In my old job I had lots of project work in Germany and while I like the country, I soon knew that my pilot ambition would never take place there. It sounds so typical that they restrict to VFR but still won´t look at you for employment unless you hold an IFR (that they won´t let you use and keep routined).
I appreciate the German way of doing things properly but in my opinion, flying in Germany is overly elitist. It is one of the fields where their way of doing things has toppled over, from impressively clear procedures to unnecessary gatekeeping.