If you are about to sign an internship contract in Germany, you might be wondering how exactly you should be insured. That will depend on your exact situation, and in this article, we are going to go through all the options.
Types of internship:
Voluntary internship
Mandatory internship
Internship before studies
Internship after studies
Paid
Unpaid internship
If having six different types of internships does not make it tricky, they can also be combined. This means: you can for example have a non-mandatory paid internship during your studies or an unpaid voluntary internship before your studies.
According to your exact type of internship, you will either be allowed to stay on your current insurance (Germany,EU/EEA, the UK or Switzerland)), or have to signup for German public health insurance, or incoming insurance such as our expat health.
Let's make it as simple as possible:
I am studying/will be studying in Germany
Only mandatory internships during studies are always free of social contributions regardless of salary or working hours. Which means you can keep your student health insurance, private or public.
Non-mandatory paid internships during studies always follow working student rules, which means you can work up to 20 hours per week (more during weekends and semester breaks) regardless of earnings, and still keep your current insurance. If you are not paid, you can of course as well keep your student insurance, or get one, in case you are still not insured. If you are working over the mentioned limit you are considered a regular employee and need to signup for public health insurance as an employee, not university student.
Paid internships before or after studies are considered employment, so if you earn more than €538 per month, you have to get public insurance as an employee. If you earn less or do not earn at all, you can get our expat health insurance.
I am insured in the EU/EEA, the UK or Switzerland and will only do internship in Germany
Only for mandatory internship during your studies (paid/non paid) or generally non paid internships you can stay on your home insurance, and avoid being insured in Germany. This will however also depend on two other facts:
Does your employer demand you to be insured here?
Would your home provider continue insuring you in this situation?
This is always assessed on the individual case, so you always have to confirm the exact rules with both your home provider and public insurer in Germany.
If your home provider does not want to insure you for that period of internship in Germany, or you simply want to get a German insurance, you can signup for either public health insurance as university student, or expat health insurance.
Non-mandatory paid internships during studies: you need to get insured in Germany: either public health insurance, or our expat health (according to the rules mentioned above)
Paid internships before or after studies are considered employment (rules mentioned above)
I am studying in a country outside of Europe and will do internship in Germany
If you are studying in a third country and coming to Germany to do an internship, you need to get German health insurance, it will also be one of the visa requirements. Rules are basically the same as mentioned above:
Mandatory internship: public health insurance (as university student) or expat health insurance, regardless of working hours and salary
Non-mandatory internship during studies: public health insurance or expat health insurance (according to the rules mentioned above)
Paid internships before or after studies are considered employment (rules mentioned above)