Microsoft has announced the availability of Azure OpenAI. It allows companies to integrate services such as GPT, Dall-E or Codex into their cloud applications. The highly publicised ChatGPT should arrive soon.

It was Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who announced in a blog the general availability of Azure OpenAI. It must be said that the subject is trendy with the recent media coverage of ChatGPT and the financial interest of the Redmond firm in the start-up. In concrete terms, Azure OpenAI has been in testing for a year and offers companies the opportunity to integrate OpenAI tools into their cloud applications.

Among these services, companies will be able to use GPT version 3.5, which is the generative AI engine used by ChatGPT and PowerBI. There is also Codex, the basis of Copilot, GitHub's code completion solution and Dall-E, an AI-based image generator. Among the uses, the Microsoft boss highlights some feedback from test customers such as Al Jazeera, which works with Azure OpenAI on content extraction, translation and topic scheduling. For its part, KPMG relies on the tool to make "significant gains" on its CSR tax system.

ChatGPT will arrive soon

However, ChatGPT is not yet included in the Azure OpenAI package. In his presentation Satya Nadella indicated that this service would arrive soon. Microsoft believes in the potential of the conversational assistant to the point of wanting to integrate it into several services such as the search engine Bing or in several programs of the Office suite (Word, PowerPoint and Outlook). At the Davos forum, the executive said that tools like ChatGPT are needed to boost productivity. "We need something that really changes the productivity curve, to have real economic growth," he said.

Lastly, the availability of the service is announced as general by Microsoft. But our colleagues at The Register have noted that the service is available in four American regions and one in Western Europe. It is likely that the announcement effect is spread over time on the deployment and that Azure OpenAI will be fully operational for all in a few days.

As a long-standing partner, Renault is strengthening its ties with Google Cloud around two axes: connected vehicles by creating a specific OS based on Android and the extension of digital twins to all of the automotive group's activities to develop future uses.

New technologies sequence for Renault, which yesterday unveiled its strategic plan by highlighting advanced partnerships including with Google Cloud around the connected vehicles of tomorrow via its subsidiary Ampere (electric vehicle and software), but also on the digital transformation of the company. The two companies know each other well and have been working together since 2018 with a first agreement on the Android Automotive OS integrated into cars (including the Mégane E-Tech). In 2020, it had been strengthened around a particular business need: paint optimization on vehicles. The automotive group used Google's computing power and artificial intelligence and machine learning processing to meet this task. The result was expected to be energy savings of 10 to 20%.
The creation of a dedicated and standardized OS

Today, the partnership is moving up a notch around two pillars: the vehicle and the company's digital transformation. On the first point, "we want to go further than just integrating Android Automotive by creating a real operating system for the vehicle," says Frédéric Vincent, Renault's CIO. He adds, "There is very little standardization in this area. Today, we have to deal with 80 to 60 ECUs and 5 to 7 domain controllers. For each new service, we have to make changes to the hardware. For example, it takes two years to create a virtual key.

Hence the idea of having a standardized and open digital architecture that the manufacturer calls SDV (Software Defined Vehicle). The Android-based platform will manage the middleware and applications. "The specifications are demanding, the platform must be long term with support over ten years, scalable to accommodate future services, open to facilitate the connection with the data and be offered to other OEMs," continues the CIO. The first results of the partnership, which also includes Qualcomm on the component part around Snapdragon, are expected by 2026 with the release of FlexEVan.

A generalization of digital twins

Obviously this pillar could not work without the help of the second axis of the agreement around the continuation of the carmaker's digital transformation and in particular digital twins and the cloud. "On the digital twin, we started on the production plants and this has proven to be a great asset to adapt the lines according to the shortage of components. We now need to go further by creating digital twins for all the group's activities," says Frédéric Vincent. To achieve this, the manufacturer will accelerate its "move to cloud" strategy initiated in 2017.

