Moving from France to Germany with art 10 card

[tebee]

I'm a British citizen living in France with my non-EU (Thai) wife and step-son. After many years of struggling to get their professional qualifications( they are both doctors) recognized here we are thinking of moving to Germany where the procedures are much simpler - preferably before Brexit complicates things further.

They currently have five year article 10 residence cards which expire August next year, but have been here for more than the required 5 years for an article 20 (permanent residency) card as they had 2 one year cards first.

Should we try to change the cards to article 20 ones before we go - is this even possible ?

Would the evidence of the current 5 year card plus the other two previous cards be sufficient evidence of their right to permanent residence ?

How will I fare moving ? I'm semi-retired now (65) too young still for my British pension, I survive by having some royalty income, renting out houses and doing some online CAD work. My income is not constant though.

[ALKB]

I'm a British citizen living in France with my non-EU (Thai) wife and step-son. After many years of struggling to get their professional qualifications( they are both doctors) recognized here we are thinking of moving to Germany where the procedures are much simpler - preferably before Brexit complicates things further.

They currently have five year article 10 residence cards which expire August next year, but have been here for more than the required 5 years for an article 20 (permanent residency) card as they had 2 one year cards first.

Should we try to change the cards to article 20 ones before we go - is this even possible ?

Would the evidence of the current 5 year card plus the other two previous cards be sufficient evidence of their right to permanent residence ?

How will I fare moving ? I'm semi-retired now (65) too young still for my British pension, I survive by having some royalty income, renting out houses and doing some online CAD work. My income is not constant though.

I'd try to get a "résident de longue durée -- Communauté Européenne" card before moving:

https://service.berlin.de/dienstleistung/325475/en/

How old is your step-son?

Would your income be sufficient to pay living expenses (including health insurance) in Germany?

Do you realize that in order to get an approbation as a medical doctor, they will need to pass an extensive oral exam in German, during which anything can be asked that a German doctor of their specialization would have to know? It's not a structured standard test like PLAB in the UK and it's a lot harder to prepare for.

As far as I know, pass rate is about 50%.

They also need to prove B2 in general German and C1 in medical terminology German. That even goes for a 'Berufserlaubnis' to work as a Gastarzt (often unpaid!).

[tebee]

Stepson is now 26 - he was under 21 when he first got the RC so could come as my dependant - also I was earning more then, Brexit and the fall in the pound after, crashed my business that was selling stuff back to the UK online.

Yes we have enough income to pay our living expenses and some savings too. My wife will go back to her country to work whille we are doing this.

The original plan was was to go back to the UK and take PLAB there, but we put it on hold until after we saw how brexit turned out - right now it looks as though we are heading for a no deal Brexit, which means any qualifications obtained there are not automatically recognized in Europe.

I know we need spend a year or more getting him to learn German , but it's better than the 4 years of university the French want him to resit.

Will probably end up looking for a specialist tutor to help with the approbation.

[ALKB]

Stepson is now 26 - he was under 21 when he first got the RC so could come as my dependant - also I was earning more then, Brexit and the fall in the pound after, crashed my business that was selling stuff back to the UK online.

Yes we have enough income to pay our living expenses and some savings too. My wife will go back to her country to work whille we are doing this.

The original plan was was to go back to the UK and take PLAB there, but we put it on hold until after we saw how brexit turned out - right now it looks as though we are heading for a no deal Brexit, which means any qualifications obtained there are not automatically recognized in Europe.

I know we need spend a year or more getting him to learn German , but it's better than the 4 years of university the French want him to resit.

Will probably end up looking for a specialist tutor to help with the approbation.

I think a year is incredibly optimistic, even with intensive language study. German is a bugger to learn, even the non-specific language. Is his French good enough to go to university there? Might be easier after all.

Have you spoken to health insurance providers is Germany? Don't underestimate the cost of that if you are not employed in Germany or eligible for benefits.

Just curious - how has your step-son managed to become a doctor outside of France without breaking continuous residence?

[tebee]

He's been skipping back and forth - doing 9 months in Thailand and then 4 in France say - it's delayed is graduation by a bit, bute he finished 3 years ago. He's just had to go back for almost a year purely because we were running out of money, we have some saved up again now.
His French isn't good enough, even though he's spent several months on it, but it's been broken up across several years - it's also relatively expensive for language tuition near where I live , the subsidized courses are only 3 hour a week, after that you end up paying €9.30 per hour