerbeschein (trade license) for Kleingewerbe (small trade). You can get this in your town for 20 Euros (you only have to pay for it once). With this paper you can do small services (e.g. gardening) as they are supported by Aiden for example. Other professions might be more complicated than that when it comes to the question which papers you need. If you need specific information for certain professions you can just ask and we can try to answer your question.
The general advantage of being self-employed is that you do not need to find an employer. Instead you can start working on your own right away.

Comments

What are the legal conditions and limitations that I need to be aware of when I want to become self-employed?

---

Right now the only way to be self-employed is “Kleingewerbe”. This is when you make revenue which is less than 17.500 Euro per year. So this is not something that is going to make you rich, but it is a very good way to get started. If you want to found a real company than it is going to be way more complicated because you will have to make some high-level investments to be competitive.

---

Do I have a health insurance, an unemployment insurance and holidays when I am self-employed?

---

No, for example you do not have paid vacations and you will not get paid if you are sick and have to stop working. You are your own boss. This is why you can decide on your own when you work and when you take a day off. Of course this goes hand in hand with a lot of responsibilities and might be more risky than being employed at a company.

---

What are the risks of being self-employed?

---

Of course there is a risk to fail with you business, but since you are only allowed to be self-employed on a small level (max. 17.500 Euros a year) the risk is not that high. In case you fail or if your sales are not high enough you get money from the Jobcenter or other agencies again. The risk, so to say, is that you do not earn that much money in this case.

---

What are the legal conditions if I have not got my legal status yet but I want to become self-employed?

---

As far as I know there is no way to do that right now.

---

And what if there is a foreign company that wants to have me as their partner here in Germany (for example to import their products to Germany)? I am not talking about employment but partnership.

---

That depends on what you mean with partnership. Either you are employed with a work contract or you are self-employed. And that always depends on your current status. Keep in mind that you are still limited to the 17.500 Euros.