"We are clearly committed to a cloud first approach, there is no new development today that is not done in the cloud. But Renault is a 120-year-old company with a significant application heritage. We are therefore remaining pragmatic about this migration," says the CIO. He adds, "the challenge for the company is to get rid of the skills on the infrastructure, both on the network and on the storage. Hence the preferred partnership with Google Cloud. The IT teams of the manufacturer prefer to focus on the development of new services from the collection and analysis of data. "The first work is focused on predictive maintenance of vehicles," says Thierry Cammal, general manager of Renault Software Labs. But the group is looking at other uses, such as bridges with insurance companies, which can adapt their offers according to driving data. Renault will therefore provide information on drivers, who will see their premiums rise or fall.

A recent study predicts increases next year in most digital occupations in France. Among the roles that are expected to benefit, developers, network administrators, product designers and cyber specialists rank high due to higher demand.

On the occasion of the publication of its 2023 Salary Guide, the recruitment firm Robert Half expects salaries to increase compared to the current year for most IT and digital jobs. In this French ranking, five functions stand out in the information systems, digital and commercial categories. Code professionals are always in high demand and will still be in a strong position during salary negotiations. As a result, an entry-level development engineer will earn €40,000 in gross annual compensation in 2023 and up to €60,000 if he or she has advanced expertise. Lead developers are expected to do even better, with salaries ranging from €55,000 (low end) to €80,000 (high end) next year.

Robert Half also forecasts salary increases in systems and network administration and product design (between €40,000 and over €55,000 respectively, depending on the degree of expertise). The same is true for the IT security sector, where the pay slip shows €50,000 for a cyber specialist at the beginning of his or her career and up to €70,000 for an experienced profile. In the sales disciplines, IT sales managers (or sales executives) will also be among the 5 best valued professions with an average salary of between €45,000 gross per year (for a junior profile) and €70,000 (for a senior profile).
IT projects at the heart of priorities

After the economic situation of companies plummeted at the beginning of the health crisis, the recovery seems to be here. Thus, CIOs show a high level of optimism supported by the investment in IT projects and their deployment over the past two years. 73% are more confident about their company's growth prospects for the coming year than they were last year (compared to 60% in 2021).

Increased financial resources and budgets (49%), increased headcount (42%), and expanded business opportunities (40%) explain this paradigm shift. Against this backdrop, 89% of IT departments plan to recruit in the coming months, and nearly a third (31%) anticipate creating new positions. However, they say they are held back by a shortage of technical profiles, leading to increased competition.
Recruitment difficulties set to continue

Indeed, 90% of CIOs expect it to be as difficult or more difficult to recruit in 2023 than in 2022, while 49% believe it will be more difficult. 68% are concerned about their ability to attract the best candidates. The salary criterion cited by 40% of respondents is the number one concern when it comes to attracting talent. Their main concern? Seeing their best talent being poached (36% of respondents). Logically, CIOs' recruitment challenges focus on their ability to identify and secure the most qualified profiles. As evidence of this, 34% cite finding talent with the right skills as the number one issue. Another 31% cite the ability to compete.

One of the highest turnover rates in the market

When asked which categories are the most difficult to find, 36% of IT managers mention cybersecurity, 34% cite network management, while 33% point to cloud and infrastructure. CIOs are also looking for the soft skills needed to drive and advance projects. The preferred qualities are teamwork (31%), as well as motivation and adaptability (26% respectively). For Quentin de Beaufort, Director at Robert Half France, IT specialists will continue to be under pressure in 2023, as the shortage of profiles is still strong, as are the needs of companies. Not to mention the fact that this field is not spared by a phenomenon of high turnover.

"More than a third of CIOs (34%) have seen an increase in turnover over the past year," says the executive. "The importance given to recruitment strategies will be essential to attract and retain talent, he recommends. It will be necessary to play on the salary criterion of course, but also to meet the requirements of candidates in terms of flexibility, but also of corporate culture, which are particularly strong for these profiles," he concludes.

