After Arrival
After arriving in Greifswald, there are several things you will need to take care of. To help you on your way, we have listed and explained the most important tasks below.
Welcome Centre
Imme Burkart-Jürgens
Domstraße 8
17489 Greifswald
Tel.: +49 3834 420 1175
welcomeuni-greifswaldde
All foreign nationals must register in Germany. You have to register at the Resident Registration Office within a fortnight after arrival in Greifswald if your stay in Germany is planned for more than three months.
To do so, you will need the following documents:
- valid passport or ID card if you are a citizen of the EU
- Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung (landlord confirmation) of moving in, to be provided by landlord (a rental contract is not sufficient!)
- if you previously lived elsewhere in Germany, the registration certificate of your former place of residence
- if you are registering for the first time in Germany, you will automatically receive your Steueridentifikationsnummer (tax identification number/national insurance number) by post after approx. two to three weeks
Whilst you are there you can request a police certificate if applicable. (Cost: € 13, to be paid in cash)
Please remember that you will also need all of the relevant documents for family members who have come to Germany with you!
- valid passport
- civil status certificates (marriage and birth certificates, original and translation into German by an officially certified translator)
After registering at the Resident Registration Office, you will need to register with the Immigration Officeto prolong your stay in Germany. Please find the relevant information in the chapter "Immigration Office Greifswald".
Citizens from other EU/EEA states no longer need a Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung (certificate of freedom of movement) from the Immigration Office. The registration certificate from the Resident Registration Office is recognised as proof that you are entitled to stay in Germany and exercising your right of free movement as an EU/EEA citizen. EU/EEA citizens may apply for an eID card for using digital services. The application can be done in the Resident Registration Office. The eID card does not replace the national passport or ID card for identification e.g. when travelling. More information about the eID card.
Regulations are different for family members of EU/EEA citizens who are non-EU/EEA state citizens. In this case, please contact the Welcome Centre.
Universitäts-und Hansestadt Greifswald
Der Oberbürgermeister
Ordnungsamt
Einwohnermeldeamt
Stadthaus
Markt 15
17491 Greifswald
Opening Hours without appointment
Tuesday 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m. and 2.00 - 5.00 p.m.
Thursday 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m. and 2.00 - 4.00 p.m.
Book an appointment here (DE)
Resident Registration Office (Einwohnermelde- amt) Greifswald
This is not the official website of the Immigration Office Greifswald! The contact details are provided in the margin! These pages provide information for foreign academics and their families
Anyone who has entered Germany with a visa and is planning a stay of more than three months in Germany, has to extend their Aufenthaltstitel (residence permit) at the Immigration Office.
To do so, you will need to register with the Immigration Office online after you got registered with the Registration Office:
www.kreis-vg.de
During the online registration with the Immigration Office you will need the following documents (for yourself and accompanying family members, if applicable):
- filled and signed application form
- valid passport
- registration certificate from the Resident Registration Office
- rental contract
- membership confirmation from your health insurance company
- proof of income (scholarship, employment contract)
- hosting agreement with university
During the appointment in the Immigration Office you will need additionally need:
- biometric passport photo
- fees for the issue of a residence permit: € 100.00/ € 110.00
Foreign nationals of Australia, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, or the United States of America can request the required Aufenthaltstitel (residence permit) after arrival in Germany. To do so, they have to register at the Resident Registration Office within one week after arrival and then register online with the Immigration Office to apply for their residence permit. However, this only applies if you do not plan to start work immediately! If this is the case, you will need to apply for a visa PRIOR to entering Germany!
Here you can start the online registration with the Immigration Office:
www.kreis-vg.de
During the online registration with the Immigration Office you will need the following documents (for yourself and accompanying family members, if applicable):
- filled and signed application form
- valid passport
- registration certificate from the Resident Registration Office
- rental contract
- membership confirmation from your health insurance company
- proof of income (scholarship, employment contract)
- hosting agreement with university
During the appointment in the Immigration Office you will need additionally need:
- biometric passport photo
- fees for the issue of a residence permit: € 100.00/ € 110.00
Citizens of EU/EEA countries no longer need a Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung (certificate of freedom of movement) from the Immigration Office. The registration certificate from the Resident Registration Office is recognised as proof that you are entitled to stay in Germany and exercising your right of free movement as an EU/EEA citizen.
