Insurance and Visa
To make sure that you are always covered, you should take out health, accident and liability insurance for abroad before your stay. Without insurance, illness or accidents abroad can quickly become very expensive.
Important note: During a stay abroad, you will not be covered by HSBI’s insurance.
How can I insure myself abroad?
You can either request an extension of your insurance from your current insurance provider or take out private supplementary insurance, e.g. via the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
If you do a paid internship within the EU (a scholarship does not count as payment), you are even obliged to take out health insurance in your host country. In any case, please discuss the further procedure with your internship provider and your health insurance in Germany.
What about my insurance in Germany?
Please make sure to check with your current insurance provider whether you need to continue paying your insurance in Germany during your stay abroad.
Important: Insurance obligation for Erasmus+
With some exceptions, most scholarship programmes do not include insurance coverage. However: By participating in the Erasmus+ programme, you promise to take care of sufficient insurance coverage on your own.
The Erasmus+ programme’s insurance obligation encompasses the following insurance policies:
- Health insurance (obligatory for studies and internships)
- Liability insurance (obligatory for internships, optional for studies)
Accident insurance (obligatory for internships, optional for studies)
Visa
Please inform yourself in good time whether you need a visa for your host country. If so, please also check to see if your passport is still valid.
How do I get a visa?
For a semester abroad, you will usually receive an invitation from your host university with which you can apply for a student visa.
You can obtain binding information on how to apply from the embassies/consulates of the respective country or from the Federal Foreign Office. We recommend you take care of this early, because the application process can take several weeks or months.
How do I get a passport?
You can apply for a passport at the citizens’ registration office in your place of residence; processing usually takes 3–4 weeks.
If you already have a passport: please check how much longer it will be valid anyway. In some cases, the passport must be valid for several months after the end of the planned stay for the visa application.
What do I do if I do not have EU citizenship?
If you do not have EU citizenship, it is best to check with the consulate of your host country, for example, whether you need to apply for a visa for your stay even before you apply. You should also contact the Ausländerbehörde in Germany to find out what you need to observe with regard to your residence permit in Germany (note: if your stay abroad is mandatory in your studies, you should also inform the Ausländerbehörde of that).
If you have received confirmation for a semester or internship abroad, you should also contact your host university or company at an early stage in order to be able to initiate any administrative or visa processes that may be necessary.