In terms of popularity, Python, Java and C++ still occupy the top three spots in Anywr's ranking of the most used computer languages. But with the arrival of low/no-code technologies, this ranking could change rapidly, driven by the challenges of the developer deficit and the ecological transition

ompanies will place more and more importance on no-code technologies to cope with the shortage of developers and energy challenges. This is the main finding of Anywr (formerly Cooptalis) in its latest barometer of the most in-demand IT languages. To carry out this survey, the platform specialising in the recruitment and placement of candidates analysed a sample of more than 1,000 international job offers in the IT professions between January and September 2022. The results reveal two trends. On the one hand, a concentration of companies' needs and projects around a few languages and uses. On the other hand, recruiters are increasingly interested in automation platforms. In this ranking, it appears that the six languages that came out on top, namely Python, Java, C++, Javascript C and PHP, alone represent 50% of the job offers analysed. As a reminder, according to the State of the Octoverse report published by Github every year, there are 370 computer languages commonly used in the world and to which developers regularly contribute. The concentration phenomenon is therefore particularly marked here.

A timid but noticeable arrival of Rust

However, the study indicates that despite its number one position, Python is regularly singled out as a major resource consumer. As a result, it could give way to certain outsiders, notably Rust, which came in 22nd position and is considered to be high-performance and less memory-hungry. In addition, the trend towards low or no code technologies, which allow applications to be developed without mastering the usual computer languages, is likely to gain ground given the growing shortage of developers. This phenomenon could turn this ranking upside down in the years to come, warns the recruitment platform.

In the meantime, Python remains the big winner in terms of popularity, despite its low speed and high memory consumption. The reasons for its success are its numerous development possibilities in machine learning, AI, big data, data science, video games, robotics and cybersecurity. Ease of use and learning, various frameworks and a very active community also explain its growth. In this trifecta, we find Java in second place. The native language of Android has been in the top three for a very long time. For its part, C++ has made a strong comeback, reaching third place in the ranking, where it has been in the top 10 computer languages since 1986.

Still a strong need for IT development

After the leading group of general-purpose languages, come the technologies associated with more specific uses - SQL and NoSQL for databases, HTML, CSS or JavaScript for hypertext - and those more recent and particularly recommended by certain operating systems for coding native applications, such as Kotlin for Android. For the time being, before these possible changes, the continuing digital transformation of companies and the persistence of needs for website development (back and front end), web and mobile applications, combined with the acceleration of IT projects linked to the exploitation of data, explain the order of appearance of programming languages in this ranking.

Source: www.lemondeinformatique 

The BMW Group and AWS (Amazon Web Services) today announced a strategic partnership that will see the two businesses together develop cutting-edge cloud technologies with the goal of fully using the data potential of upcoming car generations. Additionally, the two businesses are working together to create commercial, ready-to-use cloud solutions for safely handling car data. Like in all prior cooperation, the BMW Group maintains complete and sole control over data and complies with local market-specific data protection laws.

Currently, the linked fleet of BMW Group vehicles transmits upwards of ten billion inquiries each day to the "backend," as the IT infrastructure in the cloud is known, which is used to operate and manage the connected vehicle operations. Customer functions like the My BMW App, driver assistance features, charging-optimized route advice, and hazard identification on the road are all based on vehicle data and how it is connected to the cloud. Vehicle data is crucial to the business as well because it is used for certain duties including enhancing customer services, quality management, and after-sales procedures.

The BMW Group established a common access point for internal users of vehicle-generated data in 2017 in order to keep up with the constantly expanding number of linked vehicles. The firm did this by taking steps to ensure that customer data is protected and securely processed in compliance with data privacy standards - across all markets in which the firm operates. The BMW Group will once again own sole ownership of the data in this most recent agreement. Without having access to or knowledge of the data produced by the fleet of connected vehicles owned by the BMW Group, AWS offers cloud infrastructure and services.

Future BMW Group developers will be able to quickly and easily get the required data while working on data-driven improvements to consumer operations thanks to a self-service portal. The BMW Group's engineers and data experts will be able to completely concentrate on the content and quality of the data because the portal will run smoothly and efficiently thanks to the usage of AWS services and dependable infrastructure. Additionally, with the customer's permission, data is also made accessible to third parties for potential applications.

