Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co KG is a family owned shipping company with headquarters in Lübeck. The company operates about 700 bulk carriers and has 20 offices around the world. We employ approximately 4,500 people from 60 countries. On occasion we have to relocate staff from those overseas offices to our German headquarters. The State Administration for Immigration and Refugees Neumünster, has been an invaluable service in helping us with the relocations.

A nice particularity about working at Oldendorff Carriers is that people of different nationalities work together. This is not only the case for the crewmembers on board our vessels and the offices worldwide, but also for our Head Office in Lübeck. There are many reasons for a move to Germany. New young employees are prepared to leave their home countries after graduating and start their careers in shipping. Employees from other locations are transferred to Germany to enhance their career. From an employer's point of view, it should be mentioned that the shortage of skilled workers in Germany represents an obstacle in the search for qualified shipping professionals.

Our Oldendorff on boarding team gets in touch with the new colleagues as soon as the employment contract has been signed. In the case of employees who do not come from Europe, the first step is for us to take care of the application for a work permit.

Until now, the application for a work permit was made at the German Embassy in the employee's home country. For many countries, there are waiting periods of months, sometimes agencies are interposed. Sometimes foreign degrees have to be recognized first before the process can be handled. The application is checked through several institutions (e.g. the Federal Employment Agency and the local foreigners authority in Germany). The processing is often time-consuming and anonymous and filling out the applications is not always easy for the employee.

We tried the accelerated visa procedure via the State Administration for Immigration and Refugees Neumünster for the first time when we hired a Russian Superintendent in July 2020. The regular waiting times at the German Embassy in Moscow were additionally extended due to the Covid 19 restrictions. In addition, the trip to the embassy involved several hours of travel for our employee.

The State Administration for Immigration and Refugees quickly responded to our visa request and guided us through the entire process. After the employee had given us a written power of attorney, we as the employer were able to initiate and accompany the procedure for him. The application was checked and pre-approved in Neumünster. Mr. Czarnecki from the State Administration for Immigration and Refugees was available to us as a contact person throughout the process. Where necessary, he also contacted and involved the employee directly. Once the application was approved in Neumünster, our employee was able to get an appointment at the German Embassy in Moscow within three weeks and obtain the entry visa.

After this first visa case, the State Administration for Immigration and Refugees supported us a few more times. We are currently going through the accelerated visa procedure with two Turkish and one Bosnian specialists.

In summary, we can say that the processing time is shorter, the procedure itself is easier for the employee, and we as employers have an experienced contact person at our side to guide us through the visa application process and answer our questions.

We thank the State Administration for Immigration and Refugees for this great service and look forward to a continued good cooperation!