I second what w_t_payne said. The following are just some ideas, please keep in mind that I'm no lawyer! This is no legal advice at all! If you do have relativ

I second what w_t_payne said. The following are just some ideas, please keep in mind that I'm no lawyer! This is no legal advice at all! If you do have relatives in Germany, that might be a route to explore. I heard something in the news, that this may be an option. For working though, that's going to be a tough one. Reading the Wikipedia article (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeitserlaubnis http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeitserlaubnis) right, it states that: "Asylbewerber dürfen für die ersten 12 Monate überhaupt nicht arbeiten (§ 61 Abs. 2 AsylVfG), anschließend gilt ein nachrangiger Arbeitsmarktzugang nach der BeschVerfV (siehe oben)." Which translates to: people seeking asylum must not take up any employment for the first 12 month. As well as "Asylberechtigte, Konventionsflüchtlinge (§ 25 Abs. 1 und 2 AufenthG) sowie Ausländer mit einer Niederlassungserlaubnis (§ 9 Abs. 1 AufenthG) haben nach dem Aufenthaltsgesetz ein Recht auf Erwerbstätigkeit.", which transaltes to: people granted asylum (and some others) holding a residence permit, are allowed to work. That's both ends of the spectrum, so there may be some middle ground after 12 month. I'm not lawyer though! Finally, I think, maybe the folks from PRO Asyl may be the right ones to ask. See: http://www.proasyl.de/en/contact/ http://www.proasyl.de/en/contact/ PS: regarding hosting, from my exprience it's a somewhat lengthy progress, depending on the regonal administration. Your host will have to provide financial standing for your stay (requirements differ for the duration of your stay), with that he or she has to send that document certifying the financial standing as well as a signed invitation to you (the original), with which you have to go to the german emabassy in your country and apply for a temporary visa.