Source: https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0404359EN/bmw-group-collaborates-with-aws-to-bring-new-cloud-technologies-for-fast-and-reliable-availability-of-digital-innovations?language=en

Recruiters are not done with shortages, according to PageGroup's 2023 salary survey. In the tech sector, tensions will continue and some profiles should see their salaries increase by more than 5%.

Tensions will remain in the job market in 2023. Skills shortages and inflationary pressures will not make life easier for recruiters in the IT and digital professions. According to PageGroup's 2023 salary survey, "all IT functions will be under pressure with a shortage of candidates. This problem will particularly affect experts in cybercrime, systems engineering, cloud and data".

DATA ENGINEER, SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR, DEVELOPER

In IT, the study identifies five key profiles that will be in particular demand in 2023: cybersecurity experts, SAP profiles, experts in agile methodology, DevOps and DevSecOps, and cloud experts.

Those who should see their salaries increase the fastest are project managers (+5%, with a starting salary between 38,000 and 45,000 euros), developers, data engineers (+8%), system and network administrators (+6%), and cybersecurity consultants. A cybersecurity engineer can expect a salary of 45 to 60K between 2 and 5 years of experience.

UI/UX DESIGNER, TRAFFIC MANAGER, CRM MANAGER, DATA ANALYST

In the digital sector, 70% of companies say they are having difficulty recruiting. Experts in data science, digital campaigns, e-store managers, UX designers, chiefs digital officers, and specialists in e-reputation and web marketing (inbound marketing, bid manager, product owner...) will be spoilt for choice when it comes to finding an employer.

According to PageGroup, the professions that will benefit from the most significant salary increases are UI designers, UX designers (40K for a young graduate, up to 80K between 5 and 15 years of experience), traffic managers, CRM managers, and data analysts (38 to 55K after 5 years of career).

ROBOTICS, CYBERSECURITY, IOT

Among engineers and technicians, the consulting and recruitment firm also lists several jobs described as "rare and booming": robotics technician, connected object designer, automation and robotics engineer, embedded electronics engineer, industrial cybersecurity engineer. In these professions, salaries range from 28 to 38K for young graduates, and from 35 to 45K after 5 years of experience.

As for outsourced skills, the most sought-after tech consultants are still developers, ahead of project management consultants, test engineers, business analysts and project managers. The study notes that 83% of IT managers want to outsource security, which promises good prospects for specialized consultants.

Source: www.usine-digitale.fr

A month and a half after its OCI cloud and Azure opened a direct link to its database, Oracle is bringing MySQL HeatWave to AWS public cloud customers. This managed OLTP query acceleration and analytics service provides a native user interface on the AWS console.

After Azure, AWS. Oracle continues to integrate its cloud services natively with those of its direct competitors. Competitors who, admittedly, largely outstrip all others in the public cloud market. Simultaneously with the financial results of its first fiscal quarter of 2023, showing an 18% increase in revenue to $11.4 billion (see box), Oracle is delivering its MySQL HeatWave query gas pedal in the Amazon Web Services public cloud. This announcement comes just 8 weeks after the announcement of Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure, which gives Azure customers direct access to databases running on OCI, Oracle's cloud infrastructure.

MySQL Autopilot from the AWS Console

Last year, Oracle enhanced the performance of its gas pedal by adding Autopilot, a component that automates the delicate steps of HeatWave's high-performance queries for transactional workloads: allocation of nodes required according to the workload, parallel loading of data, predictive partitioning of columns to be partitioned in memory to best optimize queries, optimal encoding of columns to minimize cluster size, etc. This automation component, which is based on machine learning, is also integrated into the AWS interactive console.

MySQL HeatWave on Azure Coming Soon

MySQL HeatWave on AWS is just the first step in a multi-cloud destiny for the service, which is currently underway between OCI and AWS. The service is expected to be available on Microsoft's Azure in the near future. It is also offered on-premises as part of Oracle's Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer offering for companies that cannot, for regulatory or strategic reasons, move their sensitive databases to the public cloud.

