You took the remote-work offer, moved to Lisbon, Dubai or your home country, kept the German contract — and now a dismissal letter is on its way. Being physically outside Germany when the dismissal arrives changes almost nothing about your rights — but it changes a great deal about deadlines, logistics and how quickly you must react. This article explains why German courts and German law usually still govern your case, how the 21-day deadline runs when the letter is delivered to a German address you no longer check, and how a Kündigungsschutzklage is run — and enforced — entirely from abroad.
German courts remain competent
Jurisdiction in employment disputes follows the work, not the employee’s current sofa. Under Art. 21 Brussels Ia Regulation, an employee can sue the employer in the courts of the place where the work is or was habitually performed — and German procedural law places domestic venue at the habitual place of work (§ 48(1a) ArbGG). Three typical constellations:
- Temporary remote stint abroad: your habitual workplace remains Germany. German courts are competent, full stop.
- Longer relocation, German employer, work still organised from Germany: usually still a German habitual workplace, or at least a strong argument for one — the courts look at where the work is anchored organisationally, not just where the laptop sits.
- Full permanent relocation with the employer’s blessing: here the habitual workplace can genuinely shift abroad over time, and with it jurisdiction and applicable law. These cases need individual analysis before filing.
Which law applies
The same logic governs applicable law. Absent a valid choice, the employment contract is governed by the law of the country where the work is habitually performed; a temporary stint abroad does not change that country (Art. 8(2) Rome I Regulation). A choice-of-law clause cannot strip you of the mandatory protections of the habitual-workplace law, and an escape clause allows a closer-connected law to prevail in exceptional cases (Art. 8(4) Rome I Regulation). For the standard scenario on this page — German contract, German employer, remote period abroad — German law, including the Kündigungsschutzgesetz, continues to apply. For what the claim itself looks like, see our Kündigungsschutzklage article.
The 21-day deadline and the letter you never saw
The dangerous part is not jurisdiction — it is the clock. A Kündigungsschutzklage must be filed within three weeks of receipt (Zugang) of the written dismissal (§ 4 KSchG). Zugang does not mean you read the letter; it means the letter entered your sphere of control in circumstances where you could ordinarily be expected to take note of it.
- Letter delivered to your German flat while you are abroad: if that address is still your maintained residence, Zugang generally occurs on delivery. The deadline runs while the envelope sits unopened in a Berlin mailbox.
- Employer knows you live abroad: if you formally notified a foreign address as your residence, the employer must deliver there; delivery to an abandoned German address may not constitute Zugang. Disputes here are fact-heavy — registration (Abmeldung), correspondence trails and contract clauses all matter.
- Missed the deadline without fault: late admission of the claim (nachträgliche Zulassung, § 5 KSchG) is possible where you were prevented from filing despite all reasonable care — but it is a narrow exception with its own two-week application window, not a safety net to plan around.
The full mechanics of the deadline are covered in our three-week-deadline article.
Running the case from abroad
The good news: a German dismissal-protection case is one of the most remote-friendly proceedings in German law. You do not need to fly in.
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Day 1 — secure the deadline
Send the dismissal letter (all pages, plus envelope) to a German employment lawyer immediately. The Klage can be drafted and filed electronically within days.
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Sign the power of attorney
A scanned, signed Vollmacht is sufficient to file; the original follows by post if the court demands it. No notarisation, no apostille.
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File within 21 days
The Kündigungsschutzklage is filed electronically with the Arbeitsgericht at your (former) habitual place of work.
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Gütetermin — usually by video
The first hearing takes place 4-8 weeks after filing. Courts routinely allow participation by video (§ 128a ZPO); in most cases your lawyer attends and your personal appearance is dispensed with entirely.
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Settle with enforcement in mind
Payment date, currency, tax handling and reference wording go into the court settlement — which is itself an enforceable title.
