International students: all you need to know

This is a summary of the most important points of this website for international students.

When should you be insured?

If you are enrolling at a university, you must present a current certificate of health insurance coverage at the time of enrollment.
The following countries benefit from the same insurance coverage in Germany and do not need to renew their insurance in order to enroll at a university: EU member states, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Tunisia and Turkey. If you are still covered by your family’s health insurance, it will continue to be valid in Germany, but will expire when you turn 25 or when you earn more than 556€/month from a part-time job.

How much does it cost?

The usual contribution rate is between 14.9% and 16.4% of income for non-students and is a fixed rate for students, averaging 70 € without the ’nursing care insurance‘ which averages 20 €. This makes your total monthly amount around 90 €, depending on your insurance.

In reality, the rates are rarely different. The insurance companies differ in the additional services they offer. The additional contribution also varies from insurance to insurance.You can consult the differences here.

What is the additional contribution?

Supplementary contributions provide the health insurance funds with the opportunity to cover their additional financial requirements over and above the uniform general rate of contribution. They also serve as an element of competition between the statutory health insurance providers. The total contribution of a health insurance fund is derived from the uniform general contribution rate and the specific supplementary contribution of the respective health insurance fund (fund-specific supplementary contribution). 

There is no upper limit set for the supplementary contribution rate in statutory health insurance. The legislator has not established a maximum or a cap. In practice, however, health insurance funds strive to keep this contribution portion as low as possible to avoid placing unnecessary burdens on policyholders and to prevent losing them to more affordable insurance providers. Currently, the fund-specific supplementary contribution ranges between 0.9% and 3.9% (as of December 2024). Consequently, the total contribution rate in statutory health insurance varies between 15.50% (cheapest insurance provider) and 18.5% (most expensive insurance provider).

  • Average supplementary contribution 2025: 2.5%

Differences between insurances

With a good health insurance plan, you should have the best coverage in all areas: prevention, illness and aftercare, whether it’s for your teeth, pregnancy or traveling. However, the following services may or may not be included in your coverage, so it is important to compare the different options before making a decision:

  • Free choice of doctor, dentist and clinic
  • Skin cancer check
  • Coverage abroad
  • Dental treatments, dentures, professional cleaning
  • Birth control pill cost coverage
  • Naturopathy and Homeopathy
  • Back pain treatment, Sport medicine coverage

Private insurance?

If you are covered by your parents‘ health insurance in Germany, or if you decide to take out a private health insurance policy because the benefits and prices sound attractive, there are a few things you need to be aware of.

Since subsidies are only paid until the age of 25, your contribution will be much more expensive once you turn 25, as you will have to pay the full cost of private health insurance. We therefore recommend that you choose public health insurance to avoid unexpected and unavoidable costs in the future (it is very difficult to change from private to public health insurance once you have made your choice).

Limits

You should be aware that student health insurance is valid until the age of 30. Once you reach the age of 30, you will be required to purchase insurance at the regular rate.

Going abroad

If you are still insured in Germany during your stay abroad, your health insurance will cover you in all countries with which there is a social security agreement (e.g. all EU/EEA countries). You can obtain a certificate of eligibility from your health insurance company. This certificate entitles you to all statutory health insurance benefits in the host country during your semester or stay abroad.

Many countries, such as the USA, do not have a social security agreement with the German government. In this case, it is imperative that you take out a private health insurance policy for the duration of your stay, as there is usually no entitlement to benefits in the event of illness.

(It is best to purchase private international health insurance for every trip abroad. If you fall ill abroad, your own contributions to medical or inpatient treatment and, if necessary, the costs of medically necessary repatriation are covered by private international health insurance. Statutory health insurance does not cover repatriation costs).

Having a student job or an internship

Students with jobs or internships are treated differently in the social security system, depending on their employment status.

Most student jobs will be subject to pension insurance (indexed to income), but their subjection to the rest of the potential contributions (health, nursing care and unemployment insurance) depends on several factors. A student job is subject to regular compulsory insurance contributions if

  • the employment lasts more than three months, exceeds 20 hours per week and is not limited to semester breaks.
  • A student is employed for more than 26 weeks in a year. This includes all jobs with more than 20 hours per week.
  • It is a dual study program.

If your student job does not meet any of these criteria, you are exempt from paying social security contributions based on your income.

In the case of an internship, your contribution depends on whether your internship is voluntary or compulsory and whether it is during your studies or not. In general, the same rules apply as for normal part-time jobs, except for compulsory internships during studies, in which case the job is completely exempt from any additional contribution.

You can learn more about this here.