However no changes have been made for accompanying family members, who themselves are not EU/EEA citizens, but are nationals of a third country. They still receive their residence card from the Immigration Office after they have proven their status as a family member and entitlement to freedom of movement through corresponding certificates.
Application at the Immigration Office - Residence card (last chapter, No 7)
Landkreis Vorpommern-Greifswald
Ausländerbehörde Greifswald
Feldstraße 85a,
17489 Greifswald
Office Hours:
Tuesday:
9.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.
2.00 - 6.00 p.m.
Thursday:
9.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.
2.00 - 4.00 p.m.
Appointments by arrangement
In Greifswald, you will need a bank account. Your salary will be paid into the account and you can use it to pay for your bills. You can use an ec-card to withdraw money or pay in shops and in most cases you can organise online banking.
Required documents:
- registration certificate from the Resident Registration Office
- Tax ID
- residence permit
- passport
Before opening an account, it is wise to contact the bank in which you would like to open an account by phone to arrange for an appointment.
Important information from EURAXESS
Foreign scholars in Greifswald and their accompanying family members must have health insurance The responsible Immigration Office will require health insurance for the residence permit.
If you are not in possession of health insurance, you will not be issued with a residence permit!
We therefore advise you to contact your health insurance company in your home country before you leave, to find out whether your health insurance will cover your stay in Germany, so that you have insurance from the first day on.
If this is not the case, we suggest you take out travel health insurance, which will cover you for the first days in Greifswald. After you have arrived in Greifswald we will be pleased to help you find health insurance to meet your requirements.
Basically, there are two different types of health insurance, which depend on how your stay is being financed. You will find further information below.
Private liability insurance is a further kind of important insurance that is common in Germany and that we highly recommend. This is because in Germany, everyone can be made liable for damages made to third parties. Parents are liable for their children. The insurance covers claims that occur from accidental damage.
If you are interested in liability insurance, please contact the Welcome Centre Greifswald.
If you are coming to Greifswald with a scholarship or financing the stay yourself, you have to take out private health insurance. Holders of scholarships can contact their scholarship providers to ask if they have any partnerships with private health insurance companies.
Usually, holders of scholarships are exempt from social security payments, further information can be obtained from your scholarship provider.
The following private health insurance companies are suited for guest researchers, doctoral students, scholarship holders and postdocs and their families.
The contributions for and the payments made by the individual insurances can be very different and therefore please make sure to inform yourself in detail prior to signing a contract.
Please find important information about private health insurances on the website of EURAXESS Germany Please contact the Welcome Centre for a list of further insurances.
There are possibly other regulations for citizens of the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
If you are a citizen of one of these countries, please contact your health insurance provider in your home country. Find detailed information on the following page:
If you sign an employment contract, you will automatically be obliged to make social security payments. As an employee, you cannot free yourself from the obligation to make these payments. This is because Germany has a comprehensive social security system that is financed by these payments.
The respective payments are stipulated by law, deducted automatically from your salary and paid directly by your employer to the respective social security agency.
Further information from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees:
However, payments into the social security system give you access to the services provided by the individual types of insurance:
When you sign your contract in Greifswald, you have to provide proof that you have taken out health insurance. To do so, you can register with one of the statutory health insurance providers quite easily. The Welcome Centre is happy to help you with this.
You will then receive confirmation of membership from your health insurance. You have to send this to the HR Department as soon as possible.
The HR Department then contacts your health insurance company, which then passes on the information to the other social security agencies.
The statutory health insurance payments are calculated as a percentage of your salary, are deducted automatically by your employer and transferred to the provider.
