VL#13 MANDATORY SKILLS NEEDED IN 2024 /STUDENTS IN GERMANY / GET INTERNSHIP EASILY WITH THESE SKILLS

While some institutions might require fluency in German, others might be content with basic German skills. However, for international companies, English often suffices. Pre-arranged Internship: Before heading to Germany, it's crucial to secure your internship or training position.
A part-time job provides you with the opportunity to gain experience,
get to know Germany, make contacts and supplement the financing
of your studies. It is very difficult to finance your studies and life in
Germany with a part-time job alone, and if you have a part-time job
that takes up a lot of time, your academic performance will suffer.
This may prolong your studies and, in the worst case, jeopardise
your residence title.
The following regulations apply as of March 1, 2024
International students from third countries are allowed to work in
Germany for 140 full or 280 half working days per year. This is noted
in the (supplementary sheet to your) residence title. Alternatively,
employment of up to 20 hours per week is also permitted. Additional
approval from the foreigners’ registration office is not necessary in
these two cases. More precisely:
ʆ Only the working days that are actually worked are counted.
This means holidays, public holidays and sick days are not
counted.
ʆ Half working days are working days with up to 4 working hours.
ʆ These are calculated for each calendar year. For example: if the
employment contract starts on 1 July, the complete 140 full/
280 half working days can be worked until the end of this
calendar year on 31 December.
ʆ Days on which a voluntary internship is undertaken also count
towards these 140 full or 280 half working days. However,
compulsory internships as part of a degree programme do not
count.
ʆ If you wish to work more than the permitted number of days
you need prior and written approval from the foreigners’
registration office.
International students from third countries (§16b Residence Act)
are only allowed to work as fee-based workers or self-employed
persons with the permission of the foreigners’ registration office.
As a rule, self-employed persons are those who invoice the employer
for work performed (fee-based).
During a preparatory language course/internship placement or a
preparatory college course, as of March 1, 2024, international stu-
dents from third countries (§16b Residence Act) may work in the
same way as during their studies.
If you take up a job, your employer needs to register you with the
social security system. You will then automatically receive a
social security certificate via post, which also contains your
pension insurance number (Important: keep this document for
further reference). If you do not receive this certificate, you need
to contact the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenver-
sicherung). Mini-jobbers (income up to 538 euros per month) can
ask their employer to exempt them from the pension insurance
obligation, which slightly increases their net income each month.
Anyone who works more than 20 hours per week is covered by
health insurance through work and is no longer covered by stu-
dent health insurance or family health insurance. Private health
insurance can be terminated by the student. Please note: This does
not apply to temporary jobs of up to three months. (Students
covered by EHIC, please refer to the info box under section
“Students from the EU/EEA/Switzerland”.) Further information
can be found in the flyer “Jobbing” (“Working in Germany”) from
Deutsches Studierendenwerk, see QR code on the previous page.