Oracle raises another issue. To implement its MySQL HeatWave query gas pedal, some of its customers have migrated their databases to OCI from AWS. Others are using the service while keeping some of their databases on AWS and running HeatWave on OCI. For the latter, the cost is high given the fees charged by Amazon Web Services to get the data out of its cloud. Not to mention the latency when accessing the database service on OCI. Oracle also said that users of MySQL OLTP applications running on-premises can also replicate data from these databases to MySQL HeatWave on AWS or OCI for near real-time analysis. The vendor also provides access to benchmarks between its service and those of its competitors.

Source: www..lemondeinformatique.fr

The HPI visa is the UK's new post-Brexit wild card to attract international talent from software development to cybersecurity.

Countries and companies are vying to attract the most in-demand technology profiles in the market. In this context, the UK launched its HPI (High Potential Individual) visa on May 30, the British equivalent of the American H1B visa reserved for highly skilled professionals.

"In engineering and cybersecurity or advanced health research, the UK will be able to welcome talented individuals to drive economic growth as well as technological and medical advances," the UK government said in a statement.  "The competition to attract the best international talent is fierce. Receiving profiles from international universities will complement the pool of particularly bright graduates from British universities," the Home Office added.

Who can benefit from an HPI visa?

Profiles from 50 of the world's most prestigious universities and colleges are eligible. Harvard and MIT in the United States, Kyoto University in Japan and PSL University (Paris Sciences et Lettres), the only one classified for France, are among the institutions concerned.

To obtain the visa, security checks are always required, as well as an English language test. The visa costs £715 (about €837) plus significant additional costs (health, maintenance funds, etc.). Successful candidates will receive a 2-year work visa (3 years for those with a PhD) and will be allowed to pursue other avenues to long-term employment, with family if appropriate.

Attracting international talent

Effective January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union ("Brexit") has made it difficult to recruit foreign-born, based and trained professionals. The Home Office therefore wanted to simplify and speed up the visa process for "high potential" profiles. There is no cap on the number of visas issued, but they are still "highly selective".

As noted by the Financial Times, the initiative is reminiscent of the Highly Skilled Migrant Program that ran from 2002 to 2008. However, unlike the previous program, the new HPI visa allows its beneficiaries to come to the UK without a referral or a promise of employment from a UK-based company.

There is no longer any question, at least officially, of proving a certain salary level or demonstrating that the position sought cannot be filled by a British worker.

Other countries are seeking to match the supply of available technological skills with the strong demand from companies and public administrations. France is promoting the creation of a one-stop shop for information, "European Tech Talent," which will make Europe more attractive to qualified international profiles.

Fully autonomous vehicles could be on British roads by 2025 under new government plans backed by a £100 million investment.

New laws are planned to speed up the rollout, with £34 million of safety research to fuel the development of legislation.

 Vehicles that can only be driven on freeways could even go on sale within the next year, the government said, but people would still need a licence to use them on different types of roads.

Others that are fully autonomous, and could be used for deliveries, for example, would not need a license and could be operational in three years if the government's vision becomes a reality.

Cars with autonomous driving capabilities, such as Teslas, are already quite common in some British cities, and companies such as Google are already testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in the United States.

The technology relies on multiple distance-sensing cameras and lasers to navigate and spot vehicles, pedestrians and other obstacles.

Supporters say it can make roads safer and reduce driver error, but testing and rules and regulations around the technology are still being developed.

The government is consulting on safety and has said new laws would make manufacturers liable for a vehicle's actions when autonomous driving is fully under control, meaning a human driver would not be responsible for accidents.

The industry could create up to 38,000 jobs and revolutionize public transportation, according to the Department of Transportation.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the technology can "improve people's access to education and other vital services" and "make our roads safer by reducing the risk of driver error in crashes."

 "We want the UK to be at the forefront of the development and use of this fantastic technology, which is why we are investing millions in vital safety research and setting out the legislation to ensure we get all the benefits this technology promises," he added.

AA President Edmund King said the government is right to invest more in funding and research into self-driving technology and the laws that go along with it.

 "Driver assistance systems, for example, autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control already help millions of drivers stay safe on the roads," he said.

 "It's still a big step from assisted driving, where the driver remains in control, to autonomous driving, where the car takes control.

 "It is important that the government study how these vehicles would interact with other road users on different roads and in changing weather conditions.