Statutory pensions in Germany make different payments:
- retirement pensions
- pensions due to reduction in earning capacity, if you are unable to work full-time or at all due to your state of health
- pensions for surviving dependants, if the insured dies and leaves spouse and children behind
Start of Employment
Your employer registers you with the relevant pension agency and also transfers the payments directly to the agency. The pension agency will provide you with a Sozialversicherungsausweis (national insurance card), which states your social insurance number and your name and must be presented to your employer.
The following groups are exempt from making pension payments:
- Scholarship holders
- Civil servants
- Employees, who receive their salaries from an employer with headquarters outside of Germany
End of Employment
When your contract comes to an end, you will be deregistered automatically from the statutory pension scheme. However, your will NOT automatically receive notification of the made payments and the earned entitlements.
What happens to the contributions you made to the pension system in Germany if you leave the country is therefore very complicated and depends on individual circumstances. The German system of statutory pensions is, particularly when linked to the pensions systems in other countries, very extensive.
If you have made payments into the German national pension system (Deutsche Rentenversicherung), it is therefore strongly recommended that you clarify what is on your pension account (you only need your social security number) before you leave Germany.
A statement will list all of the contributions that you have made so that you can gain an overview and you will not need to present any further proof of listed periods of time retrospectively. Especially if you are moving away from Germany, otherwise it would be difficult after years of absence to provide proof that would justify entitlement to a pension in Germany.
Whether you will be able to reclaim your payments and according to which conditions, also depends on various factors. EU citizens can generally not reclaim the payments they have made, they can request the payment of pensions once they have reached the German pension age. If this is the case, a personal advisory meeting with the Deutsche Rentenversicherung is indispensable.
Deutsche Rentenversicherung in Greifswald
Information and Advice Office
Pappelallee 1
17489 Greifswald
Tel.: +49 (0)3843 5766 0
beratungsstelle-in-stralsunddrv-nordde
If you have any general questions, you can also contact the Welcome Centre, we have information booklets in various languages that are of course available to you.
You will find the most comprehensive information on the Deutsche Rentenversicherung’s website.
The link below gives you access to a website containing information for internationally mobile academic staff on pension systems in various European countries:
Find your pension - what you need to know about your pension
www.findyourpension.eu
As an internationally mobile researcher, your career can take you to different stations at research institutions in various countries. What that actually means for social security and pension eligibility is a question that only experts seem to be able to answer. Did you know that pensions in most countries are not just there to guarantee for a certain standard of life at old age? They often also include payments at times in which your earning capacity is restricted and to protect your spouse, partner and children.
Imagine 20 years have past - do you think you will remember all of the pension providers from work pension schemes where you might be eligible for payments? If you are in doubt, it is perhaps time that you get to grips with the pension topic.
FindyourPension is a website that provides information on pension systems and providers in various European countries. It is aimed at mobile researchers and provides details about future pension eligibility that you can gain in Europe. The FindyourPension portal is part of a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It has been created by the VBL (supplementary pension institution of public sector employees in Germany) in close cooperation with universities and research institutions, as well as other European pension companies, company pension funds and schemes and business associations. The website already offers information about several important research countries. It gives you the chance to get to know the pension landscape throughout Europe, to find out about your pension eligibility and to better understand it.
Statutory unemployment benefits support those who have made contributions in case of expected or already existent unemployment.
However, a certain number of months in which contributions were made must be present before the benefits will be provided. If unemployment is imminent, e.g. if your limited-term contract has not been renewed, it is necessary to notify the Federal Employment Agency at least three months before the employment contract comes to an end. Usually your employer will inform you about this deadline. If your notification is too late, you will probably lose out on some of the payments.
You can receive further information from
Federal Employment Agency
www.arbeitsagentur.de
Federal Office for Migration and Refugees
www.make-it-in-germany.com
Euraxess
http://www.euraxess.de
As a member of a statutory health insurance, you will automatically be registered for statutory nursing care.
Employees, who have private health insurance covering general hospital services, are also legally required to take out private insurance for mandatory nursing care from the same company.
