Why My Daughter Chooses Munich

My daughter lives in Munich with her husband and their young son. Some of their friends have moved to the United States, Canada and Gulf countries. She and her husband have decided to stay. Rising costs have not changed that choice.

She wants her son to learn German traditions and grow up knowing the society around him. At Kita, he is learning German. At home he speaks English, and with us, his grandparents, he speaks Urdu. Sometimes a German word appears in the middle of our conversation. I have come to enjoy those little surprises.

My daughter has invited my wife and me to Germany twice and paid all our expenses. She particularly wants her mother to spend time with her in Munich. That wish tells me something about how she imagines family life. She wants her son to grow up in Germany without losing the relationships that connect him to Pakistan.

I cannot say what calculation each of her friends made before leaving. Nor can I claim that her choice speaks for all foreign families. But it has changed the questions I ask about migration. A higher salary elsewhere may matter less to parents than the childhood they have begun to build for their son.

What Long-Term Residents See Changing

In an October 12 article, The Local Germany asked foreign residents how the country had changed. Some recalled cheaper housing and a less anxious atmosphere. Others welcomed improved digital services and greater cultural diversity. People who had lived in Germany for decades often expressed criticism while continuing to call it home.

These are revealing testimonies, not a representative national survey. The published account does not give enough information about the number or selection of respondents to support a conclusion about all foreign residents. Memory complicates the comparison too. A person who arrived forty years ago has changed along with the country.

Still, the responses point to a useful distinction. The problems that make people unhappy with daily life do not necessarily erase the attachments formed over years.

The Price of Staying

The financial pressure is measurable. Germany’s Federal Statistical Office reported annual consumer-price inflation of 3.3 percent in September 2026. Energy prices were 14.9 percent higher than a year earlier, although the change varied sharply by fuel: electricity and natural gas were cheaper year on year, while motor fuel and heating oil rose.

Munich’s housing market makes the issue more concrete. According to the city’s 2025 rent index, the average net cold rent was €15.38 per square metre, compared with €14.58 in the 2023 index. That measure covers a defined sample of rental contracts and is not the asking price a newcomer will necessarily face.

The distinction matters. A family already established in an apartment may face very different costs from a newly arrived worker seeking a suitable home. Germany can improve work-visa procedures and still lose prospective residents if they cannot secure housing.

I have also written about why tougher landlord penalties alone cannot solve Germany’s rent crisis. Enforcement matters, but additional homes and better access to existing housing matter as well.

Germany Must Retain Workers, Not Only Recruit Them

The labour market gives Germany a practical reason to pay attention to settled families. In its September 2026 assessment, the Federal Employment Agency identified shortages in 157 occupations during 2025, down from 163 the year before. The shortages were concentrated in particular fields, including nursing and skilled trades. It did not claim that every occupation faces a labour shortage.

Recruitment and retention require different policies. A work permit can help someone enter Germany. Remaining may depend on affordable accommodation, functioning municipal services and the prospects of a spouse who also wants to work. For parents, childcare becomes central.

This is where national immigration policy meets municipal government. Federal authorities can ease entry rules, but families still depend on local offices and the availability of Kita places. A worker who finds a job but cannot arrange reliable childcare may struggle to build a sustainable life.

For readers planning a move, my guide to Kita fees in Munich examines childcare costs and proposed changes. Those details are not peripheral to migration policy. They affect whether families can remain.

A Child Between Languages

My grandson’s everyday speech has made the idea of integration less abstract to me. German comes through Kita. English is part of his home life, and Urdu keeps his conversations with us possible.

His experience does not prove that every multilingual child finds the process easy. Families may face practical questions about language development and schooling. But watching him has shown me how a child can acquire new habits without discarding the old ones.

I explored that experience in an earlier piece, Three Languages Before Three: My Grandson’s Life in Munich. My daughter hopes he will understand German culture from within. She also makes room for his grandparents in that future. These are choices she makes in ordinary family life, not declarations about national identity.

Why Staying Matters

Foreign residents may have good reasons to leave Germany. The housing market can exhaust patience. A job offer abroad may promise a better financial future. Some people also worry about political hostility and whether they will be accepted.

Others stay because the relationships they have built now matter more than the opportunities they might find elsewhere. That is not a verdict on Germany’s success or failure. It is a reminder that a family cannot be understood only through its income.

When I speak with my grandson, I sometimes hear an Urdu phrase followed by a German word. I think of the two journeys my daughter arranged so that we could visit her in Munich, and of her wish that her mother should spend more time there. Her life is rooted in Germany. She is still making room for us in it.

I understand her decision to stay a little better each time.