 "However, the ultimate prize, in terms of saving thousands of lives and improving mobility for the elderly and less mobile, is worth pursuing."

Freelance has become an ever-growing self-employment type, as it gives greater independence and less bureaucracy compared to the conventional type. Working as a freelancer, you are your own boss. There is great flexibility as of the days and hours of working. Moreover, you’re free to choose the clients and projects you want to work for. You have almost no working protocols to follow. You may not need an office to make your work happen.

Potentials needed to freelance:

• High sense of technical individuality.
• Innovative thinking.
• Particular education.
• Personal Qualities
• Responsiveness.
• Sense of self-motivation
• Sense of self-responsibility

How does freelancing work in Germany?

Before even thinking to perform a freelance job in Germany, you must understand the legal environment for self-employment here. This because the profession you’ve chosen to pursue, defines your eligibility for becoming a freelancer here. If the profession you’re thinking to exercise here is acknowledged as a liberal professions ‘Freibe Berufe’, you’ll be able to be a freelancer ‘Freiberufle’. Otherwise, if the job is listed as a commercial profession, you’ll only be able to be a businessperson ‘Gewerbe’.

Which are liberal professions in Germany?

The Income Tax Act of Germany (EStG) has a public listing of liberal and commercial professions here. Yet, the ultimate judgment on whether a profession qualifies as a liberal or as a commercial profession lies in the hands of the local tax office ‘Finanzamt’. Liberal ‘freelance’ professions in Germany, according to EStG §18, are self-employment jobs in the following fields:

• Healthcare
• Law
• Law and business counselling
• Scientific/technical
• Linguistic and information transmitting

Which are the legal requirements for freelancing in Germany?

As a freelancer in Germany, you’ll be excused from the business registration procedure and from getting the trade permit.

Registering with the Tax Office

Instead of the trade office, your freelance activity must be registered with the tax office. The tax office will be the authority to issue the tax number and to collect taxes from you, based on your freelance activity. Registering your business and submitting your tax reports to the Finanzamt can be daunting. As a freelancer, you have other concerns that you need to deal with and an unfamiliar tax system may cause you more to concern. That’s why it is quite a relief to know that you can let tax experts handle all this paperwork for you. Professional tax consultants at Sorted can assist you with preparing all your tax reports, creating invoices and submitting them directly to the tax office.

Why prepare and submit your tax reports as a freelancer with help from certified tax consultants?

• Sorted is a leading Germany-based company with a strong backing of serious investors.
• They cover the entire tax needs for the vast majority of the freelancers and self-employed professionals in Germany.
• Sorted supports you if you have domestic clients or even outside of Germany.
• With Sorted, you register as a freelancer, do your bookkeeping and submit yearly tax reports for free until your revenue meets a certain amount or obtain clients in the EU.
• You can submit your tax reports electronically to the Finanzamt through Sorted. Sorted is connected directly to the Finanzamt through their official software provider, ELSTER.
• For some liberal professions, you must get membership into the respective chambers and for some others the recognition of the foreign qualification beforehand launching your freelance activity.

Can I work as a freelancer if am a foreigner already in Germany?

If you are already residing in Germany, you are entitled to freelance with exceptions. Your situation must be any of the following for working as a freelancer while already in Germany:

• You’re a foreigner working as a researcher or scientists in Germany. You must expect freelancing as a researcher or scientist.
• You’re a foreigner having entered with a German artist visa. You must expect freelancing as an artist.
• You’re a foreigner having entered with a German temporary visa for other purposes. You must meet the criteria to freelance as a foreigner.
• If you’re having difficulties with submitting your tax reports to the Finanzamt, you should seek the assistance of professional tax consultants

Who needs a Germany Freelancer visa?

You’ll need to get a German Freelance Visa beforehand if you’re a visa-regime foreigner, whose intention of coming to Germany to work within a liberal profession.

A freelance visa is typically granted for three months. It can be converted into a residence permit while your visa is valid. The address where you apply for a residence permit is the Local Foreigner’s Authority “Ausländerbehörde or Ausländeramt”.

