Two situations. If you live in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland and have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), you stay in your home country’s system while you study in Germany, as long as you don’t work here. Take a job, even a Minijob, and that usually changes: you then have to sort out your insurance with a German statutory health insurance fund (Krankenkasse). If you come from outside the EU, you need German health insurance from the start; travel insurance is not accepted for enrolment. Under 30, that usually means the student rate of a statutory fund.
DVKA (the German health funds’ office for cross-border cases), § 5, § 6 and § 8 SGB V, Minijob-Zentrale, DAAD, Universität Hamburg, Deutsche Rentenversicherung. All checked on 21 September 2026, links at the bottom. We are a staffing company, not an insurer: for your own case, ask a statutory health fund. The advice there is free.
Germany has statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) and private insurance. Students at German universities are subject to statutory insurance by law, at the latest until they turn 30 (§ 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 SGB V); Goethe University Frankfurt says the cover runs to the end of the semester in which you turn 30. The same paragraph names the exception that matters for you: no German insurance obligation if you are entitled to benefits from a foreign insurer under EU or bilateral rules. That is the EHIC case.
Health insurance and pension insurance are two different things. Your social security number comes from the pension insurance and has nothing to do with this page: how you get it.
The DVKA, the office of the German health funds for cross-border cases, puts it like this: if your centre of life stays in an EU or EEA country or Switzerland, you come to Germany temporarily to study, you don’t work here, and your home insurer still covers you, which you prove with the EHIC or a provisional replacement certificate, then you are not covered by the German student insurance obligation and cannot join a German statutory fund. With the EHIC you get all medically necessary treatment in the public health system, including for conditions you already had.
For enrolment you still need one document: a German statutory fund confirms that you are exempt and reports it to the university. Ask any statutory fund; Goethe University Frankfurt, for example, does not enrol anyone without that digital notification (M10).
And now the sentence this page exists for. The DVKA again: if you also take up employment or self-employment in Germany, even a Minijob, cover through your home country is usually no longer possible. You then have to contact a German statutory fund to have your insurance obligation checked. So: before you sign your first contract here, talk to a statutory fund. Not after.
You need German health insurance, and you need it before enrolment; depending on your country, already for the visa (DAAD). Travel insurance is not enough. Universität Hamburg says it plainly: travel health insurance does not generally meet the statutory requirements, at most it covers your entry and a stay of up to 90 days. Under 30 you normally go into the student rate of a statutory fund, a flat monthly rate set nationwide plus the fund’s own supplement; ask the fund for the current figure.
Private insurance is possible, but the door closes behind you: you can apply to be exempted from the statutory obligation within three months of it starting, the exemption cannot be revoked, and it only takes effect if you prove other cover (§ 8 SGB V). Universität Hamburg warns that immigration offices can reject cheap private plans with thin cover. Think twice.
Short-term job (kurzfristige Beschäftigung): no contributions to health, pension or unemployment insurance, says the Minijob-Zentrale. The job itself doesn’t put you into German health insurance. What it can change is the EHIC question above, because a job in Germany moves you under German rules. Which job type is yours, Minijob or short-term employment: explained here, German only for now.
Regular job next to your studies: as long as the studies stay the main thing, you keep the student status in health insurance (§ 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 SGB V: students employed during their studies are not subject to compulsory insurance as employees). The pension insurance explains the rule of thumb: up to 20 hours a week during the semester; more is fine in the evenings, at weekends or in the semester break, and for temporary jobs of more than 20 hours for at most 26 weeks in a year. Beyond that you are an employee for insurance purposes, with the usual contributions.
Over 30? The student obligation ends with the semester in which you turn 30 (§ 5 SGB V). Then it is voluntary statutory or private insurance; ask the fund early.
If you live in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland and do not work in Germany: yes. A German statutory health fund confirms for the university that you are exempt. If you come from outside the EU: no, you need German health insurance.
A lot, potentially. The DVKA says that once you work in Germany, even in a Minijob, cover through your home country is usually no longer possible. Contact a German statutory health fund before you start; it checks whether you have to insure here.
No. Not for enrolment and not for a residence permit. Universität Hamburg puts it plainly: at most it covers your entry and a stay of up to 90 days.
No. A short-term job (kurzfristige Beschäftigung) is free of contributions to health, pension and unemployment insurance, says the Minijob-Zentrale. Your status as a student is a separate question.
Rule of thumb from the pension insurance: up to 20 hours a week during the semester. More is fine in the evenings, at weekends, in the semester break, and for temporary jobs of more than 20 hours for up to 26 weeks in a year.
The student insurance obligation ends with the semester in which you turn 30 (§ 5 SGB V). After that it is voluntary statutory or private insurance. Ask your fund early, before the semester ends.
Susanne Schmidt-Dizdarevic. Authorised officer (Prokuristin) of echt Personal GmbH, responsible for HR. Trained hotel specialist, in staffing since 2009. Signs short-term employment contracts with students and school pupils every week.
From outside the EU? Your residence permit decides how many days you may work: which permit allows what. And the number every employer asks for: your German social security number.
In our staff questionnaire we ask how you are insured. That is not us checking up on you: for a short-term job it decides which office we register you with. Looking for a side job right now: jobs in your city.