What to do first when arriving in Rostock?

Finding an apartment and registering

IOW offers guest rooms up to 4 months.   To check the availability of these rooms please contact your department.   The guest rooms are situated in the IOW villa building (see picture). Please click on the picture to see more pictures of the rooms.

picture: IOW/K.Beck

If you stay longer than three months in Germany, please register your German address at the citizens' registration office (Ortsamt) that is responsible for your area that you live in --> Information for Rostock citizens

The following documents are required before you go there:

Finances / tax classes

When having registered at the Ortsamt you will automatically receive a German tax ID number (Steueridentifikationsnummer) that will be sent to you within a couple of weeks to your registered address. The tax ID number is important for your salary. If you do not register, you will be put to "Steuerklasse VI" which is the highest tax class with the highest tax deduction. As soon as you receive the letter from the "Bundeszentralamt für Steuern" (BZSt) send a copy to IOW's human ressources.

Tax class II is only intended for single parents. One of the prerequisites is that the single parent must live with at least one child to be considered for tax purposes.

The tax class with a married status is automatically tax class IV. Even if a spouse receives no salary, you are automatically classified in tax class 4. Tax class IV is useful for spouses who earn roughly the same amount. Married couples can change their tax classes to a III/V or IV/IV combination.

If you would like to have the tax class combination III/V, you must apply to the tax authority (Finanzamt).The change of the tax class cannot be done online. Therefore you must fill out this form (https://www.steuerklassen.com/content/antrag_steuerklassenwechsel.pdf) and send it to the "Finanzamt Rostock" (Möllner Strasse 13, 18109 Rostock).

Tax class VI is intended for employees who have two or more jobs. The second job (if it exceeds the mini job limit) is always taxed according to income tax class VI. Deductions are particularly high in tax class VI.

Opening a bank account

For receiving your salary as well as making contracts in Germany, i.e. mobile phone, renting an apartment, etc. it is necessary to have a so-called SEPA bank account. SEPA is short for "Single Euro Payments Area". Most European Union countries are part of the SEPA.

To check the member countries please have a look at the Website of the European Central Bank (ECB).

If you are not from a member country you must open a bank account in Germany. Therefore you need your passport, temporary visa and the document for the registration of your address.

If you do not have a working contract (student, scholarship holder, guest, etc.), you might even need to open a blocked bank account.

The Sparkasse and Deutsche Bank are two banks that open these kind of accounts.

Health Insurance

Most Germans are members of the government health system (GKV), and for all employees it is mandatory. It is a statutory regulation. You can choose one health insurance out of about 103 health insurances in Germany.

Read more about the statutory health insurance regulations:

https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/english/statutory_health_insurance/funding/funding.jsp

VBL registration

The Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Länder (VBL) is an organisation that provides supplementary, occupational pensions for the public sector in Germany. This is addtional to the German state pension (Rentenversicherung).

You will receive information about the VBL products from the brochure (VBL Brochure for scientists).

For all questions related to VBL please contact them directly: https://www.vbl.de/en/imprint/contact_address/

Further information in and around Rostock

Welcome Center Region Rostock - https://www.welcome-region-rostock.de/

Welcome Center University of Rostock - https://www.welcome-center.uni-rostock.de/en/