Appy Journey in Germany
First four things to do after reaching your destination in Germany
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| Image source: drj |
1. Enroll in university and International office
Carry all the stipulated documents by the university for student enrollment. In some universities students are asked to register in International office separately. In many German universities a buddy program is offered for international students to get accustomed with the local culture and traditions. Inquire for any such options in your Uni and don't miss the opportunity to interact with the local students.
Many universities will ask for the health insurance subscription certificate, you can get this from your insurance service provider. It can be submitted on the later dates.
Visit the nearest Deutsche Bank branch with your bank details and admission letter. You will be guided through the activation procedure by the bank officials. It wouldn't cost you much of the time. It would take at least a week for the account activation. So be sure that you bring some cash with you for the initial costs like paying the caution deposit for the house and daily needs (roughly 300-500 Euros).
3. Health Insurance subscription (mandatory)
Bank details and student enrollment form should be submitted for initiating the subscription.
AOK is a state run insurance service, it offers cash less service for all its users. They charge roughly 80€ per month for a student health insurance. AOK pays only for certain limited general medicines, so users have to bear their medicines cost. Though there are also some private insurance players providing the services much cheaper than AOK, they have no cashless option. So user have to pay the bill first and then should claim for the money. Many of them will even pay for certain medicines.
Generally one's subscribed, its not possible to change your service provider till the completion of your education. As a student you won't have lot of money with you in case of emergency, so its safe to subscribe for a cashless option.
Many cities will fix certain time frame for registration after arriving in the city, for example in Münich it is 2 weeks in Stuttgart 3 weeks etc., So in order to avoid fines, make sure that you register within first or in second week after your arrival.
But in some cases students wont have an accommodation at their arrival, then they can enroll with in 4-5 weeks after the arrival. (Consult local authorities or senior students for further information)
- Rajesh Nelapati
How to open a blocked account ?
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| Source: DB |
Apply for the blocked account well in advance (i.e.,once you start applying for the universities), if you wait till you receive an admission, then it would be some times very delayed to receive your account details because of the huge number of application flowing in just before the beginning of the semester.
Required documents:
- Electronically filled and printed application form (2 copies), The form should be signed in the presence of consulate official.
- Passport original and 2 Xerox copies
- Admission letter if available (*not mandatory),
if you provide your admission letter then your account will be opened directly in the university city, or else it will be processed with the head office. Once you reach Germany you can go to the nearest Deutsche bank to transfer your account to that branch. It will be done free of cost and in a period of one week.
Procedure 1
The Deutsche bank blocked account application form is a editable PDF, fill it completely on any PDF readable device and print it out. Make this document attested by the German consulate (appointment is required, contact nearest German embassy) and post it to the bank address (in Germany) mentioned in the document. Within four weeks you will receive an email with your bank account details. This document should be submitted during the visa interview.
Note: It is not compulsory to transfer the amount to your account before going to the visa interview. After receiving the visa conformation you can deposit the money. (this will no way hamper your chances of getting the visa)
Once after depositing the required amount (8040 euros) into your account, you will receive a auto generated statement through email. This document is required for getting the visa stamped.
click here for more info
Procedure 2
To avoid long waiting times for an appointment with German consulate to make the application form attested one can also visit the nearest Deutsche Bank branch in India to open a blocked account in Germany.
Locate your nearest Deutsche Bank in India
Source: Deutsche Bank
Formerly GEZ- Renamed as Rundfunk Beitrag (ARD, ZDF, Deutschlandradio)
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| source- link |
What is this?
In many countries its a big problem that the news are being broadcasted according to the will of channel owners. They try to tamper the news in favor of a group or a political party. In order to prevent that so called 'Yellow journalism' and to provide its citizens with actual news and correct institutional analysis, German public broadcasting services got organised. In order to support their institutional costs, public law allowed them to collect some amount from each household.
My Story
Like every new foreign student in Germany, I doesn't even have any clue about what this **** bill is.
As some of my neighbors suggested. I neglected it for a long time. For every two months I used to get a new bill stating my unpaid due and the fine for it. Eventually after one year it amounts to 160 euros including fine. Then I was little skeptical about it and inquired my acquaintances and senior students. To my surprise many of them got a legal notice from a local advocate, to clear their bills, which were ranging from 300-700. Finally all the students, who were staying in the same shared flat decided to pay off the highest bill till that date and registered as one user. (Irrespective of no. of devices and users, this bill is same for a single shared flat),
Studentenwohnheim
For studenten wohnheims its little different, if the floor has a public space which could be accessed by any one, then each room is considered as an apartment (each room is entitled for individual bill), irrespective of attached or shared toilets and kitchen. If the access to the common space is restricted to the floor members, for only those who have keys, then those rooms were considered as a WG (i.e, a common bill is accepted). Read For students. Students who are receiving Bafög or DAAD scholarship are exempted from paying these bills.
Studentenwohnheim
For studenten wohnheims its little different, if the floor has a public space which could be accessed by any one, then each room is considered as an apartment (each room is entitled for individual bill), irrespective of attached or shared toilets and kitchen. If the access to the common space is restricted to the floor members, for only those who have keys, then those rooms were considered as a WG (i.e, a common bill is accepted). Read For students. Students who are receiving Bafög or DAAD scholarship are exempted from paying these bills.
