The first steps

After you arrive, you have two weeks to register your address with the local authorities (you need to visit the Foreigners’ Authority – “Ausländerbehörde” – in Kempten for this). You need to wait until you have a fixed address before you can register. It’s not possible to register using the address of a hostel or hotel. When you go to register, you need to take a valid form of ID and a declaration from the person renting to you that you have taken up residence in their property (“Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung”).

Once you have completed the process, you will be given a form certifying that you have registered, known as a “Meldebestätigung”. Take good care of this document! You will need it, amongst other things, to open a bank account and to apply for a residence permit.

Contact details: Foreigners’ Authority – “Ausländerbehörde” in Kempten
Rathausplatz 22, 87435 Kempten
email: auslaenderamt(at)kempten.de

https://www.kempten.de/auslander-und-asylrecht-2340.html

Please note: If you move to different accommodation during your stay in Germany, you must notify the local authorities (potentially a different office if you’ve moved to another town) of your change of address within two weeks!

It depends on your home country whether you will require a residence permit.

EU and EEC students  do not need a residence permit.

Non-EU/EEC students  who plant to complete a degree in Germany generally enter German with a visa that is valid for 3 or 6 months. It is then crucial that you apply for a residence permit before your visa expires.

Make an appointment with your local Foreigners’ Authority – “Ausländerbehörde – to complete the process as soon as you can after arriving.

If you live in Kempten, the contact details are: Foreigners’ Authority – “Ausländerbehörde” in Kempten
Rathausplatz 22, 87435 Kempten
email: auslaenderamt(at)kempten.de

https://www.kempten.de/auslander-und-asylrecht-2340.html

If you live outside Kempten, please check online to find out which local authority covers your area.

Everyone living in Germany must have health insurance – it’s compulsory. All students have to present proof of health insurance to enrol at university.

Please note that the requirements differ depending on whether you are normally resident in the EU or elsewhere:

Non-EU students under 30 years old must take out obligatory student health insurance with a statutory health insurer. These policies cost around 100 euros per month and cover most medical and dental fees including hospital treatment.

One advantage of this health insurance is that charges for treatment are settled directly between the physician and the insurer. You will pay a prescription fee of between 5 and 10 euros at pharmacies.

All students under the age of 30 who have already arranged private health insurance in relation to a funding programme (e.g. DAAD) must confirm exemption with one of the statutory health insurers.

Non-EU students over 30 years old may arrange private health insurance.

Please note: Student health insurance doesn’t come into effect until you actually enrol once the semester starts (no earlier than 1 October / 15 March).

EU students must bring their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from their insurance provider in their home country with them and upload the details onto the applications portal in MeinCampus in order to enrol.

Please note: EU students who have a “mini” or “student” job or a paid internship must take out German statutory health insurance.

Please check out the different statutory health insurers and compare their range of schemes and services. Once you have selected a health insurer, you can apply online.

In order to pay bills and arrange direct debits (“SEPA-Lastschrift”), you will need a German bank account, known as a “Girokonto”. Your semester fee, rent for halls of residence and health insurance premium can only be paid by direct debit.

Some student accounts don’t levy charges.

There are plenty of banks with branches in Kempten, not to mention various internet banks where everything – from opening your bank account through to financial transactions – is done online.

Please note: You might be charged a fee for withdrawing cash from a different bank’s ATM. Please check when you open your account which ATMs you can use and how often you can do so without incurring a fee.

A semester fee of 92 euros must be paid by direct debit before the start of each semester. This can only be done from a European bank account (using the SEPA direct debit process). 

Log into MeinCampus and click the shortcut “Student Service”to pay your semester fee.

PLEASE NOTE: Paying the semester fee involves two steps :

1. Set up a single direct debit mandate (citing your own bank account details)

2. Authorise the direct debit mandate

Make sure that you complete both steps correctly and check the status at the end of the process (the symbol should then be amber).

You will find detailed instructions for paying the semester fee in “MeinCampus” .

Every household has to pay for the obligatory television licence for receiving state-subsidised radio and television channels.

It costs 18.36 euros per month, irrespective of how many people live together. If you live in a shared flat, you will therefore split the payment between you. Either you or someone else in your household must register with the “ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio” fee payment agency. The non-registered members of your household then simply inform the agency that their fee is covered by the payment made from the bank account of the registered member, so you don’t need to all register separately!

You can find further information at: www.rundfunkbeitrag.de

In contrast to health insurance, liability insurance is not compulsoryin Germany. However, we do recommend that you take out liability insurance,

which will cover you in case you accidentally damage someone else’s property, belongings or health, e.g. if you have a traffic accident while cycling.

Depending on your family status, the premium will be somewhere between 30 and 80 euros per year. You can arrange a policy in person at a bank or an insurance company, or online.