Enforcing what you win
A German judgment or court settlement (Prozessvergleich) is an enforcement title (§ 794 ZPO). Against a German employer, enforcement is domestic routine regardless of where you live. Against a foreign employer, a German title is enforceable across the EU under the Brussels Ia Regulation; in the UK and US, recognition proceedings under national rules are required — doable, but slow. The practical answer in cross-border cases is the same as everywhere on this site: negotiate the settlement so that enforcement is never needed — fixed payment date, full banking details, and where the counterparty is weak, payment before the settlement’s revocation deadline expires. See our article on court settlements.
Money across borders: currency and tax
Settlements are agreed in euros; if you live in a non-euro country, the exchange-rate risk between signing and payment is yours, so shorter payment deadlines have real value. On tax: severance for a formerly German-taxed employment generally remains taxable in Germany even after you have moved away (§ 49 EStG, subject to the applicable double-taxation treaty, which may allocate taxing rights differently — often by reference to where the work was performed). Whether your new residence state also taxes the payment, and how the treaty resolves the overlap, is a genuine tax-advisor question — and one to answer before agreeing a gross figure, because the net outcome can vary dramatically between countries. We coordinate with tax advisors on this routinely; the severance mechanics themselves are covered in our severance-calculation article.
Worked example
A product manager, 5 years with a Munich software company, €6,800 gross per month (€81,600 per year). With her employer’s written consent she has worked from Valencia for the past year; her Munich flat is sublet but remains her registered address. On 3 June the employer posts the dismissal letter to the Munich address; the subtenant leaves it in a drawer. On 20 June a former colleague mentions the termination in a chat; on 21 June the subtenant finds and scans the letter.
The deadline analysis: Zugang occurred on delivery to the Munich address in early June — the maintained registered address remained her sphere of control. Best-case deadline expiry: 24 June. We file the Kündigungsschutzklage on 23 June, one day before the wire runs out, flanked by a precautionary application under § 5 KSchG in case the court dates Zugang earlier than assumed.
The merits are strong: dismissal for “restructuring” while her role is simultaneously advertised externally. At the video Gütetermin — client attending from Valencia, personal appearance dispensed with — the employer settles: severance of 0.9 × monthly salary × years of service = €30,600, garden leave through the 4-month notice period (€27,200 gross), Grade-1 reference, payment within 14 days of the settlement becoming final. Her Spanish tax position on the severance goes to a Spanish-German tax advisor before the settlement figures are locked. Total time in Germany required from the client: zero days.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to come to Germany for the court case?
Usually not at all. The Gütetermin is routinely conducted with your lawyer alone or with you joining by video (§ 128a ZPO); personal appearance orders are typically lifted on request when a party lives abroad. The overwhelming majority of cases settle at or shortly after this first hearing.
My employer emailed the termination while I was abroad. Does that count?
No — a termination requires the written form with an original signature (§ 623 BGB); email, PDF or messenger dismissals are void and do not start the three-week deadline. Expect a paper letter to follow, and prepare for it: that letter is the one that counts.
I found the dismissal letter weeks late in my German mailbox. Is everything lost?
Not necessarily. First, the exact Zugang date is often arguable. Second, late admission under § 5 KSchG exists for those who missed the deadline without fault — though foreign residence alone rarely qualifies if you left a known address unmonitored. Act the day you find the letter; every further day weakens the § 5 argument.
Can my employer dismiss me because I moved abroad?
If the move was consented to, the move itself is no dismissal ground. If you relocated without consent, the employer may build a conduct case — but usually needs a prior warning, and tolerated practice cuts against them. Either way, the dismissal must clear the normal KSchG hurdles, and challenge is usually worthwhile.
My severance will be paid while I am tax-resident abroad. Where do I pay tax?
Germany typically retains taxing rights over severance attributable to employment exercised in Germany, but the outcome depends on the double-taxation treaty with your residence state and on how the payment is structured. Coordinate with a tax advisor before the settlement is finalised — we are employment lawyers and handle the settlement structure; the tax optimisation belongs in specialist hands.