After a long trip, you have finally arrived in Germany, but what’s next? Where can you collect your residence permit, is basic health insurance mandatory, and do you need a personal travel card? Find out all you need to know about arriving as an au pair in Germany below.
If you are an EU citizen, then register with the local registry office (Einwohnermeldeamt) within 1 week of arrival. No visa or other registration is required.
If you are a non-EU resident, you will initially receive a visa for 90 days and must exchange this for a one-year residence permit (Aufenthaltsgenehmigung) in Germany. To do this, you must first register with the local registration office and then with the immigration authorities (Ausländerbehörde).
Au pairs from Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the USA can also travel to Germany without a visa and can apply for a residence permit there.
There are many travel and au pair insurance available online. A commonly advised package is the PROTRIP-WORLD insurance for au pairs in Germany. In most cases, this was already arranged by your host family before your arrival, to ensure that you can prove sufficient health and accident insurance coverage for your visa application.
You can open your own bank account with a local bank once you have registered at the local registry office as you need to provide your registration permit (Meldebescheinigung) and your tax number, which usually arrives 2 weeks after registration by post (most banks will accept the tax number to be added later).
There are several low-cost bank accounts that are great for au pairs and are easy to set up, some options we can recommend include Revolut, N26, or 1822direkt.
You can buy a prepaid SIM card to get yourself connected to the world during your au pair time in Germany. There are several flexible and low-cost options. Some recommendations are AldiTalk, Blau, Congstar, Freenetmobile, or Vodafone. If your host family has offered to buy you a SIM card they may choose a different provider or connect you to their family bundle.
Remember to switch to wifi at home and friend’s houses so you don’t use up all your data.
There are many good options to do either an online or in-person language course, depending on where in the country you are located and how much you want to spend. Your host family is obliged to pay a minimum of 70 EUR per month towards your language course plus pay the transport costs to it and they surely will be happy to help you get set up for a suitable course.
To make sure you can get around easily, let your host family explain to you how to access the public transport in their area and how to buy a ticket. Most regions in Germany have excellent public transport connections at reasonable prices, and sometimes your host family will even offer to pay a monthly ticket for you to explore the local area at your leisure.
By adding your name to the mailbox, the mailman will then know where to deliver all of the lovely letters you will receive from home. Sending “snail mail” and postcards are a great way to stay in touch with your friends and family from home and commemorate your time in Germany.
Communicating clearly and openly will save you a lot of hassle! Spend a weekend day at home to bond with your host family at least once every two weeks (especially at the beginning).