Insurance for mandatory nursing care will cover the costs of nursing care if the insured is no longer able to accomplish the tasks of daily life independently, due to a bodily or mental illness or disability.
You can receive further information from
Euraxess
https://www.euraxess.de/de/germany/informationen-beratung/pflegeversicherung
Statutory accident insurance is an element of the statutory social security insurances, the contributions are paid for in full by the employer.
Statutory accident insurance makes payments if an employee has an accident during or on his way to/from work, or suffers from occupational illness. Payments cover not only the costs for medical treatments, but also e.g. the costs for convalescence after accidents at work and reintegration aid.
You have to inform your employer immediately of any accident you had at or on your way to/from work.
Each of the University’s departments/institutes has a person responsible for safety, who you can turn to for help and who will fill out an accident notification.
If you go to a doctor, it is essential to tell him/her that it was an accident at or on the way to/from your workplace. He will then submit a doctor’s accident notification to the respective accident insurance himself. Depending on the circumstances, he might refer you to a further colleague.
Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (German statutory accident insurance)
www.dguv.de
Wage tax is a form of income tax. The employer deduces it directly from the wages and transfers it to the corresponding authorities.
Approximately two to three weeks after your first registration at a German Resident Registration Office, you will receive a letter from the Federal Central Tax Office which details the personal and lifelong validSteueridentifikationsnummer (tax identification number). This number must be passed on to the HR Department immediately.
If you work in Germany for more than half a year, your income will be subject to tax. At the end of the tax year, you can make an annual adjustment and then you might receive a tax refund.
You are required to submit a tax statement if you have a tax allowance according to your Lohnsteuerkarte (income tax card) or if you have received wages from different employers. Furthermore, you must submit a tax statement if both spouses have received wages.
If you are staying for less than half a year, your salary will be subject to tax in your home country, as long as you are employed by a foreign company/institution and double taxation law assigns you to your home country. There are agreements with some countries allowing accrued taxes to be collected in your home country. Please take note of the information provided by the Federal Ministry of Finance on the ‘treaties to avoid double taxation’.
A list of countries with which there are contracts to avoid double taxation can be found on following link to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Additional information about taxes in Germany: EURAXESS, Make it in Germany
Tax Statement
Please note that the Welcome Centre is not able or allowed to provide support for the creation of tax statements.
You have the opportunity to contact an income tax assistance association or a tax advisor to help you draw up your tax statement.
If you are a scholarship holder, you might be exempt to tax, depending on your circumstances. You might have to pay tax on your scholarship in your home country, please ask the provider of your scholarship for details. If you are receiving a scholarship in your home country, you are not required to pay tax.
Further information on taxation regulations can be found on the internet pages of Make it in Germany und the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The University Library consists of the Central University Library at the Berthold-Beitz-Platz, the old University Library in the Rubenowstraße, the Departmental Library Friedrich-Loeffler-Str. 23, the Library Archive Am Schießwall and various subject-specific libraries.
Permission to use the University Library is granted on the basis of the Benutzungsordnung (regulations governing the use). The University Library’s primary service is to provide University members with literature and other forms of media. In addition, the University can be accessed by anybody and any institution.
The open stacks area at the Central University Library can be used without a user ID. A user ID is needed if you want to take out books.
To apply for a library ID card, prospective foreign library users will need the following documents:
- Students at the University of Greifswald - student ID card
- Employees at the University of Greifswald - employment contract
- Passport and registration certificate
University Library
Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 10
17489 Greifswald
Tel.: + 49 3834 420 1515
Fax: + 49 3834 420 1501
ubinfouni-greifswaldde
University Library Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday 8.00 a.m. - midnight
Saturday - Sunday 9.00 a.m. - midnight
Service Hours at the University Library
Monday - Friday 8.00 a.m. - 9.00 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
The Graduate Academy accompanies doctoral researchers and postdocs through the various phases of qualification. The goal of the Graduate Academy is to create excellent conditions for a successful doctoral and postdoctoral phase and to prepare early-career researchers for a career within and outside the realms of academia.
International researchers are also very welcome, some of the events are held in English.