NRI recounts how Germany changed life — From ‘temporary chapter’ to setting up a startup and expanding family business

An NRI on Reddit described how Germany changed his life over the years since he arrived in Germany five years ago in 2021. The Redditor, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), recalled how this foreign land was supposed to be a ‘temporary chapter’ as he planned to stay for some time just to pursue his Master's degree and eventually move back to India to run his family business. However, he stayed abroad longer than expected and even set up a startup and expanded family business.

The caption to the Reddit post shared on 9 August states, “Germany ended up changing my entire life.” Revealing that he secured permanent residence permit this year, he wrote, “I came to Germany from India in 2021 to pursue my Master's degree. At the time, my plan was pretty straightforward: come to Germany, finish my studies, and eventually go back to India to run the family business.”

Giving a glimpse of his professional life, personal and career growth, he stated, “I finished my Master's in 2024 and landed a job around the same time. Things worked out well professionally….Back in India, especially during my Bachelor's, I was a pretty introverted guy. Moving to a completely new country and living alone changed that. I started meeting people and making friends, going out, dating, experiencing new things and, most importantly, becoming much more comfortable with myself.”

‘Germany was supposed to be a temporary chapter’

The techie, who works in AI for a large energy sector turbine manufacturer, further revealed that he was getting married in the coming week. Recollecting how “Germany was initially just supposed to be a temporary chapter”, turned out to be a decisive transformation that changed his life, he appreciated the business-friendly environment supporting startups.

“I have become a better version of myself. I've started thinking differently about the future. I'm expanding the family business here, building something of my own, taking some risks and seeing where it goes. And contrary to what I had found online, starting a company was much smoother than i had hoped. The start up support is really great,” he wrote.

Concluding the post, he thanked the country for its offerings, and stated, “I don't know exactly where that journey will take me yet, but I do know that Germany has given me a lot more than I originally came here for.” In the comment thread, he noted, “Got to reinvent myself and the older version of me feels like a distant memory.”

How did social media react?

A user wrote, “The exact opposite happened to me. Extrovert in my country became introvert in Germany. Now i am an introvert in both.”

Another user remarked, “I love Germany. I love the culture....the order and predictability. Its the kind of place I like visiting. Not sure about moving there though because the language is taking me abit longer to learn than I expected. I however go there for vacation only. But its definitely a good place in my opinion.”

A third comment read, “Well, I think anything is easier for anyone who has a family business at a scale which is easily possible to expand to a new country. When you have that status in life you have lot of privileges what most people moving to Germany would not have.”

A fourth user stated, “Well, I think anything is easier for anyone who has a family business at a scale which is easily possible to expand to a new country. When you have that status in life you have lot of privileges what most people moving to Germany would not have.”