Upon Your Arrival

You have to register your new place of residence within one week after your arrival in Germany. Registration is compulsory for all German citizens and for all international guests who stay in Germany for more than 90 days. The Welcome Center of the University of Mannheim can provide you with all relevant forms. Depending on your respective place of residence, you can visit one of the citizens’ service offices of the city of Mannheim. If you do not live in Mannheim, please inquire about the responsible residents’ registration office at your place of residence.

Appointments
In order to avoid long waiting times, we recommend making an appointment online with the citizens’ service offices of the city of Mannheim. The Welcome Center is happy to provide support.

Required documents

• Passport or ID
• Application form (available at the Welcome Center or via the website of the city of Mannheim)
• Wohnungsgeberbestätigung (landlord's confirmation of residence): in accordance with Section 19 of the Federal Registration Act (Bundesmeldegesetz, BMG), your landlord is obliged to hand you over the confirmation on demand. A form is available for download on the website of the city of Mannheim. Tenants of the Guesthouse may turn to the Guesthouse Administration to obtain the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung (landlord's confirmation of residence).

In the following cases a certificate of good conduct is required:

• Employment as academic staff member
• Appointment as civil servant (e.g. junior professor or Akademischer Rat (senior instructor with tenure))
• Admission as doctoral candidate by a school

In case you already have a registered residence in Germany, please contact the respective citizens’ service office to apply for a certificate of good conduct. The certificate of good conduct can be requested at one of the citizens’ service offices. The fee for the certificate is EUR 13. It usually takes up to two weeks for the certificate to arrive in your or your employer's mailbox.

There are two types of certificates of good conduct:

• The Private Certificate of Conduct will be sent to your private address. This type of certificate is sufficient for admission as a doctoral candidate.
• The Certificate of Conduct for Official Purposes is required if you will be employed as an academic staff member or appointed as a civil servant at the University of Mannheim, e.g. as junior professor or Akademischer Rat (senior instructor with tenure). This type of certificate needs to be directly sent to the address of the employer. Please indicate the address of the Human Resources division when applying for this type of certificate:
  
  Universität Mannheim
  Personalabteilung
  L1, 1
  68161 Mannheim
  Germany

About two weeks following the registration of your place of residence in Germany, you will receive a letter from the Federal Central Tax Office. This letter contains your tax identification number that you will need for many formal processes in Germany (e.g. receiving your salary, applying for child benefit, opening a bank account, etc.) Please keep this number carefully.

If you need to receive your tax identification number urgently and cannot wait for the letter of the Federal Central Tax Office, please contact the tax office of the city of Mannheim directly. You only need your passport or ID. You can ask for your tax identification number one workday after the registration of your new place of residence, at the earliest.

Find helpful information on opening a bank account on the page “Bank Account”.

We recommend reading about the various possibilities of taking out health insurance during your stay in Germany already prior to your arrival.

In Germany, everyone can be held responsible and charged for accidental damages inflicted upon a third party. Therefore, it is usual to take out private liability insurance in order to insure oneself (and one’s family) against compensation claims for damages that were caused unintentionally. The private liability insurance is one of the most important and at the same time cheapest voluntary insurances in Germany that will defend you from having to pay compensation for damages. This kind of insurance covers damages that were caused unintentionally, e.g. through inattentiveness in traffic, as a pedestrian, or in case you damaged the property of someone else.

Please note that, during your stay at the University of Mannheim, you will not be insured with the university.

In case you have taken out private liability insurance in your home country, please check if it is equally valid during your stay in Germany. A liability insurance should at least cover all cases of private liability and, if possible, also cases of liability on official business.

For persons who entered Germany on a visa: If you are going to stay in Germany for more than 90 days, you do not only have to register at the citizens’ service office, but also to apply for a residence permit at the local foreigners’ office before your visa expires. Where you have to apply depends on your new place of residence. If you have your main residence in Mannheim, the foreigners’ office of the city of Mannheim will be competent.

The Welcome Center is happy to advise you on the choice of the correct residence permit and will assist you with the preparation of any required documents. As a rule, submission of the following documents is required:

1. Proof of the purpose of your stay
2. Proof of financial resources
3. Proof of valid health insurance
4. Tenancy agreement for your apartment
5. Biometric passport picture

For an overview of applying regulations please refer to the website EURAXESS Germany.

Please note: The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees provides information on the electronic residence permit on its website.

Everyone who enters into an employment relationship with the University of Mannheim will be supported by the Welcome Center with all required formalities. In collaboration with the Human Resources division and your Chair or institute, we will let you know about all necessary steps as early on as possible.

Usually, we need a so-called personnel form as well as a copy of your latest university degree in advance.

It is important that you come to the Human Resources division to sign your employment contract prior to the beginning of your employment relationship with the University of Mannheim. This is why we recommend that you come to Mannheim at least 3–5 business days before the envisaged beginning of your employment contract in Mannheim in order to ensure that you have enough time to go through all formalities related to the signature of your employment contract.

As a rule, you have to submit the following documents:

• Hiring documents (forms of the Human Resources devision and the Landesamt für Besoldung und Versorgung Baden-Württemberg (LBV))
• Valid ID
• Birth certificate
• Proofs of qualifications and degree certificates starting with the university entrance qualification (secondary school, diploma/master's degree, doctorate), in German or English
• Certificate of membership of the health insurance provider
• Certificate of good conduct for official purposes
• Birth certificates of your children, if applicable
• Marriage certificate, if applicable
• ID card for the severely disabled recognized by the German authorities, if applicable
• Visa or residence permit including a work permit, if applicable

For these documents, the original or a notarized copy has to be submitted. If the documents were issued in a language other than German or English, a notarized translation is required.

You can find important enrollment information for international doctoral students on the “Enrollment” page.

For information on user IDs and the ecUM membership card, please visit the following page “User ID and ecUM”.

You can find information about German courses on the page “German language courses”.

The German social security system governs all statutory provisions regarding health, pension, unemployment, accident, and long-term care insurance.

Scholarships are usually exempt from social security regulations and/or payments.

Further information can be found on the website of EURAXESS Germany – please consult the following web pages for more details:

1. Social security
2. Pension scheme
3. FAQ on social security in general

For more information on the pension system in Germany and other countries please see the categories “Pension Landscapes” and/or “Pension ABCs” on the website Find Your Pension.

For more information about the broadcasting fee for public television in Germany, please visit the “Public broadcasting fee" page.

During the first months of your stay in Germany, you will lodge in the Guesthouse of the University of Mannheim or another short-term accommodation as you will be occupied looking for an apartment during the first weeks after your arrival. We have compiled useful information to help you find accommodation.

Following your move, you will have to inform various authorities about your change of address: your employer, bank institution, health care provider, the residents’ registration office, the Beitragsservice for the public broadcasting license fee and many more. Please also read the information on changing or extending your stay. The Welcome Center Team will be happy to help you.

If you are a non-European citizen, your driver's license will be valid for half a year in Germany. After six months of residency in Germany, however, you will need to re-register your driver's license. In order to have your driver’s license re-registered, you have to pass a written and a practical driving test at a driving school.

This regulation does not apply for European citizens. Their driver’s licenses continue to be valid even after six months of residency in Germany.

For more information on the driver’s license in Germany please see the website of EURAXESS.