The residence permit for freelancing can be extended for up to three complete years. To receive such an extension, you must have previously succeeded in your freelance business. This means that you should have evidence of generating sufficient profits to cover living costs for yourself and each of your dependent family members. After 3 years spent with a residence permit for freelancing, you may get a settlement permit. This can happen only if you decide setting up a retail or manual trade business, since then. The residence permit for freelancing can be also converted into a residence permit for self-employment (Residence Act, Section 21/6). This may happen only if you can get the permit to pursue the intended self-employment activity.

Which are the Requirements to Apply for a Freelance Visa?

You must typically submit the application for a freelance visa at the German Embassy or Consulate in the country where you currently live. The procedure is the same as applying for any German visa. You are advised to complete the application 3 months in advance of your planned travel date. Send the application documents as originals with a photocopy of each.

Here are the documents to apply for a German Freelance visa:

• Duly completed national visa application form.
• Valid national passport.
• Two recently made biometric photographs. 
• Payment of the visa application fee.
• Travel Insurance. 
• Recommendation letters from previous employers.
• Curriculum vitae.
• Cover letter.
• Portfolio of your previous work. Several printed samples of the previous freelance work, or regular work in the same profession.
• Professional authorization. You need to show a license or other authorization to show evidence of your expertise and relevance to pursue the intended profession. This is needed if you’re planning to exercise a profession that requires prior expertise in the field, i.e. Medicine, law, and similar.
• Certificates of earlier education.
• Evidence of a freelance Plan.
• Letters of commitments from future customers/employers. Send at least two of them. These letters must clearly show their intent to employ you when you come here.
• Means of subsistence. Evidence showing you have enough money to cover your living and freelancing costs. This can be one of the following:
• • Latest bank statements. From a home-country bank, showing enough available funds.
  • Blocked bank account. One of the easiest and the fastest ways to open a German blocked account is through Fintiba/Sutor Bank. The blocked account provided by Fintiba is accepted by German embassies/consulates all around the world.
  • Profit/loss statement. It has to show your forecasts about monthly profits and losses from the intended freelance activity.
  • Proof of adequate pension plan. Only if you are older than 45.

Germany Freelancer Visa Fees:

The fee to apply for a freelance visa is 60 Euros, for a residence permit is 140 Euros the most, while for a settlement permit is up to 260 Euros

How to start freelancing after arriving in Germany?

After arriving in Germany, you must legalize yourself as a freelancer.

Follow these five key steps before freelancing as a foreigner in Germany:

1. Register your living address. You must register in Germany, as soon as you find your permanent accommodation. This procedure is known as ‘Anmeldung’ and is carried through the local Resident’s Registration Office ‘Bürgeramt’. Once this process is completed, you’ll be receiving the confirmation on the living address registration ‘Meldebescheinigung’.
2. Open a bank account in a bank in Germany. A good option would be the Kontist account, which offers banking services and invoicing tools for freelancers in Germany. To open an account with Kontist, you need to get the smartphone app or the desktop app.
3. Register with Tax Registration Office “Finanzamt”. This is done by submitting the completed Tax Number Registration Form “Fragebogen zur steuerliche Erfassung”. Professional tax consultants such as Sorted can handle all the necessary paperwork on your behalf. Once this process is finished, you will be receiving the Tax ID ‘Steuernummer’. This unique number will be used by you to charge your clients and by the tax office to collect taxes from your freelance operations.
4. Get yourself covered by proper health insurance.
5. Apply for a Residence permit for freelancing. In the three first months of your arrival, you must make a valid application for a residence permit. The application is done at the Foreigner’s Registration Office ‘Ausländerbehörde’. To apply, you need to provide a completed Application Form for a Residence Permit and required evidence supporting such application. Amongst supporting documents, you need to provide the ‘Meldebescheinigung’, ‘Wohnungsgeberbestätigung’- letter of residence confirmation issued by the landlord of the place you’re living here. This needs to be supplemented by the rental contract.
6. Start implementing your freelance plan. You may want to start by contacting the awaiting clients, to inform you about your availability to work.