Privacy policy

We only ask for what a human needs in order to match you with the right provider.

When you request a provider

• Your name and email address — so we can reply with your match.
• The service you need, your city, and your timeline — so we can pick the right person nearby.
• Anything you write in the free-text field. Please do not include health data, financial account details, or anything else sensitive; we do not need it to match you.

When you create an account

• Your email address and a password. The password is hashed by our authentication provider — we never see it.
• If you sign in with Google instead, we receive your name and email address from Google.

When you apply as a provider

• Your name, business name, email, phone number, and city.
• Your service categories, languages, hourly rate, and the bio you write.
• Verification documents — such as an ID, a qualification, or a business registration. Our vetting team attaches these to your profile so we can confirm you are who you say you are. They are visible only to our team, never on your public profile, and never to expats.

Automatically

• Essential cookies that keep you signed in — see the cookie policy.
• Standard server logs kept by our hosting provider, including your IP address, for security and troubleshooting.

We do not use analytics, advertising, or tracking of any kind. There are no tracking pixels and no third-party marketing scripts on this site.

• Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR — performing the service you asked for: matching you with a provider, or reviewing your provider application.
• Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR — your consent, where you opt in to newsletters or non-essential email. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and functioning, which covers server logs.

The provider we match you with. This is the point of the service: to introduce you, we pass on your name, your contact details, and the details of your request. We do not do this until we have a match for you, and we never sell your data to anyone.

Our processors. These companies handle data on our behalf under Art. 28 GDPR agreements:

• Supabase — our database and authentication provider, which stores your account, your requests, and provider profiles.
• Our website hosting provider, which serves this site and keeps server logs.
• Google — only if you choose to sign in with Google.

Google Fonts.This site loads its typefaces from Google's servers, which means your IP address is transmitted to Google when a page loads. We are moving to self-hosted fonts to stop this.

We host in the European Union wherever our providers offer it. Where a processor transfers data outside the EU or EEA, that transfer is covered by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

• Service requests: for as long as we are working on your match, and up to six months afterwards so we can help if the arrangement goes wrong.
• Account data: until you delete your account or ask us to delete it.
• Provider profiles: for as long as the provider is listed, and until they ask us to remove them.
• Verification documents: for as long as the provider is listed, then deleted. We keep them to evidence that vetting happened, not for any other purpose.
• Server logs: a short rolling window kept by our hosting provider.

Where German commercial or tax law requires us to retain a record — for example invoices under § 147 AO — we keep that record for the statutory period and nothing more.

Under the GDPR you can ask us to:

• Tell you what we hold about you (Art. 15).
• Correct anything wrong (Art. 16).
• Delete it (Art. 17).
• Restrict how we use it (Art. 18).
• Send it to you or another provider in a portable format (Art. 20).
• Stop processing it where we rely on legitimate interest (Art. 21).
• Withdraw a consent you gave us, at any time (Art. 7(3)).

Email expatglobe.de@gmail.com and a human will handle it. We reply within one month.

You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. Ours is the Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit Nordrhein-Westfalen.

If we change how we handle your data we will update this page and the date at the top. If the change is significant and we hold your email address, we will tell you directly.