What if I don't respond to the legal notice
There is a common credit system, to determine the trustworthiness of a citizen, regarding his financial commitments (like regular payment of electricity bills, recycling bills, telephone and bank loans). This system is called 'SCHUFA'. If you neglect the notices then your SCHUFA credit would get effected, leading to the financial incredibility. So that you can no more get mobile contracts, internet connection, bank loans etc., Moreover there could also be some legal action against the individual, for evading the bills.
Why is there so much of mess
This new rule of mandatory registration came into existence only from 2013. So many of the seniors students had no experience of paying such bills. So they just suggested to ignore them. Unlike like GOA bills, where Rathhaus employees will demand for new registration or details of an existing payer for the house, will not inform/ask you about Rundfunkbeitrag (broadcast charges), So no one really knew perfectly about this.
Don't neglect these bills. If your are staying in WG then share the bill with your flatmates
If your owner is paying for it, you can register under his account.
Don't neglect these bills. If your are staying in WG then share the bill with your flatmates
If your owner is paying for it, you can register under his account.
Please refer the following links for payment details and further information
For students
For citizens
Source - www.rundfunkbeitrag.de, Schufa
Salary deductions an overview
Source: Agentur für Arbeit, ZAV, Internationaler Personalservice
Best Money transfer services from Germany to India - A comparison
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| Source: RBI, EB |
Complete comparison between different service providers for transferring money from Germany to India. Download the document and validate between the rates and decide yourself, for the best and convenient service.
Click here to redirect to a world bank certified company for the comparison of money transfers from different countries.
Source-Geldtransfair.
German social security system
The German social security system
is based on 5 sectors:
- - Unemployment insurance: Arbeitslosenversicherung
- - Pension insurance: Rentenversicherung
- - Health insurance: Krankenversicherung
- - Nursing care insurance: Pflegeversicherung
- - Accident insurance: Unfallversicherung
The social security system in Germany is funded
through contributions paid by employees and employers. The contributions are
paid on all direct wages as well as indirect wages up to a ceiling.
Type of insurance
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Total (% of gross
remueration)
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Employee (% of gross
remueration)
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Employer(% of gross
remueration)
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Unemployment
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3
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1.5
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1.5
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Pension
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18.9
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9.45
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9.45
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Health
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15.5
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8.2
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7.3
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Nursing care
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1.95-2.2
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1-1.2
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0.95-1
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Accident
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Depends on sector
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nothing
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full
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Souce: deutsche-sozialversicherung
-Manfred
Indians and their cultural barriers in Germany
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| Image: |
Caution! may be the following analysis is overly simplified to draw some conclusion, it would be different on individual basis. Thanks for the author for his comments, a P.hd. doctor and senior manager in a MNC, who requested his anonymity.
I think, the biggest problem is not the
lack of German speaking skills, at least not in high tech MNC’s, because here
English can be the language of communication. May be it's more due to the
different worldviews or different mentalities.
Recently I read an interesting article about intercultural teamwork. It
examined various topics, for example: decisiveness. The result was, that the
Germans' decisiveness is higher than the Indians'. The reason might be, that in
lot of Indian families the father is the head, he takes the decisions for the
family, making them completely dependent on him. In some cases even the
children educational decisions are influenced by the parents. So, they go to
the university, where they have to complete the course without really trying to
get to the bottom of the issues. But in Germany it is very common that students change their courses in the midway if they find its not of their interest anymore, but this situation is very rare in India. This example is mentioned here to show case the difference between decisiveness of Indian and German students. Some may argue that Indian students are more clear and capable of deciding their interests, but if it is so there would have not been so many student suicides in the recent past. No offense, I am trying to put forth the actual scenario.
India and Germany are two completely different
societies, it’s not a question of good or bad, but all about understanding the
differences and coping up with them. Also
the societal influence can be clearly seen on Indians, where contradicting or
questioning are treated as arrogance or disobedience. This making the young
people incapable of understanding an information completely and hindering their
decision making capabilities. On the contrary own decisions and personal
opinions are required in German companies.
Another topic was the obedience to authority. In the article I read an
anecdote: In a company the project manager and some employees - one Indian
among them - had a tough discussion. The Indian thought that it was not
necessary to take the colleague’s name, who contradicted the boss heavily, several
times. He was sure, the colleague would be fired in the next days. But to his
surprise, exactly this colleague was highly esteemed and became the team
leader.
The next point was the inclination to say uncritically 'yes' - sometimes
because of the obedience to authority, as someone doesn't want to admit
that he didn't understand. So when he was asked, if he understood (no matter,
whether language or a technical problem), he answered 'yes' and made mistakes
as a result of this.
Many of the German multinational companies is working closely with Indian service
sector firms, whether it may be IT, electronics or engineering sectors. So it’s
a growing trend that such Indian companies are sending their employees to
customer location for training or deputation purposes. Now there are two
problems. First: the Indians don't really belong to the German company. Second:
the German employees are afraid that their jobs would be outsourced, that these
guys are here to learn and will then go back to India and take the jobs with
them. These are two points, which make a good teamwork and an integration
harder. It is completely different, when there are individual Indian
colleagues.
So my conclusion is that it's necessary not only
to learn the language but also the culture. Intercultural competence on both
sides is an urgent need!