Dear young student,
I know you already dream about your independent life, about how you live far-away from your childhood’s house and how you wake up and listen bird’s sounds in a different country. All of these things are possible if you have a long-term plan or you are starting your career and maybe university studies; but are these enough? A little enthusiasm is also required as well as some information regarding costs of moving abroad. You should take into consideration a list of investments to make sure that you are financially aware of what you will need to make your dreams come true. Even if you already have in mind the costs of going abroad as a young person(and if you did not, check them here), there are some more investments to consider before moving to Germany as a student.
Transportation
The first questions that comes in your mind might be about how you will arrive in Germany and how you will move al the personal objects that you have and you want to bring with you. Don’t worry, you will fly. Literally. Plane tickets are not the cheapest thing in the world, but it is the most convenient way to move to another country. You might wonder from what source should you buy the plane tickets and when exactly to get the best price? Or what are the extra costs that might appear? It can be the case of investing more money in the plane tickets, based on the abundance of personal objects you have; it can be up to tens or hundreds of euros. This investment depends of where are you from. For example, for someone who wants to move abroad from Romania the cost is around 100-200 euro, just the plane tickets; the cost of personal objects can be around 50-100 euros.
Make sure that you will also think about how much is a bus/train ticket to the airport if you are not living in a city that provides one.
Immigration
Immigration, immigration, immigration… Lots of documents are required.
The first thing that you should consider is to legalize the documents you already have such as translations of the birth certificate and school diplomas (completed high school and/or university degrees, school transcripts). This procedure is done by a notary, and, of course, it will cost you. Furthermore, you might also need your biometrical passport/passport if you are not an EU citizen.
More than that, you have to bring some proof that your degree is recognized in Germany. Anabin is free of charge site you can you for that. However, if you have diplomas in the technical field you should recognize them via ZAB (The Central Office for Foreign Education in Germany) and it will cost you 200 euro for the first one and 100 euro for each additional diploma.
To finish your diploma recognition you have to send the required documents to Germany.
These being said, postal fees are needed. Tips and tricks: you can save costs with regular post-delivery instead of international courier shipping.
Another very important aspect of immigration is the visa process. If you are an EU citizen, you just need your identity card to move to Germany; if not, you may consider applying for the visa. This application fee is estimated to be 75 euros.
Before renting:
Another thing that you should consider is what will you do when you will arrive in Germany? You will search for an apartment, of course! But what are the logistics that you will need?
First thing first, you should stay somewhere. If you don’t have any friends or family members that already live in the country and that are willing to give you a place to stay, you might consider staying in an Airbnb. This temporary accommodation might cost you around 700-900 euros for your first month abroad. More than that, you need some pocket money to survive in this period – I’d recommend around 250 euro for that.
After that, another important element you will need is a deposit for renting your first room in an apartment. It should include 2-3 months of cold/basic rent. To be more clear, if your monthly rent budget is 500 euro, then you pay about 1,000-1,500 euro as a warranty/deposit before moving in. If your living space is damage-free when you leave, then you get your deposit back.
Calculating all of these things, you should have around 3000 euro for your moving to Germany as a student. Being aware of this investment can only bring you benefits and what you need to know is that Costs before moving to Germany as a student and for the first month are not returnable.
After you work a bit in Germany, you can get your money back by saving them from your salary. It can take, with an internship salary of 1.500 euro net (fingers crossed), 6 months to recover your investment of moving to Germany (if you do not travel or have major expenses in that period).
Tips and tricks for making more money:
- A student with an internship and a financial mission can take a mini-job of EUR 450/month (10h-15h/week). They are not taxable and the students stay in tax class 1 (our post about tax classes);
- Knowing German of A2 level minimum will be a plus so you can get easier a mini-job, a higher paying internship, AND increase chances to get cheaper accommodation.
Let’s take a look at everything:
- plane tickets: flexible + 50-100 euros (for personal objects)
- diploma recognition (if you have it in a technical field): at least 200 euros
- visa application: 75 euros
- temporary accommodation (for the first month): 700-900 euros
- pocket money (for the first month): 250 euros
- deposit for renting: 1.000-1.500 euros
Total: aprox. 3.025 euros (without plane tickets)