My tip: Plan ahead well in advance (at least 8 weeks). Bureaucratic procedures take their time, and nothing could be worse than the moment in which you have already booked your flight, but the visa is not yet granted.
My name is Christian Lecke and I study electrical and information technologies with focus on automation technologies at THM, EI department. I’m currently in my 5th semester. After passing my foundation courses and the 1st semester of the main courses for my degree program, I decided that it would be a good opportunity to gather experience abroad. Due to my professional education and work experience I've already gathered at B. Braun Melsungen AG, my initial starting position was already well-established.
The application for a semester abroad did not present any problems. Thanks to my contact to B. Braun, which I made during my previous employment relationship, establishing contacts in the US was easy. Things even went so smoothly that the biggest challenge left was to write my application in professional English and meet the company’s requirements as quickly as possible.
After my application was granted, I had to deal with organizational matters – the most annoying part of my trip abroad. In order to receive a travel visa, students from Germany are to first apply to the German American Chamber of Commerce in New York. After it’s issued, you are to make an appointment with a consul in Germany. Here, you finally receive your visa – but it goes without saying that this does include further examination of your documents! My tip: Plan ahead well in advance (at least 8 weeks). Bureaucratic procedures take their time, and nothing could be worse than the moment in which you have already booked your flight, but the visa is not yet granted.
Booking your flight, to the contrary, is relatively unproblematic. The two criteria I considered were the price and the amount of luggage I was allowed to bring with me. Eventually, I booked my flight at a travel agency – and to my surprise, it was even cheaper than on the internet, and I was allowed to carry two pieces of luggage with me. If one can take care of things well in advance, finishing everything within the given deadlines and booking the flight at a reasonable price shouldn’t be a problem. Other essentials such as renting an apartment, leasing a car etc. were provided by my employer. This is a considerable privilege, of course.
That is to say, the “only” thing that was left to keep in mind before my eventual departure was that I must have all necessary documents ready-to-hand (travel passport, ID card, international driving license, visa, plane tickets).
In my next post, I’ll give you an overview of my first impressions of the US: where and how I live, as well as my first contact with co-workers. See you there!