Your German social security number (Sozialversicherungsnummer, also called Versicherungsnummer or Rentenversicherungsnummer) comes from the German pension insurance, the Deutsche Rentenversicherung. Not from a health insurer, not from the tax office. You don't apply for it: your first employer in Germany registers you, the pension insurance creates the number and sends you a letter, the Versicherungsnummernachweis. Foreign health insurance doesn't get in the way. Lost the letter? A new one is free.
Deutsche Rentenversicherung (Versicherungsnummernachweis, first job, press release of 12 March 2024), Minijob-Zentrale (FAQ on short-term employment), § 147 SGB VI. All checked on 21 September 2026. Links at the bottom.
Twelve characters, eleven digits and one letter, and the law says exactly what goes in (§ 147 SGB VI): two digits for the pension insurance office responsible for you, your date of birth (in the example 17 August 1939), the first letter of your birth name, a two-digit serial number that may also encode your sex, and a check digit at the end. Nothing else may be stored in it.
It stays with you for life. Marriage, moving house, a new employer: the number doesn't change. Even after a name change the letter of your birth name stays.
Three names, one number: forms say Sozialversicherungsnummer, Versicherungsnummer, Rentenversicherungsnummer or just SV-Nr. It's always this one.
The number only exists once someone has registered you with the German social insurance system, and that someone is your employer. Your employer registers you, the data office of the pension insurance (Datenstelle der Rentenversicherung) creates the number, and you get a letter by post: the Versicherungsnummernachweis. Until 2023 it was called Sozialversicherungsausweis, so many people still say that. It's a plain letter, not a card.
What you do: tell your employer it's your first job in Germany. In the staff questionnaire (Personalfragebogen) leave the field empty or write “erste Beschäftigung in Deutschland” (first job in Germany). Give an address in Germany where post reaches you, because the letter goes there. That's it.
This applies to short-term jobs (kurzfristige Beschäftigung) and Minijobs just the same.
No. These are two different systems. The social security number is a pension-insurance number, created by the pension insurance when your employer registers you. Your health insurer, German or foreign, doesn't issue it.
For a short-term job this matters even less. The Minijob-Zentrale states it plainly: a short-term job is free of contributions to health, pension and unemployment insurance. Your employer registers it with the Minijob-Zentrale, not with a health fund. Which one applies to you, Minijob or short-term: we explain it here (in German).
Whether your foreign insurance is enough for your university and your residence permit is a different question, and not one we'll answer off the cuff. We're having it checked and will publish it separately.
All free. Websites that charge a fee to “apply for your Sozialversicherungsausweis” are run by private companies, not by the pension insurance. You don't need them.
Already worked in Germany? Then the number is on every payslip, usually at the top under “SV-Nr.” or “RV-Nr.”.
Yes. With your first registered job in Germany. Your employer registers you, the pension insurance creates the number and sends you the letter (Versicherungsnummernachweis) by post. There is no application.
Yes. The number comes from the German pension insurance, not from a health fund. For a short-term job (kurzfristige Beschäftigung) you do not pay into German health, pension or unemployment insurance anyway. Whether your insurance is enough for your studies and your residence permit is a separate question.
You do not need to. The number is created when your first employer registers you; there is nothing to send in beforehand. The online service of the pension insurance is meant for replacing a lost letter.
The pension insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). The Federal Central Tax Office issues the tax ID, your health insurer issues the health insurance number. Three numbers, three offices.
For the letter you need an address in Germany where post reaches you; give it to your employer in the staff questionnaire. The tax ID is different: normally it comes after your Anmeldung at the Bürgeramt. If you never register an address in Germany, your employer's tax office can have one issued, see our tax ID page.
No. It is valid for life. After a name change you can ask the pension insurance or your German statutory health fund for a new letter with the new name.
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.
Your second number in the staff questionnaire: the German tax ID. From outside the EU, the EEA or Switzerland? Your student residence permit limits your working days: 140 full days or 280 half days per year (§ 16b Abs. 3 AufenthG). How that works: which residence permit lets you work. And the other big question: health insurance as an international student.
At echt Personal we ask for the number in every staff questionnaire, and every week at least one person starting a first job doesn't have it yet. Not a problem, we register you anyway. Looking for a side job right now: jobs in your city.