Before your Arrival

Entry visa and regulations, housing, translation and legalisation of documents, our buddy system

When you start working at our Institute and are new to Germany or the European Union, you have to comply with several legally required formalities. You will soon negotiate the initial steps and your contact persons at the personnel department and the group you are joining will be happy to help you throughout your stay. Here you will find a short overview and further links for your first important steps.

1. Entry and Visa

A valid passport and entry visa are necessary when coming to Ger­many. As a rule, an entry visa is valid for the first 90 days and issued by the German embassy in your home country, which can then be converted into a longer-term residence permit.

Whether you need an entry visa or residence permit at all depend on your country of origin. For most EU citizens an ID card stating citi­zen­ship is sufficient. however for nationals from Non-EU-Member states, a visa is needed for entry into Germany.

You should apply for a visa at a German diplomatic embassy in your own country at least 3 months before your departure date. Depending on the visa type and the country, different documents for the visa application are required. For further information about the visa application as well as the necessary documents, you should contact the German Embassy or the German Consulate in your home country.

2. Pre-arrival Checklist

As you prepare to leave home please be sure to have the following items with you when traveling to Germany:

• Passport or identity card valid for the entire period of your stay (a driving license is not sufficient). If your national identity document is not valid for the entire time, you will have to go back to the German immigration office once it has been renewed by your country of origin.
• Valid visa if applicable (If you want to stay for more than 3 months: C visa/tour­ist visa/Schengen visa is not sufficient.)
• Travel health insurance (Make sure that you have a valid travel health insurance for the time of your trip and the first few days in Germany.)
• (Several) current biometric photographs for your residence permit, electronic health card, German driving license etc.
• Marriage certificate and Apostille or Legaliza­tion (Both documents must be translated by a certified translation office.)
• If you travel with your children: Birth certificates and, if you need a visa/residence permit, also the Legaliza­tion of your children’s birth certificates and their latest school records.
• National driving license (if available).
• Your own birth certificate.
• All university certificates (Bachelor/Master/PhD).

3. Translation and Legalisation

We recommend that you have legally certified copies and valid translations of your important documents (marriage certificate, birth certificate, university degrees, school reports of your children etc.), when dealing with local German authorities.

Documents in other languages need to be translated into German by a translator who is accredited in Germany.

4. Initial Housing and Accommodation

For your first days or weeks you can book accommodation in the Institute’s guesthouse, depending on availability. (for details please visit Max Planck House).

The city of Heidelberg with a population of about 160 000 is a rather “young” city with approximately 38 percent of its citizens under the age of 30. This is mainly due to the large University. The University, the University Medical Center, four Max Planck Institutes, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and others make Heidelberg a science city and a research hub of South-West Germany. Thus, finding permanent accommodation can be a time-consuming challenge, and housing is quite expensive if you want to live close to the city center (old town). The semesters for university students start in April and October each year. These times are especially tough for the housing market.

5. Buddy System

For scientific staff like PhD students and Postdocs, we have a buddy system in place. If you agreed to join the buddy sytem, you will be contacted a few weeks before your start at the e-mail address you provided. You will be able to join a WhatsApp group with other buddys and be assigned a buddy from your group/department as well as a different group/department. We want to make sure you have the best start possible and find your way around the Institute as fast as possible and get to know people from different departments and groups. Please contact Elisabeth Fuhry (elisabeth.fuhry@mr.mpg.de) for further questions.